Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Kinda deep down there, isn't it?, January 21, 2003
This 1951 offering from Lippert Pictures takes us 2500 miles underneath the surface with a group of somewhat annoying scientists. Dr. Morley (dubbed the Prophet of Doom by at least one newspaper reporter) is an obsessive opponent of all things nuclear. Fearing that atomic weapons will destroy all life on earth, he recruits a group of scientists for his Society to Save Civilization, and they make plans to find a living space deep within the earth where man can survive and rebuild from the nuclear holocaust they see just over the horizon. After the group fails to secure any funding, a rich newspaper publisher's son forks over the cash and accompanies them on their monumental journey. It's your typical group of B-movie scientists: there is Morley, who seems lost and mad at the world all the time, a couple of scientists who basically push buttons and read dials, a young and attractive feminist scientist, an explosives man, and the paperboy. Of course, the group is constantly bickering and fighting, and no one likes the paperboy at all-at first. This had to change somewhat because, as you would expect, he has to put the moves on the lady scientist and she has to pretend to resist. How do our intrepid explorers go about their task? They design a cyclotram, basically a great big ugly metal boxcar with a humongous drill for a nose, ascend to the top of an extinct volcano, go down into the crater and start drilling through rock as they make their way downward. Every so often, they stop for a minute to fight or to provide an opportunity for one of them to die. They are rather bumbling amateurs when it comes to the deep exploring gig; you would have thought one of the scientists would have remembered to pack a lot of water. They sometimes even seem surprised to discover that it's actually pretty dark miles underground. I was led to believe the group ran into dangerous animals in the depths of the earth, but that is not true. There are similarities between Unknown World and Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth, as you would expect, but this film never develops the aura of plausibility that Verne's work had. To answer the question of how they will survive the intense heat of the earth's core, the geologist amongst them simply announces the fact that the temperature at the earth's core is actually lower than that on the surface. This movie is only about 70 minutes long, so it's short enough to not become too aggravating too quickly. Taken in the context of its time, it's really not such a bad movie. Some may also be interested to know that part of the movie was actually filmed inside New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Happy Childhood Memory!, April 1, 2005
This movie used to be a perennial on local television in L.A. in the early 1950s, and has always been a particular favorite of mine, then and NOW--REGARDLESS of the fact that it may not be one of the "greats" in the world of film. In fact, as a child, I was so enamored of the film's concept (digging your way into the center of the Earth), that I used to use my family's home laundry room as the "Cyclotram's" cockpit as I imaginarily tunneled my own way into the Earth! Reviewers who smugly dismiss this film as just a piece of junk should be themselves dismissed; ALL films are not "Citizen Kane", gang! INTERESTING FOOTNOTE: Victor Kilian, who plays the more-or-less leading character in the film (Dr. Jeremiah Morley) is NOWHERE listed in the cast credits, as he had been "blacklisted" as a suspected Communist in the infamous Hollywood witch hunts just prior to the film's release. In later years, he came back for a time as a regular on the "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" satirical television series.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Don't Judge A Man By The Size Of His Drill... , August 2, 2005
The world may be doomed, due to all those nasty atomic bombs. It's a good thing Dr. Morley has a plan! We'll send him and his team (in the cyclotram drilling machine) to the earth's core to find out if mankind can take refuge there after the impending nuclear holocaust. Well, the government laughs at Morley's idea and refuses to fund it. All seems lost until a young millionaire comes to the rescue. Soon, our heroic scientists and technicians are drilling through solid rock in their search for a subterranean paradise. It's a rough journey, as they encounter poison gas, cave-ins, floods, and many deaths along the way. UW isn't great, but it is good enough for any sci-fi collection. I enjoyed it, even though there were no monsters or prehistoric-type humanoids involved. There are some stretches of boredom, but at just over an hour in length, it still manages to move rather quickly. Watch it with VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, FANTASTIC VOYAGE, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, and FIRST SPACESHIP ON VENUS for an adventure-filled mega-marathon...
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