Journey To The Centre Of The Earth. (U.)
Directed by Henry Levin. 1959 mins
Starring James Mason, Pat Boone, Arlene Dahl, Peter Ronson, Diane Baker, Thayer David, Alan Napier. 129 mins. A 4K Restoration out on Blu-ray from Eureka Classic.
This is a journey back to a time when you had to work for you pleasures, when children looking for a fun fantastical romp were expected to wade through the stodgy prose of a Jules Verne translator, and even the movies made you sit and wait for the good bits. This Verne adaptation takes around 45 minutes to get its protagonists under the surface of the earth, and even then it doesn't allow itself to get carried away with all that adventure stuff. But, its straight face is always offering up at least a hint of a smirk. It's a bundle of fun, but with dignity.
James Mason, marvellous James Mason, is the genius geology professor, the toast of Edinburgh, who on the day of being knighted discovers that there is a portal in an Icelandic volcano that leads down to the centre of the earth. Along with his young assistant (crooner Boone), the widow of a rival geologist, (Dahl), some Icelandic muscle (Ronson) and a duck, they start on their journey.
The script has jollied up Verne's tale, provided them with a villain (David), added a love interest for Mason's chauvinist professor but stays true to its spirit: the plot is still, basically just a journey to the centre of the earth, and the things they find there. Mason manages to send himself up, while taking it all very seriously. Boone takes his shirt off, sings a song, but is an agreeable companion for someone cast for nothing else but his ability to expand the audience reach. Neither though make much of an effort with a Scottish accent – probably one word in sixty has any kind of Scottish lilt.
The film's main pleasure are the normal ones from this era: the beautiful CinemaScope photography, the gaudy sets, matte paintings and lizards with fins strapped to their backs acting as the dinosaurs. There is also a Bernard Herrmann score that is, of course, magnificent but not much inclined to join in with the fun. In 1959 Herrmann would've been at the height of his acclaim, in the middle of a period when he would write his three most striking and effective scores for Hitchcock: Vertigo, North By Northwest and, still to come, Psycho. His score for this film is marvellous (there's a little hint that perhaps Danny Elfman's original Batman score found inspiration from it) but, with its use jarring and , discordant notes, maybe a little heavy handed for a lighthearted family film. .
Extras.
A little featurette showing how much better the film looks after its restoration and 20 minutes with that nice Kim Newman, who always has something engaging and enlightening to say about a film without making it sound like a read through of a thesis. Here he is good on the Verne revival of the fifties and Mason's on screen generosity towards his pop singing co star.
Directed by Henry Levin. 1959 mins
Starring James Mason, Pat Boone, Arlene Dahl, Peter Ronson, Diane Baker, Thayer David, Alan Napier. 129 mins. A 4K Restoration out on Blu-ray from Eureka Classic.
This is a journey back to a time when you had to work for you pleasures, when children looking for a fun fantastical romp were expected to wade through the stodgy prose of a Jules Verne translator, and even the movies made you sit and wait for the good bits. This Verne adaptation takes around 45 minutes to get its protagonists under the surface of the earth, and even then it doesn't allow itself to get carried away with all that adventure stuff. But, its straight face is always offering up at least a hint of a smirk. It's a bundle of fun, but with dignity.
James Mason, marvellous James Mason, is the genius geology professor, the toast of Edinburgh, who on the day of being knighted discovers that there is a portal in an Icelandic volcano that leads down to the centre of the earth. Along with his young assistant (crooner Boone), the widow of a rival geologist, (Dahl), some Icelandic muscle (Ronson) and a duck, they start on their journey.
The script has jollied up Verne's tale, provided them with a villain (David), added a love interest for Mason's chauvinist professor but stays true to its spirit: the plot is still, basically just a journey to the centre of the earth, and the things they find there. Mason manages to send himself up, while taking it all very seriously. Boone takes his shirt off, sings a song, but is an agreeable companion for someone cast for nothing else but his ability to expand the audience reach. Neither though make much of an effort with a Scottish accent – probably one word in sixty has any kind of Scottish lilt.
The film's main pleasure are the normal ones from this era: the beautiful CinemaScope photography, the gaudy sets, matte paintings and lizards with fins strapped to their backs acting as the dinosaurs. There is also a Bernard Herrmann score that is, of course, magnificent but not much inclined to join in with the fun. In 1959 Herrmann would've been at the height of his acclaim, in the middle of a period when he would write his three most striking and effective scores for Hitchcock: Vertigo, North By Northwest and, still to come, Psycho. His score for this film is marvellous (there's a little hint that perhaps Danny Elfman's original Batman score found inspiration from it) but, with its use jarring and , discordant notes, maybe a little heavy handed for a lighthearted family film. .
Extras.
A little featurette showing how much better the film looks after its restoration and 20 minutes with that nice Kim Newman, who always has something engaging and enlightening to say about a film without making it sound like a read through of a thesis. Here he is good on the Verne revival of the fifties and Mason's on screen generosity towards his pop singing co star.
