Journey to the Center of the Earth

1959 "A fabulous world below the world"
7| 2h12m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 16 December 1959 Released
Producted By: 20th Century Fox
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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An Edinburgh professor and assorted colleagues follow an explorer's trail down an extinct Icelandic volcano to the earth's center.

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Director

Henry Levin

Production Companies

20th Century Fox

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Journey to the Center of the Earth Audience Reviews

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!
Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation
Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
Maleeha Vincent It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
Mihai Toma After receiving as a gift a volcanic rock, which contains an important clue, an already famous geology professor sets out to Iceland, in order to find a supposed passage which might lead to the center of the earth. At the same time though, two other characters are on their way to find the same passage, in an attempt to gain instant fame.It's a movie based on a classic book by Jules Verne, which presents the fantastic journey to the center of the planet. Although starting a bit left footed, the characters dedicate a vast period of time for their travel, finding more and more miraculous places and beings along the way. It's plot and characters are very well made and described, along with several twists which are meant to increase the drama and interest. Although a bit predictable, but this is mostly because of the book I know, it manages to be a good watch until the end, even bringing a couple of unexpected moments along the way. What is to be mentioned though are the visual effects, which by today's standards are way too primitive, but they shouldn't be harshly judged. It looks decent for a film made about sixty years ago, but don't have high expectations from its visuals.Overall, I find it to be an enjoyable movie, with a deep retro felling which I like, which tells a classic story in its own unique way. It's a good watch for everybody who wants to relive a classic story, especially through an old film like this one.
Hitchcoc I know that some of the viewers of this say that it is really quite striking for the 1950's. I disagree. Good movies can be made and special effects can be good. In this film, it looks tacky from beginning to end. Those that were decent were overshadowed by bad acting and a poor story. I can barely watch Pat Boone on the screen. His syrupy, tired delivery really detracts from the film. He should have stuck strictly to producing bad music. I did enjoy James Mason, though. He is a fine actor who has proved himself over many decades. If one is satisfied with a two bit story (which insults the Jules Verne novel) hang in there. Sorry, it just isn't very good.
jimbo-53-186511 Oliver Lindenbrook (James Mason) is an Edinburgh based scientist who has recently been knighted after becoming Edinburgh's greatest scientist. One of his students Alec McKuen (Pat Boone)purchases a piece of lava for Mr Lindenbrook. Lindenbrook is intrigued by this piece of lava and accidentally discovers that the piece of lava that he's acquired may have originated from a volcano in Iceland which may be directly linked to the 'centre of the earth'. Determined to find out if this piece of lava did originate at the centre of the earth, Lindenbrook and McKuen head off to Iceland, but they encounter many problems along the way.Whilst I did enjoy this film on the whole I must admit the start of the film was a little bit cheesy, twee & sickly-sweet; the weird bit at the start where all Lindenbrook's students are singing to him, the early scene involving McKuen and Lindenbrook's daughter Jenny (Diane Baker). This scene contained some really cheesy and mushy dialogue (it actually made me cringe). Then just after that he started singing to her - ughh!!. Was all this really necessary? Thankfully, after these few cringeworthy early scenes the film does settle down and the adventure soon begins...One thing I liked about this film is that it was a lot of fun - the interaction between the characters was great, the chemistry was good between the principal cast and they all shared good camaraderie. Mason & Dahl were particularly good and you could see that there was a definite power struggle for leadership between the two of them. The film is also slightly sexist in that Lindenbrook initially won't allow Goetabaug to accompany them merely because she's a woman - I think that people need to remember that this film was made in 1959 where sexism and equal rights weren't as prevalent as they are now. I'm not condoning the sexism, but merely stating that it wasn't an uncommon thing in this era. There is a positive spin on this though because Gotabaug for the most part was portrayed as being bright and fairly resourceful rather than a clichéd bimbo or damsel in distress.The only other minor issue relates to food; about 2/3 of the way into the film it's mentioned that they've been travelling for 256 days (which is roughly 9 months), yet they only have a handful of provisions at the start of the journey which begs the question; did they really have enough supplies for 9 months? Even by rationing your intake, I think you'd need more supplies than you'd be able to carry. These issues didn't affect my overall enjoyment of the film, but I couldn't help but think about them during the running time.This is an excellent adventure film and despite the glaring lack of logic within one aspect of the narrative it was still a lot of fun and it also contained some great dialogue and a few memorable characters. It's only really spoilt slightly by its cheesy/sickly-sweet start, but if you can get past the first 15 minutes it's absolutely first-rate.
Prismark10 This is a fantastic film. I watched it as a small child and the memories stayed with me since then. A fantastical film based on Jules Verne's book. James Mason is perfectly cast as Edinburgh Professor Lindenbrook who embarks on his journey when he comes across a piece of strange Volcanic Rock.Along with one of his students, the widow of a rival explorer, athletic Icelander Hans and his duck they try to reach the centre of the earth. They come across subterranean oceans with giant mushrooms, whirlpools, giant lizards. lost civilisations. Hans duck is in danger from a rival aristocratic explorer.The whole film is an adventurous ride with a lot of humour, some dastardly bad guys and a wonderful score. The special effects may now look aged but it is a film worth exploring.