Rhapsodies

For this week’s selection I went with the theme of hollow earth courtesy of Messer’s Edgar Rice Burroughs and Jules Verne.

The first, At the Earth’s Core, is extremely loosely based on the first of Burroughs’ Pellucidar novels of the same name. It is a cheesy piece of fluff that somehow remains entertainng. The plot can be boiled down to “hero and absent minded inventor take a rocket drill to an underground kingdom, get captured by psychic pterodons, rescue a beautiful princess who falls in love with the hero, escape, lead natives in rebellion against the psychic pterodons and go home.

Really. That’s it.

But somehow this all stays fun. The effects are completely fake, with split screen, hand puppets and monster suits but strangely while being completely unconvincing I found a lot of this in an aesthetically pleasing in a theatrical sort of way. (Though I seriously doubt this was done on purpose.}

On a side note, Peter Cushing is hilarious playing blatantly against type as the absent-minded inventor.

For the second film we the first of many adaptations of Journey to the Center of the Earth. I first remember being aware of the adaption (I was already aware of the book.) from watching the Filmation cartoon based on the film. (I knew it was based on the film and not the book because of the duck.)

For the most part, all it kept from the book was the general outline fleshing things out by adding a villain and a larger cast (and the Gertrude the Duck for comic relief)

I have a sneaking suspicion that this was mad to cash in on the success of Walt Disney’s 20,00 Leagues under the Sea, right down to the songs, but even so it was fun with some spectacular sets and matte painting. The main downside was some of the special effects. Near the climax the expedition is attacked by “dimetrodons” which consisted of Rock Iguanas (and I could have sworn I saw one Monitor Lizard) with fins strapped to their backs. I’ve been aware of this “technique” for years but I’m pretty sure this is the first time I ever actually seen it. And with this week’s marathon of cheesy effects I’m at a loss to decide which is more egregious, the costumes or the lizards.