8mm Forum: Journey to the Centre of the Earth

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Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on January 30, 2013, 09:02 PM:

At long last, a digest of one of my favourite Jules Verne adventures
I imported the film from Germany, so obviously the language is
of that country, no problem, it's a very well known story. So the
projector was threaded up, the Marketing Logo hit the screen
then the first bars of Bernard Herrmans score and the usual
Letraset titles lead us into the role call by James Mason as Prof.
Lindenbrook, of his intrepid band of explorers before their descent into the earth.On their way,they find a crystal cave, cause a flood, and Pat Boone as Alec McKeowan manages to
get lost and stumble into the camp of Count Saknussem, a rival
of Lindenbrook. He wounds the young man when Alec refuses to carry the Counts equipment.The balance is restored when
the Professor turns the tables on his adversary.The big Icelander
known as Hans, spies a trail of duck feathers leading toward an
outcrop of rocks where the Count is occupied, realising that the
Count has eaten his feathered friend, the guide attacks the Count, who after a struggle is buried in a rock fall.
The film then moves to what is left of Atlantis and the discovery of an earlier explorer, a skeletal finger points the way out.Unfortunately the escape route is blocked by rock, but
gunpowder left in the dead explorers satchel, solves that problem, although the blast also rouses the dormant volcanoe and a huge liizard that tries
to consume them but is covered in molten lava as the heroes are thrown up through the chimney of the volcanoe while being
protected from the lava by means of a huge altar stone.
The heroes are discharged into the sea, and the final scenes
are on the steps of Edinburgh University with original end titles.
I was disappointed in the way that the German editor missed
the point of the whole exercise, no mention of their encounter
with the Dimetrodons, the mushroom forest, or the Saknussem Ocean with the raft/whirlpool sequence that was integral to the
plot as this was the centre of the earth.What we have are chunks of the film that serve as a souvenir, rather than a condensation of the whole.A pity as in 18 minutes the story
together with the scenes mentioned could have been incorporated and a worthwhile digest might have been formed.
The sound is loud and clear, the picture was something of a letdown, being slightly faded and dark, very similar to the 400'
"Raiders" I used to have. The film is presented "letterboxed"
The packaging is excellent as you would expect from Marketing, is the
blue box enclosed lid type.

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on January 30, 2013, 09:39 PM:

Hugh,

Thanks so much for the review. I'm also a huge fan of this movie and I'm sorry to hear that Marketing decided to edit the feature this way. You're absolutely right....a decent 400' digest could've been done.

Doug

Posted by Joe Balitzki (Member # 438) on January 31, 2013, 01:40 AM:

What a shame! A pity that Ken Films or Derann never released this. I am not sure enough footage could have been included in a 400' digest to make the story more comprehensive. But that is a poor edit no question about it. I am quite fond of the feature myself.

Posted by Michael Beyer (Member # 1143) on February 06, 2013, 04:19 AM:

Can I make you jealous, when I say, that I have one of the 4 existring full features of the film ? [Big Grin]

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on February 06, 2013, 05:20 AM:

On the contrary Michael, I'm very pleased for you, and I hope the
other copies are in safe hands too. Far better to be in the care of
a caring collector like yourself than to be thrown away and lost.
Congratulations.

Posted by Ron Douglas (Member # 2990) on February 11, 2013, 03:32 PM:

Fabulous Michael! That's a real gem to have. Can I ask how you know there are only 4 copies of this full feature?
Best wishes

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