Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1959)

Alec McKuen: After all, we... we did hit the center of the earth.
Sir Oliver Lindenbrook:   It hit us, laddie.

Director:  Henry Levin
Producer:  Charles Brackett
Main Cast:  Pat Boone, James Mason and Arlene Dahl
Runtime:  129 minutes

No, this isn’t the 2008 remake with Brendan Fraser but rather the original 1959 film based the novel by Joules Verne.  The 50’s and 60’s brought us several of these adventure films and this one holds its position in the higher part of the ranks due to its quality cast and direction.  

It’s one of those classic movies that I recall seeing as a kid which fascinated me (well quite a few did in my younger age and they usually still do).  Just think about exploring a new world or better still a hidden world buried beneath our feet that is full of strange objects and creatures.  Just like that other classic The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm from 1962, the special effects will not cause the CGI people of the world to gape in awe, though for its time it was state of the art and even today it still inspires the imagination of the viewer.    

The film itself is certainly quite good and well worth watching especially if you enjoy these exploration type movies from the era.  It has a good dose of quality actors and actresses and simply tells the story of a scientist’s (James Mason) discovery of a way to enter into the earth’s core, so he and a few others (including Pat Boone, Arlene Dahl, Peter Ronson and a Goose) begin this journey by entering a cavern via the mouth of a volcano and there begins the group’s journey to the centre of the earth.  Will they all survive?  What will they find down there?  Will they ever see normal life again?  You will have to watch it and find out ☺

The Bluray reviewed is the Australian release by Shock DVD and from my knowledge uses the same video transfer as the original limited release from “Twilight Time” in the USA which saw only 3000 Blurays printed (they have since, in 2015, re-released another 5000 Limited Edition copy using a newer 4k transfer which is visually somewhat better than the Bluray we have here in Australia).  This means that the video quality is quite good with nice colour and sharpness for the vast majority of the film.  When you take into account that the original Twilight Time Bluray release in America cost USD30 + shiping we are getting a great deal because you can get basically the same disc for about $15 Aussie bucks from your local JB Hifi.  There are some instances of softness in the image however I reckon that stems more so from an issue with the source film as opposed to the video transfer.  The Audio comes in two flavours being a remastered DTS HD Master Audio 4.0 and there is also an isolated score in DTS HD Master Audio which is basically just the music soundtrack.  I listened to the standard soundtrack and it sounded quite good for the age of the film.

As a classic discovery type movie, it really is worth watching and comes recommended.

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