Viaje al centro de la tierra

"Where Time Began" is an adaptation of Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth", with some variations to make it more salable (such as a love interest). It seems to have been aimed at a juvenile audience and is in the same vein as the Kevin Connors/Amicus Studios adaptations of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Like many genre films, "Where Time Began" has very hokey characters and dialogue. The ineptitude with which the journey to the center of the earth is conducted is quite startling, in fact. The stupidity of their dialogue (especially the exchanges between Glauben and her idiotic fiancee Axel) gives the film a strong tone of campiness and unintentional humor. When Olsen shows up to rescue them midway through and complains that he's had to listen to their stupid chatter for the past ten miles, the viewer can commiserate. However, given the fact that it is a low budget film, the sets, photography and giant creature special effects are actually pretty good, and they manage to maintain some atmosphere throughout the production. Once the characters arrive in the pseudo-prehistoric world at the center of the earth, the film especially picks up, and the revelation of the origin of Olsen provides an interesting twist. For this reason, "Where Time Began" is a reasonable entry in the journey-to-a-lost-world genre.

Very nearly qualifying for 'so bad, it's good' status, Spanish director Juan Piquer Simon's take on Jules Verne's classic tale is poorly acted, has some truly awful effects, and features the most inept bunch of explorers ever to be committed to celluloid. With a touch more manky monster action, and its tongue a bit further in cheek, this one could have rivalled 70s favourite At the Earth's Core for schlock value; as it stands, it is a fairly entertaining low budget adventure flick that is just about enough fun for it to warrant a viewing.

Kenneth More plays Prof. Otto Lindenbrock, a geologist who sets out on an expedition after discovering a secret route to the centre of the Earth. Together with his niece Glauben (Ivonne Sentis), a Prussian soldier, Axel (Pep Munné), and a shepherd named Hans (Frank Braña), Otto braves dangerous cave-ins, poisonous mushrooms, a perilous sea journey and prehistoric creatures.

Unlike James Mason's more than capable Oliver Lindenbrook (in the far superior 1959 movie Journey to the Center of the Earth), More's character is something of a bumbling fool. He is totally unprepared for the trip he undertakes and doesn't seem at all fazed by any setbacks (he loses his guidebook and water supply along the way, but continues regardless). His companions, who all seem quite happy to tag along, are equally irresponsible; they frequently wander off on their own with absolutely no regard for their own safety.

On discovering a huge underground ocean, the travellers build a raft, bump into some sea monsters (rubber glove puppets filmed in a bath), visit an island full of man-eating tortoises (the world's slowest predators) and get attacked by a giant ape (played by a man in a fancy-dress monkey suit). They eventually emerge from an erupting Stromboli, none the worse for wear.

All of this, believe it or not, is fairly faithful to Verne's novel, but Juan Piquer Simon, apparently not content with its level of silliness, ramps up the ridiculousness even further. Halfway through their journey, our intrepid gang meet a mysterious stranger called Olsen, who eventually turns out to be a time-travelling scientist! Fans of bad monster movies and silly 70s sci-fi cinema will probably want to check this film out; everyone else would be better off giving it a miss.

The 2nd feature adaptation of the Jules Verne classic is oddly a Spanish effort, and is worse than the 1959 version (Which was only bad because of one scene).

I'm sure I don't need to recite the plot of such a classic novel but needless to say that it doesn't entirely follow the source material.

Our heroes must contend with giant lizards, giant turtles, a giant gorrilla and more in their journey and though it looks okay for it's time it manages to be a combination of baffling and entirely un-engaging.

I can't quite put my finger on why but at no point did I find myself even remotely engrossed into this. The cast are passable, the sfx are ahead of their time and the material for the most part is okay. Sadly it just isn't strung together very well and makes for less than enjoyable viewing.

I'm binge watching the adaptations and can only assume someone does the novel justice.

The Good:

Looks okay for its time

The Bad:

Same nonsensical tale

Some silly additions to the story

A few of the logistics are painfully stupid

Until very recently, this remake of the famous Jules Verne story had completely passed me by. Though not a patch on the James Mason version (1959), it's not a complete write-off. Kenneth More takes on the role of the explorer "Prof. Lindenbrock" - this time an eminent German rather than Scottish scholar (there were some Deutsche Marks involved in the production here) and he and his small team set off down an Icelandic volcano on the adventure of any lifetime. The rest of the cast are completely unremarkable - a truly international mix of C-list collaborators, with Jack Taylor's young "Olsen" reminding me (audibly) a lot of Roddy McDowall. Anyway, it is a good, strong story and even the most mediocre of directors can't really screw that up too badly. The special effects - especially the prehistoric creatures - are the stuff of a school project (even then) but it is intercut with some fine volcanic actuality and it's paced well enough for More to just about have sufficient gravitas to carry it off. Memorable? No. Good? No. I still quite enjoyed it, though.

Oh, it's okay. I guess. Maybe. As has already been stated, it is very much a recast version of the 1950s version with James Mason. There are some

unusual twists, mostly toward the end. The special effects are on par with Kevin Connor's assorted 1970s monster flicks (e.g. The Land That Time Forgot,

People that Time Forgot, At the Earth's Core, Warlords of Atlantis). While many find those films to be entertaining and campy cheese, this film lacks their humor and spark. Nevertheless, it is a decent enough time killer, but is probably not worth recommending to the vast majority of viewers. For what it's worth,

Kenneth More is a credible Lindenbrock. The rest of the cast is at least okay save for Pep Munne who plays Axel. During an extensive rafting trip, I was

really hoping to see Axel slip overboard for the duration.