Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959) in '50s Horror and Sci-Fi Forum

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Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)

Author	Comment
Rakshasa	Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)	Lead	[-]
Jun 15 06 8:08 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I searched for a pre-existing thread on this film, but came up empty. "KAI YAI! KAI YAI!" shouts Pat Boone as he tumbles into a giant pile of salt and gazes at giant mushrooms. I just bought this classic on DVD and started watching it late last night (I fell asleep. It was very late). JTTCOTE was a staple on NYC/NJ's 4:30 Movie in the 70's. I remember they had to make it a two-parter because it was so long (watching it last night, I realized that well over an hour goes by before we see any dinosaurs). I have a great fondness for this flick. Any other Gertrude The Duck fans out there?
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Doc Savage	Re: Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)	#1	[-]
Jun 15 06 8:22 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	A terrific movie. I look at the DVD about once a year; luckily, a few years ago, the Walter Reed Theater here in New York played it on a double bill with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. (They should've called it "Jules and Jim.") I have a great fondness for both pictures.
taraco	Re: Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)	#2	[-]
Jun 15 06 8:39 AM Burgomaster Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	This movie defines the best movie experiences of my childhood. JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH was stupendous in every way with a great cast, oversized sets, endless surprises and even giant lizards I could believe in. It has an unforgettable escape at the end as well. The sun pointing to the lost Ark in RAIDERS? Done first in JOURNEY. And the opening Bernard Herrmann score goes to depths only Bach could reach. When I say films have a good 'heart,' it is always in comparison to JOURNEY, which was perfect in every way and what films for a Saturday afternoon should be. david 'Next time, you go center of Earth, Hans go, too.'
BijouBob8mm	Re: Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)	#3	[-]
Jun 15 06 9:33 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	A great fun film, which I used to scan the TV Guide listings for as a kid. Would love to have seen that big screen pairing of it with 20,000 LEAGUES, which is another life-long favorite. (Jules & Jim, indeed!) Bernard Herrmann's music had such a signature sound that, even before I knew who he was, the moment the opening strains of MYSTERIOUS ISLAND came on during my first viewing of it, I knew right away it was by the same guy who did the score for JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH.
Rakshasa	Re: Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)	#4	[-]
Jun 15 06 9:41 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* Bernard Herrmann's music had such a signature sound that, even before I knew who he was, the moment the opening strains of MYSTERIOUS ISLAND came on during my first viewing of it, I knew right away it was by the same guy who did the score for JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH. Absolutely. Even as a little kid, I knew there was something special about that music and that it somehow connected all these films together. I still get chills just THINKING about the music from Jason, Mysterious Island, and Journey To The Center Of The Earth.
Renfield	Re: Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)	#5	[-]
Jun 15 06 10:23 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	For some reason, this flick was not a fave with us kiddies at the Saturday Morning Matinee 'way back when. Maybe it was that stupid duck. Joe "Renfield" Meadows HORROR-WOOD Webzine http://www.horror-wood.com
Rakshasa	Re: Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)	#6	[-]
Jun 15 06 10:41 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*****The post I was responding to here somehow got deleted. Never mind...
SAM33	Re: Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)	#7	[-]
Jun 15 06 11:36 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I like it a lot - Pat and the duck do get a bit much, but Mason, the music and script make up for it. Pretty faithful to the book considering. For my money, the best use of "blown-up-real-lizards" for dinos in any film - heck, they DO look like Dimetrodons! SAM33
luluthebeast	Re: Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)	#8	[-]
Jun 15 06 11:48 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I loved seeing it on the big screen as a kid!
grgstv338	Re: Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)	#9	[-]
Jun 15 06 1:08 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I've always loved this movie; I even though Pat Boone and Gertrude were good. (although the 4:30 movie usually cut Pat's song). And Thayer David made a great villain.
Wolfman Joe	Re: Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)	#10	[-]
Jun 15 06 1:55 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Speaking of this film: for you NYC-based monster kids, one of JOURNEY's stars, Arlene Dahl, is scheduled to appear at the Film Forum tonight, following the screening of her film SLIGHTLY SCARLET (part of their B-Noir series, which ends tonight, I believe). I would've posted this earlier had I known earlier!
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BijouBob8mm	Re: Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)	#11	[-]
Jun 15 06 1:56 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Don't know if any of you remember the Airmont Classics paperbacks (the ones sold in the pages of Famous Monsters). These had incredibly cool cover art, even if it often had little to do with actual events in the story. My first copy of JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH was from them, and showed a futuristic boat afloat in a sea of lava, with the crew encased in protective clothing and helmets that made them look like astronauts.
grgstv338	Re: Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)	#12	[-]
Jun 15 06 3:29 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I bought all those Airmont classics, even when I already had another edition of the book, just for those great covers. (Of course, if you went ahead and tried to read them, several had very small, cramped type.)
taraco	Re: Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)	#13	[-]
Jun 15 06 5:09 PM Burgomaster Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I thought the book shows a brontosaurus or something attacking the raft? Maybe that's another edition...? I had a Pocket Book version, with (I think), the crystal jewel cavern on the cover.
BijouBob8mm	Re: Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)	#14	[-]
Jun 15 06 5:26 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* I bought all those Airmont classics, even when I already had another edition of the book, just for those great covers. Me, too! And, should they ever have another round of reprints and I find volumes I don't have, I'll probably try to fill in the gaps. David, I think I've seen a couple of different editions that showed a bronto attacking the raft over the years...including a recent edition. (Can't think of the publisher, offhand.)
Rapfred	Re: Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)	#15	[-]
Jun 15 06 6:01 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	>>I thought the book shows a brontosaurus or something attacking the raft? Maybe that's another edition...?>> The cover art of the Classics Illustrated comic book edition, perhaps?
Bill Warren	Re: Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)	#16	[-]
Jun 15 06 6:17 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The cover of the Classics Illustrated version properly showed a plesiosaur and an ichthyosaur battling near the raft. Great cover, too.
Arch Stanton	Re: Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)	#17	[-]
Jun 15 06 7:27 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I think this an okay film now. It holds up in many ways (some of the sets and Herrmann's score, for sure), but it's disappointing in several other ways. But when I was a kid, it was heaven! It had everything I wanted in a movie. Even the lizard dinosaurs were good, and that's something that's very hard for me to admit. I remember making a 'pendulum' (or whatever the surveying device they find in the dried lava chunk is) out of plasticene, even enscribing it with AS's message, or a variation thereof. In short, the film had a definite effect on my Monster Kidness.
SAM33	Re: Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)	#18	[-]
Jun 15 06 7:43 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Here's the 1965 Scholastic Book edition I still have with a Mort Kunstler cover. And here's that Classics Illustrated cover - mine's from May 1957, the month and year I was born, but it may have originally been published earlier, many of these date to the 40's and early 50's. Not sure of the artist here, might be Norman Nodel SAM33
SAM33	Re: Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)	#19	[-]
Jun 15 06 8:02 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Did a little digging -The May '57 issue is the first edition, and Norman Nodel did the inside art, not sure about the cover. Check out this German site for some cool variations! www.jules-verne-comics.de/007_reise_zum_mittelpunkt.html
davlghry	Re: Journey	#20	[-]
Jun 15 06 9:44 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The fate of Gertrude the Duck... the discovery of those scattered feathers.. was one of the most awful moments of my childhood.
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Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959)

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