Living under the threat of an atomic holocaust, a group of scientists build the Cyclotram, a vehicle capable of drilling to the center of the earth. Dr. Jeremiah Morley and his team enter the earth through a volcano in search of an inhabitable new world 1,500 miles below the planet's surface. Their mission is threatened by disaster as their water supply is contaminated and two members of the team are killed by toxic gas. They find an underground cavern, which may be the new world they seek, but when they begin their testing, the scientists discover an unexpected surprise. New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns provides the set for many of the inner-earth scenes and director Terry Morse (Godzilla, King of the Monsters) delivers otherworldly scenery and outstanding special effects. This sci-fi odyssey touches on the nuclear paranoia of the Cold War era with chilling effect.
D**R
Not really that Schlockly
The prime tagline for this movie calls it a schlock classic, but it's actually not. It's earnest, subdued, and a little unusual.It's the fifties, and the atomic age has begun. One prominent scientist is appalled, and creates a small society of scientists to look into humanity surviving nuclear devastation. The plan is to explore deep inside the earth for a place where humanity can live, and the plan is to build an underground all-terrain vehicle to get them there. However they struggle to find any funding, until a playboy offers to do so on the condition he can join them. They reluctantly accept, and go deep into the earth's crust, often struggling to survive.It's not really a camp classic, or have a ridiculous setting like many fifties SF films. The science is bad, but it's sort of a subdued film about exploration; think Journey to the Center of the Earth, but with very little science fantasy to it. Just enough to explain the journey. It's a bit of a sermon, but sort of a different one than you'd expect. It's an interesting movie if not a good one.Unfortunately the ending just fizzles. The movie is slow due to low budget and limited sets. There's a lot of arguing to make up for it. It's a lot more mundane than the average 50's sf film. Still, it's an interesting watch if you are in the right mood; sort of a 50s low budget H.G. Wells pic with less whimsy; like First Men in the Moon without the Tellurides.
P**D
Enjoyed it! Why care about science!!
I for one don't care about the science behind this movie or any movie, 99% of movies are not factual, I enjoy watching old sci-fi movies, the worse they are the better they are. But the problem with this movie, approx the first 15 mins is poor quality. It skips (pops) mid scene cutting out maybe a second or two several times. The overall quality is poor too during the first 15 mins, big white circle (overheated film scar) many times. Still doesn't mean that makes this a flick not worth watching for $6. The film used to reproduce this was of poor quality, it's what you get when the money is not spent to HD and a quality reproduction, that would mean the consumer price to go up. After they enter the volcano, the quality gets a lot better, it's still not framed correctly. Like many sci-fi of the 50s, atomic age and all its ramifications created movies like this. The cyclotram is awesome, metal mole. Acting is B but again, that is what makes these flics good. This is part of my collection of 1950s sci-fi and I will watch it many times for enjoyment.
P**L
You really must appreciate the message
OK can be classified as shlock, but the message is clear and still valid. I recommend highly , if only to see that even more than 60 years ago some people in Hollywood did not have their heads up their behinds. For example, pay attention for the attractive female doctor, biochemist and ardent feminist! IMHO this is quite timely.
B**G
1950s Sci-fi - Enjoyable
If you love old-fashioned sci-fi movies, this one is worth watching. The entire premise is scientifically ridiculous. Accept that without judgment and you can enjoy the spectacle of a submarine boring toward the center of the earth as tensions mount among the crew.
J**N
My 5 star rating system. I loved the old sifi movies, and this dud was new to me.
1 star: couldn't watch more than 15 minutes. Unwatchable!2 star: jumped my way to the end for the ending. Unwatchable, but interested in how this turd ended.3 star: watched it all, but not happy about it. Nothing better to do.4 star: I watched it, liked it well enough. Would never watch it again.5 star: Great moving picture show! I'll watch it again, and maybe again in a few years.
R**T
Not a schlock classic
The acting so-so, the production values are passable, the SFX are typical 1950's low budget stuff, but all in all it's an okay film for what it is. That is to say it's not a horrible film, but it's not great art either. There's much room for improvement, but if I were a kid going to a matinee back in the 50s. then this film wouldn't bother me.In fact there've been other films tackling the exact same subject, and even with larger budgets and name casts, those films, notably "At the Earth's Core" were ostensibly worse than this film. Make of that what you will.Overall it's moderately entertaining. If you've got nothing better to do, need a scifi hankering satisfied, then maybe check out this film to kill an afternoon.
K**.
DoH!
I made a mistake.... bought this and then remembered that I already had a copy of this film - it was one of the movies in the "100 Movie Pack Sci-Fi Classics" mega pack. Anyway, this seems to be a slightly better copy of the film, plus the one 'extra" is a slideshow catalog of movie posters that Alpha Video offers which I found interesting.As several of the other reviewers mentioned, this is a 1950's take on the 'Journey to the Center of the Earth" story. I like old b/w movies like this, which is why I'm giving it 4 stars.
F**N
Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by submarine
There's nothing really original here. It's hugely laughable premise is based on "mankind will destroy itself so let's travel 1000's of miles down to ride out a nuclear apocalypse", but the rest is basically lifted from Verne's novel.It's not horrible, but it's not good, either. Calling it a schlock movie would be accurate. It's typical 1950's fare, with bad music, bad acting, bad lighting, bad direction, bad editing bad special effects and all the other wonderful things 1950's sci-fi fare had. To be charitable, the effects were somewhat above average (you didn't see the wires THAT often) and they made an effort to show things, instead of just reactions to things you wanted to see (ala the horrible 2010 live-action Star Blazers movie). So that brings it up to at least a three.If you're like me and like "Good" bad movies, it's acceptable.
E**P
Abysmal quality
Amazon insist that you give a star rating, hence one star. It deserves minus ten. The quality is abysmal. It looks as if it has been taken from a third generation video tape. Not only that, but the picture is poorly framed with a large part of the right side cropped, so that the names of the cast are missing the last letters. Don't waste you money.
M**E
This a very b-movie but I like to watch a lot of b-movies
This a very b-movie but I like to watch a lot of b-movies , the sound and picture is ok so if you want to get this film understand it is what people say is a bad b-movie but it is well worth getting this DVD .
H**Y
TERRIBLE Quality - unwatchable.
Unwatchable. Such a VERY poor transfer to DVD, visually terrible in that it looks like someone aimed a video camera at a TV. As for sound, unbelievably muffled and useless.
M**S
CHEAP B MOVIE
JUST SO CHEAP SO GOT IT ,NOT BAD AS EARLY B MOVIE I SUPPOSE,BUT WORTH THE PRICE.BIT CRANKY IN PARTS
M**N
Three Stars
Typical B movie. Bruce shoul have stuck to breakfast serials
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