Journey to the Center of the Earth

I have always loved this movie. I have it on tape and have almost worn it out. Time to look for a DVD. THe performances are top notch. Even though Pat Boone falls in and out of his accent he does a creditable job as a Scot. Looks very dashing in the Glendarroch tartan! Jenny sounds like she's from America. They needed a scene where someone explains that Jenny is Uncle Oliver's niece from Kansas.

Arlene Dahl was always a favorite in the 50s and 60s as a strong woman. James Mason is excellent as always. Loved the duck, Gertrude! When I saw this movie as a child, I wanted a duck for a pet. My mother was smart enough to refuse.

This movie is one of the best examples I can think of for how one can stun the audience just by making the right use of the essence of cinema: pictures. They vary between being threatening, funny, amazing, beautiful and bizarre but all are highly imaginative. In fact, this movie is one of the most imaginative ever made, imagination being a quality that has disappeared almost completely from Hollywood over the last 40 years. It drags you into the world of its superb settings just the way for example "King Kong" did in 1933. This is just the kind of movie cinema was meant for, up from the days of its beginning (see for example "Le Voyage Dans La Lune" by Georges Méliès, 1902). "Journey To The Center Of The Earth" is pure cinema at its best.

I suppose the best way to appreciate a widescreen Cinemascope film is to have seen it on a large movie theater screen in the first place. I remember that day well, back in Brewster, NY, late 1959. My best friend David Vail and I were 7 years old apiece and thrilled at the prospect of being allowed to see the movie un-supervised (a very rare privilege) and the cavernous, dark movie theatre only heightened the sense of mysterium tremens. We felt as if we were fellow travellers, accompanying the Lindenbrook expedition on its mission to the center of the earth. Dimly aware that the film had scary elements, we vowed not to eat any of our limited budget sweets until a truly "scary" moment appeared. It took a while but it came. Many years later Spielberg and Lucas would pay homage to that moment in their throwback serial film "Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark" but in the intervening years I have had recurring dreams about being chased by a boulder down a narrow passageway.

"A Journey to the Center of the Earth" is a movie I see over and over again. Chiefly because the story is compelling and true to the quasi whimsical and scientifically speculative writings of Jules Verne. What I find appealing about Verne is that he is free from the cynical and existential bindings that have fettered other illustrious but more contemporary science fiction writers. Verne goes about his business unshackled by theorems, proofs and devastating world wars. The industrial revolution is barely a generation old and science is making great leaps. Anything is possible; a trip to the moon, a long voyage undersea, a journey to the innermost recesses of our planet. While you watch the film it is easy to suspend your belief because you are forced to place yourself in the context of the Great Explorations. The story simply draws you in for the same reason the tale of Sir Ernest Shackleton draws you in or the accounts of the last days of Pompei; or, a superb story like Edgar Allen Poe's "The Gold Bug" draws you in.

Levin's treatment of the tale is excellent. This is one of those rare examples where the film is better than the book. The dour trio of three male expedition members in the book is replaced by a balanced quartet, adding a greater range of human interaction, a little sexual tension (without it condescending or demeaning ot the female character) and a side plot (the nefarious and righteous Count Saknussem). The preamble is longer and the conceit of using a plumb line as the key element (McGuffin if) you will) is a stroke of narrative genius. The movie loses no momentum by investing time in character development and the the reasons for setting up the expedition. James Mason is perfect as the obsessed scientist. Pat Boone does a fairly good job as the "leading man" and male ingenue. Arlene Dahl is sophisticated and her Scandinavian background gives her role credibility. Hans in probably the only movie role he ever played is more than adequate as the practical, strong man. then there's Gertrude, played well by... a duck.

The story is well paced, nuanced and served well by a stunning score by one of the true masters of mood: Bernard Herrmann. At times airy and light the music also comments brilliantly on the action via horn arrangements and sultry, chilling cellos that give a a deep sense of foreboding.

On a deeply personal level I have in a strange way often compared this movie to the restlessness of the human spirit. Not merely the desire to physically travel, explore and report back from unknown regions but in the spiritual sense: to unravel the mystery of the self. As a 7 year old I would ponder the great inponderables, life, death, God, the meaning of existence and somehow this movie, cheesy special effects and all, has given me haunting sign posts that the only true travel is the voyage within. So, in a symbolic way, A Journey to the Center of the Earth is the moviegoer's experience of the vast uncharted regions of our deeper self. I know most readers will dismiss these "adumbrations" of the personal "cave" within but I leave you with a few lines from a song that was popular in 1959...

I know, beyond a doubt my heart will lead me there, soon we'll meet, I know we'll meet beyond the shore we'll kiss just like before and happy we'll be beyond the sea and never again, will I go sailing no more sailing.

A Journey to the Center of the Earth has adventure, whimsy and moments of awe with unexpected twists. The characters are at the mercy of the caprices of the nether regions. At times you feel as if the characters are journeying through unpopulated Dantesque landscapes, other times through the richness of primordial and unspoiled prehistoric settings. The voyagers start off darkly in the early teluric going and then by degrees the subterranean world glistens in a unexpected reversal of all that we are led to believe exists below our feet. The variety of visual delights is breathtaking.

This is my favourite film of all time. I have seen it 40-50 times and always find a detail or two at each screening that is imaginative and inspiring. See it if you can in wide screen. You will appreciate it more.

After reading some of the comments on this film I feel I have to spring to it´s defense. You see I am born and bred in Iceland and as I write this I am in front of my computer in Iceland, so you can believe me when I tell you that ALL THE ICELANDIC IN THIS FILM IS REAL. I understood almost everything that the Icelandic character in the film said and I can assure you that it was particularly articulate and well pronounced. Why someone said that it was fake, I don´t know. I am guessing that he did not hear it well because the sound can be pretty bad in these golden oldies. While we are on the subject let me also add that some of the facts concerning Iceland were wrong. The horse carriage used to transport the group to the volcano is out of place. The interior design of the hotel and the maitre d´hotel´s costume was a bit off. But it´s described like that in Verne´s novel as well so it´s no big deal. And besides every ethnic group is portrayed in a very stereotypical manner; Scots, Italians, everybody. Such nitpicking is therefore dull and unnecessary and people should just enjoy the film for it´s imagination.

While this film suffers from some annoying "cuteness" and has lizards parading as dinosaurs, it is nonetheless the best film version of the novel because Verne's themes of exploration and discovery remain. Bernard Herrmann's score is indeed fantastic and this film has a wonderful pace. The cast here is also very talented and the film is so well made one can forgive it its minor flaws.