If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The first must-see film of the year.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This movie came out during Project Mohole intended to drill into the mantle. I've always assumed this movie was a take on that activity. Though the Mohole was a failure, "Crack in the World" was a solid success.The science was implausible even at the time. You'd never try this anywhere but the ocean floor and flying a conventional rocket down into the Earth was frankly ridiculous and looked goofy even to my 11 year old self.But those deficiencies don't notably detract from the fine performances and well-directed suspense. The movie moves along nicely with only a couple of draggy romance scenes. The special effects were well-done and quite convincing for the mid-1960s. All the characters are plausible and deliver equally plausible lines. Dana Andrews elderly stud good looks and mellifluous voice are a joy to watch. Kieron Moore, as always, plays the hunk with broad-shoulders and large biceps who always knows the right thing to do - and can do it all himself. Janette Scott is underused except as attractive scenery and damsel in distress.Definitely worth the time it takes to watch.

Crack in the World (1965) *** (out of 4) Dana Andrews plays a dying scientist who pushes ahead with trying to reach the center of the Earth and getting the energy that can be found there. The final step of the mission involves using a bomb to crack through a barrier around the energy and when this happen it causes a massive explosion and soon a fiery crack through the world begins to cause destruction. CRACK IN THE WORLD often gets lumped in the sci-fi genre but I think it's much more fitting as a precursor to the Irwin Allen disaster pictures that would follow in a few years. While watching this thing you couldn't help but feel that you were watching a classic example of the disaster genre and especially during the ending when a couple people must try and find a way out of the ground before the crack reaches them. I thought the actual events taking place with the world getting a crack in it were handled much better than I was expecting. This certainly isn't just some low-budget exploitation picture but instead it tries to have a brain in its head and the material is taken very seriously. I thought this added to the drama in the picture and it certainly helps that you can believe what you're seeing. The best thing going for the picture are the terrific special effects, which hold up so well today and I think you could show them to someone from today's generation as proof that real effects are so much more believable than CGI. I really thought the sequence underwater where we see the crack was tremendously done as were other big effects including one involving a train and even the initial blast that causes the problem looks terrific. These effects are certainly some of the best from this era and they alone make the film worth viewing. Andrews turns in a good performance in the role of the dying doctor and we get nice support from Kieron Moore, the man who fears the experiment will lead to a disaster. CRACK IN THE WORLD features some real excitement from start to finish and it really deserves more credit than it usually gets.

Dana Andrews plays an ailing scientist trying to find a way to use magma from the center of the earth to create a new natural energy. Kieron Moore is his assistant, a scientist out to prove that what Andrews is doing could unleash a disaster if the earth's crust begins to crack. Of course, there is the obligatory romantic subplot, and it involves Moore and Andrews' much younger wife, Janette Scott. Things don't really begin to gel until the end, but in the meantime, there is the scene of the bomb descending into the earth to break through the crust to get to the magma, a series of conversations about sudden earthquakes that break out, and finally, a visit into an actual volcano to counteract the force of the magma by scientifically blowing it out like a candle. (Didn't I see this plot on "Gilligan's Island"?) But in disaster movies where scientists are trying to play God, things always go wrong, and a crack begins to develop in the ocean's floor that begins to head totally around the world. The film is actually pretty good, and the exposition scenes are not really boring. But it doesn't really become "hot" until the last 20 minutes, which makes the overall impact of the film less than it could have been. Still, it is a lot better than two other films that actually involved volcanoes-"Krakatowa, East of Java" (filmed obviously in a mirror-Krakatowa is WEST of Java!), and the disaster master Irwin Allen's hideous "When Time Ran Out". We would have to wait until years later for "Volcano" and "Dante's Peak" to entertain us more than those disasters did.It should be noted that Andrews looks incredibly handsome here, distinguished and gray, yet not lacking the appeal he had 20 years ago in "Laura". Alexander Knox has a bit part as an English Lord whose financing oversees the whole project.

While this is not the sort of movie I usually like to watch, I sought it out for one reason--Dana Andrews. While he's not especially famous today, Andrews was a wonderfully realistic and solid actor who never seemed to get his due--even though he made a ton of films--many of which were terrific (such as "Laura", "The Ox-Bow Incident" and "The Best Years of Our Lives"). Part of this might be because of his rather ordinary looks and perhaps part of this might be his own fault, as later in his career he wasn't exactly choosy about the roles he took--with appearances in schlock films like "The Frozen Dead". Whatever the reasons, even his disappointments feature him doing his best and putting in one great acting performance after another. I just marvel at his professionalism and seemingly effortless acting and would watch him in anything.Andrews plays a very flawed scientist. Because he is dying and wants to make a name for himself, he has decided to try a risky experiment--one that his co-worker thinks might cause a chain-reaction that could rip the planet apart. At first, the experiment seems to have worked, but by shooting a nuclear bomb into the Earth and releasing magma, the integrity of the planet has been compromised. Earthquakes and tsunamis begin and it appears as if eventually the Earth will crumble apart. In a last-ditch effort to avert this disaster, a wacky plan involving blowing up a volcano to relieve pressure is planned. Will this work or is mankind royally screwed?! This movie is reasonably well done technically, though a few scenes are a tad clumsy when it came to special effects. As for the plot and acting, they are all fair--worth seeing, perhaps, but it's far from a must-see and really only a pretty good time-passer.