I suppose that if you're going to make a movie about a group of religious scientists who use giant power drill to find a refuge from nuclear war deep inside the earth, this is how you should do it. Victor Kilian (who looked old even in 1951) leads a group of pioneers on an expedition to see how deeply their "cyclotram" (big drill) can take them.
When you think about it, how can you make a tedious trip to the center of the earth interesting? Well...there's a slight issue with some poison gas, one of the crew wanders off to do some unauthorized rock-climbing, a few mechanical malfunctions thrown in here and there, and lots and lots of banal dialogue. Finally--whew!--the cyclotram emerges in a giant cavern that resembles a surface shoreline. After some animal experiments go awry--all the little critters end up dead--and some unexpected crew casualties, the remaining folks head home. There's a panic scene, of course, before the big cyclotram bobs to the surface of the ocean.
This film's pretty typical of early 50s science fiction, with lots of morality thrown in. The special effects are shaky, but how exactly can you make a model drill convincing in this context? Not too bad, but nothing special.
When you think about it, how can you make a tedious trip to the center of the earth interesting? Well...there's a slight issue with some poison gas, one of the crew wanders off to do some unauthorized rock-climbing, a few mechanical malfunctions thrown in here and there, and lots and lots of banal dialogue. Finally--whew!--the cyclotram emerges in a giant cavern that resembles a surface shoreline. After some animal experiments go awry--all the little critters end up dead--and some unexpected crew casualties, the remaining folks head home. There's a panic scene, of course, before the big cyclotram bobs to the surface of the ocean.
This film's pretty typical of early 50s science fiction, with lots of morality thrown in. The special effects are shaky, but how exactly can you make a model drill convincing in this context? Not too bad, but nothing special.