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My father, who was a closet Monster Kid, took me to see JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH at the drive-in. Shortly after, a family vacation took us to Carlsbad Caverns where I kept looking for dinosaur footprints.

As some of the dialogue quotes above indicate, this film had some especially well written lines, particularly when spoken by actors like James Mason, Arlene Dahl, and Thayer David. I was already a Mason fan due to his Nemo in 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA. (I was momentarily disappointed that he didn't reprise the role in MYSTERIOUS ISLAND until I became equally enamored of Herbert Lom's interpretation.) The acting is top notch without one bit of condescencion or winking at the audience. Pat Boone gets an unfair rap, too, his acting is quite credible, his accent good enough, and he manages not to look a fool in a kilt. And I like his songs in the film.

I agree with Arch about the lizard dinosaurs, in fact, I'll go so far to say, if he didn't, that they are easily the best looking lizard dinos in any movie (not counting the last dino in Atlantis). I'll add to David's "first" the tumbling boulder sequence, which probably was done in some serial beforehand but hadn't been recreated in a long time.

While I appreciate Disney's serious attempt at filming Verne -- and he definitely set the template for this kind of film (but left out the female element) -- I find JOURNEY more convincing and exciting, a parade of wonders and favorite moments. Perhaps if Disney had used Bernard Herrmann and gotten a more dynamic score...? Of course, it's no wonder that Darryl Zanuck was so impressed with Herrmann's music for BENEATH THE 12 MILE REEF and mentioned the possibility of having the composer work on all of the CinemaScope pictures. Herrmann really comes through in this film, adding a dimension I doubt any other composer of the time could have achieved.

I like Gertrude. What could have been sappy and silly was handled just right. Unlike other pictures of this sort, Gertrude is used for more than mere set dressing or to make the kids laugh. Gertrude's end is at direct variance with the manner in which this sort of animal character was used in most other of these adventures.

The topic of feminism in genre films merits its own book. We've certainly seen a lot of strong women in genre films, women who can hold their own or even best the men. I think this element is a reason why a lot of these films hold up for audiences today, sometimes because it's ridiculously funny, other times actually letting the women show their stuff. This film utilizes that dichotomy in Mason's and Dahl's relation and I feel that the writing is well-crafted enough that it has become enjoyable to watch their back-and-forth as an adult. Mason's stubborn Professor being reluctantly pulled into the modern age and won over by the persistent and sure-of-herself Dahl.