Customer Reviews

Earth's Core [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I really enjoyed this film when it came out at the theater in 1976, and I have owned the open-mat full screen version on VHS for a while now. When I found out this was being realeased on DVD I was pretty happy & ordered it right away. To my horror, MGM has dropped the ball for a change, and this Midnight Movie release is a total flub!

I became suspicious when I first watched the trailer, and right away it was obvious it was a badly matted, with the tops of people's heads clipped off. So I decided to ge out my open-mat full screen VHS and play them at the same time, switching between VCR & DVD player to compare. Here's where the fun begins...

The opening credits on the DVD are totally matted, blocking off the top & botom of the picture, and to make matters worse, the edges have been clipped quite a bit as well.

On the VHS the credits are near the middle, with a large empty area on the sides... The DVD has the credits zoomed in on, making them 3x as large, and going off the edge of the screen on the left & right.

Things gets stranger... Some scenes on the DVD appear to be from a truely 'widesceen' print, but approx. 80-90% of the movie is just matted full screen, blocking off much of the picture, and cutting the tops of people's heads off!

It looks like MGM took 2 prints; one a fullscreen (open-mat) print, and mabey a partial print that was widescreen, and spliced them together, then matted the fullscreen parts in an attempt to 'blend' it in. Arrgg!!

A few more problems I noticed, are that the color seems wrong on the DVD, way too much red. (yeah, its supposed to be red, but not THAT red.), and that the VHS copy I have exibits very little to no speckles at all on the source print, but the DVD is riddled with speckles, especially noticable during the opening credits. The DVD does however look alot better than the VHS as far as clarity, detail and sharpness goes.

I really waited a long time for this to come out on DVD, and I didnt even have very high expectations, considering the B-grade of this flic, but this DVD has turned out to be a huge dissapointment for me. Dispite it's great low price, I have already returned it.

Shame on you MGM, this DVD is a mess! Stop trying to be cash in on the trendy 'anamorphic widesceen' craze by selling terrible FAKE widescreen bunk!!!!

AT THE EARTH'S CORE (based on a story by Edgar Rice Burroughs) never quite achieves good movie status but you have to give it credit for trying. Thankfully the film is set in motion the minute the credit sequence ends. Cushing and McClure (the latter shamefully getting top billing) are set to do a test run with their "iron mole", a great looking giant drill. Only minutes after their journey begins the two men are knocked out. Shortly after waking the mole has a power failure and the two men find themselves AT THE EARTH'S CORE.
For the uninitiated the Earth's core is full of giant plastic plants, bird beaked monsters, a tribe of human slaves (that speak English), some bizarre pasty faced creatures that serve a strange race of hypnotic pterodactyls. The core is bathed in pink light (which eminates from the magma above). At first the color scheme is quite neat but after awhile it becomes a nauseating experience.
It is of course Cushing and McClure's job to end the pterodactyls reign and free the humans, especially the most attractive human, the scantily clad Caroline Munro.
Munro sports an outfit similar to the ones she wore in The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad (One wonders if such races would ever be saved if it weren't for beautiful women with sweaty cleavage). Her character, Dia, is an enslaved queen looking for the right man. McClure steps up to the plate but doesn't follow through with the native's customs and nearly loses Dia. Cushing later informs the dullard to be "forceful." McClure is clearly bothered by taking on such a masculine role at first but he gets into it quickly enough after Dia shows her submissive approval.
The humans manage to destroy their evil rulers and eventually Cushing and McClure return to Earth's surface (one of the film's intentionally funnier moments).
Cushing is most endearing as a wacky British scientist. He adds a level of touching humor and professionalism not usually found in such a picture. McClure is a fine enough actor but he annoyed me to no end. I am not familiar with his career so I am quite surprised to see such unappealing person as the star of this film.
The truth is the special effects are the star of the picture. Being a fan of non-CGI effects it is always a pleasure to see a film like this. That said, some of the effects are laughably bad. A particular standout is when a bird beaked dinosaur eats a man. The man is clearly a stuffed dummy. Surprisingly the camera lingers on the hysterical carnage for some time.

The DVD is part of MGM's impressive budget priced Midnight Movies series. The enhanced widescreen picture is excellent. The source print is clean and vibrant (almost too much so). The film's keyboard soundtrack sounds very John Carpenterish. The mono sound is strong. The DVD also includes a theatrical trailer which is in fine shape.

In the late 1970s Doug McClure made a career out of movies like this. Starting with THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT in 1975 he managed to come out with one such movie a year until WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS in 1978 (curiously titled on the Amazon catalog as WARLORDS OF THE DEEP). And this effort is the second in the "series" (the sequel to LAND, THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT was a 1977 release).
Essentially they follow much the same formula, in essence a group of people from a past era discover an unexplored realm, mingle with an undiscovered people and battle some of the cheesiest monsters ever committed to celluloid.
In this effort McClure plays David Innes, an American who agrees to back a Victorian scientist (played wonderfully by horror veteran Peter Cushing) in his experiment to bore into the side of a mountain in Wales. Sounds simple enough, except they misjudge the power of their contraption (the Iron Mole) and end up at the center of the Earth among a group of people enslaved by giant birds.
The mere physics aside this is a pure popcorn B-movie, but it is a lot of fun too. I'm a sucker for center of the earth movies, whether that be the classic James Mason version of JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH to the 2003 thriller THE CORE. So, perhaps it should be no small surprise that I have a fondness for this movie.
Of course there's also the power of nostalgia. I never saw this movie in the theater (though I did catch WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS there), but I saw it when it arrived on television. I must have been about 10 years old. In other words - I was too young to care about the physics that tell us that the center of the earth is pure molten, swirling lava. And too young to care that the giant birds were clearly just people in giant costumes, but not too young to notice that Caroline Munro was incredibly attractive. It's not surprising that the next year she would be appearing as a femme fatale in the James Bond movie THE SPY WHO LOVED ME.
Yes, Munro is a real attraction for this movie, but I also enjoyed the performances of Cushing and McClure in what is 90 minutes of 1970s camp. Overall it's worth a spin and the DVD includes the original theatrical trailer.

When I was a kid, Doug Maclure movies were a Sunday afternoon tradition. Giant rubber dinosaurs and paper mache monsters. Awesome!!! Still as much fun to watch today as they were 20 years ago.

Despite some of the more negative reviews for this movie, I found it really enjoyable! Sure, the monster special effects technology is not comparable with Jurassic Park, but keep in mind that this movie was made in the 1970's! Doug McClure and Peter Cushing made a very good team in this action-packed adventure film! The movie starts out in the Victorian age as scientist; Dr. Abner Perry (Peter Cushing) and his Geologic Engineering student; David Innes (Doug McClure) are embarking on a mission to test a manned underground drilling machine called "The Iron Mole". When the "Iron mole" goes off-course, the teacher and student duo end up in a place "like nothing on Earth", as stated by David Innes.
David and Dr. Perry end up getting captured and enslaved with humans, by Sagaths, the soldiers for the Majars who rule in the city of Pellucidar.
After finding a way to escape from the caves of the Sagaths, David, aided by a new human friend; Rah, returns to free the slaves and rescue Dr. Perry. The human tribes unite and Dr. Perry trains the tribesman on the skills of Archery, in order to revolt against the Majars and Sagaths, and destroy them.
I loved the comradery between David and Dr. Perry, and the protective nature that David showed for the doctor when they were being roughly treated by the Sagaths and all through the movie. David even, helped physically hold the doctor upright, on the long trip into the caves as they were being pulled along on a long chain of human captives, saying "Come on doc,...it can't be much further". David is a real gentleman, and he also was very courageous and protective for the woman he fell in love with, Princess Dia. He even fought for her protection against ugly men who attempted to "man handle" her!
The movie was filled with humor that may have been unintentional, by the "air-headed" character of Dr. Perry, and the "serious natured character" of David Innes. The antics of Doug McClure and Peter Cushing in this film, for example, when they were being chased by a giant "eagle-looking" bird, after crash landing at the earth's core, was comparable to the antics of the "Three Stooges". I couldn't help but laugh! I enjoyed this movie so much, I watch it frequently! It seems that I pick up on things that I did not previously notice before, the more times that I watch it! A fun and entertaining movie overall! Andrea Lynn Burcham

Despite all the bad Tarzan films that have been made over the years, "At the Earth's Core" is unquestionably the worst adaptation of an Edgar Rice Burroughs' book ever made. I gave this turkey one star because that's the fewest I could give it, If there was a negative star I would use it. The producers of this film took a science fiction adventure classic and made it into pure schlock. From the cheesy sets and costumes, to the rediculous special effects, this movie is bad. Doug McClure is way too old and way too fat to play Burroughs' hero David Innes. Burroughs' inner world of Pellucidar, with its mountains, jungles, seas, and tiny central sun has been reduced to a series of day-glo caverns where rubber suited refugees from a Maurice Sendak book romp. The Mahars, Burroughs' super intelligent race of pterosaurs look like scaly Muppets in this dog, and their apish servants the Sagoths have become pig faced things that grunt like electronic feedback. Do not buy this film! Buy the book which was just re-released this year in an excellent trade paperback edition with the original illstrations by J. Allen St. John.

Though modestly entertaining, this movie isn't nearly as cool as I remember my teenage self thinking it was when it came out. And I think the reviewer from Brentwood Bay, Canada is onto something: several scenes looked suspiciously cropped (sometimes on the sides, sometimes on the top and bottom) for a true widescreen print. Some upshots: the print is otherwise in good shape, with rich colors; the drilling machine is still a neat thing to behold; and although some of the monsters' costumes aren't the best, the optical effects that integrate the monsters into the same shots with the actors (and make a normal-sized guy in a monster suit appear to be fifteen feet tall) are polished and work quite well. So, there's enough here for genre fans to enjoy, as long as one doesn't expect too much. Also fun to think about: Peter Cushing probably filmed "Star Wars" right after he made this movie. Think of the man's versatility; his sinister Grand Moff Tarkin character in "Star Wars" is nothing like the scatterbrained professor-type he plays here, yet he pulled off both parts beautifully.

Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel AT THE EARTH'S CORE was his first novel in the Pellucidar Series. Pellucidar was the hollow earth where the adventures took place.

The 1976 film adaptation of this novel by Pinewood Studios added to the growing movie vault based on Burroughs' novels.

Perhaps, the most delightful character is Professor Abner Perry, the engineer, geologist, and paleontologist. Peter Cushing's Perry is absolute entertainment. It would be worth one's time just to watch this performance with those famous British one liners tossed in for good measure.

Perhaps, his most quoted line is -"You cannot mesmerized me. I'm British."

Doug McClure is at top form as American David Innes, the heir to a great mining fortune, who is more interested in the ladies than he is about his financial investment in Perry's subterranean prospector aka "the iron mole".

The iron mole is a wonderful machine with a dandy control room. The special effects and property crew had fun with this device.

Caroline Munro's Princess Dia is the love interest for David Innes. He had to travel to inner earth to find his true love. She is definitely a rare treasure.

Of course, the story needs a villain, and this villain is Hooja the Sly One who has designs on Princess Dia. He is definitely a crafty fellow.

The evil empire of the story is located at Phutra City. There, the Mahars, female giant birds, who must have escaped from a Japanese movie set, rule with mind control and fear. The brainless Sagoths are the henchmen of the Mahars. The Sagoths go into the tropical paradise to round up the humans from various unconferated tribes for their vast building projects. Also, the Mahars has this nasty habit of eating human females.

David Innes has to convince the various tribal leaders to work together to defeat the Mahars. Ra, the native hero in this movie, joins his voice in this chorus of unity in order to end human slavery to the evil Mahars and free Pellucidar.

The final battle has some gems as well as heroics. Special effects are not too bad considering the time period.

This film is worth your ninety minutes if you have a definite interest in this genre. Also, you should read the book as well as the whole Pellucidar novel series.

This is one of those rubber-monster movies that is so clumsily made and filled with stupid movie physics so common to this genre, but I love it! Sorry, I can't help it, but watching this one, and more like it(also recommended: THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT and HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP for more laughfests!) is funnier than any so-called comedy these days! Peter Cushing is Dr Abner Perry, a mad Victorian scientist who invents the Iron Mole, a steam-powered drilling machine(?!) financed by David Innes, a token American played by Doug McClure, a mainstay of 1970s B-monster-flix. When they get lost drilling they wind up, quite literally, at the earth's core and encounter telepathic dinosaurs with lions' tails(honestly), rock bridges over lava flow which cavemen cross with bare feet, an exploding fire-breathing toad . . . and Caroline Munro is on hand as Princess Dia. Basically our heroes have to help the cavemen defeat the Majar beasts(telepathic dinos) and a race of apemen which resemble cast-offs who failed the auditions for Planet of The Apes!
Cushing absolutely revels in his role as Dr Perry. Throughout his movie career, he made all kinds of weird and wonderfully amusing horror flicks and even played the big-screen incarnation of Dr Who in two Brit productions. He knows it, and in this one he can't help but act tongue-in-cheek, which works and is fun to watch.
The SFX are truly Godzilla-style in execution. We get close-ups of men in rubber suits that make them look bigger, Majar creatures on wires(you can see them), exploding mushrooms, a killer plant made from paintbrushes and a pink lava sky! 'This cannot be the Rhondda Valley!' Mr Cushing exclaims. And later on, he asserts to the creatures: 'You cannot mesmerise me, I'm British!' Great stuff!
Oh, and Caroline Munro, who made a great Bond villainness in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME a year later, looks delicious in a loincloth bikini. So, overall, if you love this sort of thing to poke fun at, you can't go far wrong. I get a strange satisfaction out of watching bad movies at times, and this is one of my cheesiest entries in my list of 'guilty pleasure' flix. One could also say that it might have inspired THE CORE(2003), a forthcoming disaster epic with equally silly physics!

This film is set in the Victorian period, where scientist Peter Cushing and his assistant Doug McClure use a large drilling machine to travel from one side to another of a Welsh mountain, but instead drill it the Earth's core where they discover a world ruled by flying men-reptiles and their soldiers over human slaves. They find large monsters and insects. Both men are captured by monster soldiers and after Doug escapes during a rebellion, he returns with a fellow warrior, Ra, to destroy the monster rulers. Both are captured by the soldiers, but Doug kills a large hippopotamus and frees Peter, Ra, and Gak, a old warrior, together with a female warrior, Te'a (Caroline Munro), and a cowardly warrior, Ugal. Ugal tells Jubal, an ugly warrior, to kill Doug so that Jubal can marry Te'a, but Doug kills Jubal and helps unite the divided tribes to destroy the monster rulers. The tribes destroy the rulers' city, but Ra dies and Ugal is killed whilst trying to escape in the city. Te'a tells Doug she cannot go with him to his world, and when Peter and Doug return, they end up outside the US White House.