Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)
An Edinburgh professor and assorted colleagues follow an explorer’s trail down an extinct Icelandic volcano to the earth’s center.
- Director: Henry Levin
- Genre:Adventure / Family / Romance / Sci-Fi
- Runtime:129 minutes
Cast
Pat Boone : Alexander ‘Alec’ McKuen
James Mason : Sir Oliver S. Lindenbrook
Arlene Dahl : Carla Göteborg
Diane Baker : Jenny Lindenbrook
Thayer David : Count Saknussem
Professor Oliver Lindenbrook (Mason), a newly knighted geologist from the University of Edinburgh, is given a piece of volcanic rock by his admiring student, Alec McEwen (Boone). Deciding that the rock is unusually heavy and, therefore, must contain Icelandic peridotite, Lindenbrook, mostly thanks to the carelessness of his lab assistant, Mr. Paisley, discovers a plumb bob inside bearing a cryptic inscription. Lindenbrook and Alec conclude that it was left by an explorer by the name of Arne Saknussem, who had, almost 300 years earlier, actually found a passage to the center of the Earth. After translating the message on the plumb bob, Lindenbrook immediately sets off with Alec as his assistant to follow the example of the Icelandic pioneer.
The first obstacle of the journey is revealed to be Professor Göteborg of Stockholm, who upon receiving a correspondence from Lindenbrook regarding the nature of the plumb’s message opts to beat the Scottish scientist to his goal of reaching the earth’s center.
Lindenbrook and McEwen chase him to Iceland. Once they are in Iceland, Göteborg, with the help of his goon, manages to kidnap both of them and trap them in an underground cellar, from where they are freed by a young athletic Icelander, Hans Belker (Ronson), and his duck Gertrude. They immediately proceed to the inn where Göteborg is staying and sneak in his room, where they find him dead. Lindenbrook, with the astuteness of a forensic scientist, combs the goatee of Göteborg and retrieves some potassium cyanide crystals. They conclude that he has been killed by some rival scientist.
Finding him dead before his expedition even began, Lindenbrook and Alec are suddenly supplied with all the materials they need for their project. Göteborg’s recent widow, Carla (Dahl), who at first vowed to destroy all her husband’s supplies rather than lend these to them, agrees to lend them his valuable supplies, including the much sought after Ruhmkorff lamps, if they included her in their adventurous trip. Lindenbrook, seeing that he has no choice, grudgingly agrees to take her along, and so four explorers (and a duck) are soon journeying to the heart of the Earth itself. Thus along with Lindenbrook and Alec, the group included Hans Belker, Gertrude, and Mrs. Göteborg. Read more
