Insomnia movie review: Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)

[Randomguy]

A little slow at he beginning, but a wonderful movie overall.  Everyone should watch this, there are lessons for all.

SPOILER ALERT!!!  - Scientists attempt a journey to the center of the earth.  

Rival scientists kill each other in a civilized way.  There is a young and hot fiance back at home they flash to occasionally to keep the perv in all of us interested, and a comely woman involved that is portrayed as older, but not by much.  She is also fairly easy on the eyes.  An oddly impressive and shirtless Pat Boone will keep the ladies engaged.  

Amazing discoveries are discovered.  There are rivalries that get in the way from time to time, and there is a fair bit of intrigue and danger. Dinosaurs are represented, and inner-earth seas are traversed  Volcano!

This is not a vegan movie. 

[AirwickWithCheese]

 

[Randomguy]

The hot fiancee:

The "older" woman, with Pat Boone:

Here she is again, with Gertrude the duck (RIP)

Gertrude the duck (RIP) was my favorite character, btw.  This was the best example of a duck acting in cinema history, I feel.

[Randomguy]

Here is a pic of Hans and Gertrude:

 

Gertrude was Hans' love interest in this movie.

Hans was an interesting character.  Typically nordic features, portrayed as speaking no English to advance the plot and make it necessary for the attractive widow to come along (she spoke the language).  The expedition seemed to treat Hans like a pack mule, never ascribing human feelings to him at all until they absolutely had to.  They don't build much into his character, but he is necessary in that he does much of the actual work involved.  He kind of gets shit on continually.  In fact, in one scene where a sentence of death is handed down on a rival scientist for shooting and wounding a shirtless Pat Boone, the expedition team hand Hans the gun to go ahead and carry out the sentence, and are genuinely surprised that he doesn't want to do it.

Hans needs dental work, but he doesn't get it in this movie.

[AirwickWithCheese]

I don't appreciate your ignoring my kind contribution to your struggling thread. 

[Randomguy]

3 minutes ago, AirwickWithCheese said:

I don't appreciate your ignoring my kind contribution to your struggling thread. 

 

[Randomguy]

4 minutes ago, AirwickWithCheese said:

I don't appreciate your ignoring my kind contribution to your struggling thread. 

It was a scene of great intrigue, I agree.  Definitely the money shot of the movie.

[late]

This flick is for those that like triple cheese on their pizza.

 

We all watch things late at nite that perhaps we shouldn't discuss in public?

Ouch.

[AirwickWithCheese]

30 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

The hot fiancee:

 

 

[Randomguy]

5 minutes ago, late said:

This flick is for those that like triple cheese on their pizza.

 

We all watch things late at nite that perhaps we shouldn't discuss in public?

Ouch.

I feel this is one of the best science fiction/adventure movies made in the 50's.  I had previously seen it at a science fiction film festival in 1986 or thereabouts, and thought it would be all schlocky and unenjoyable.  I was completely wrong, and felt it was a great movie then.   You tend to sometimes get overenthusiastic sometimes, so I earmarked this as one to see again, and I am glad to say that my opinion hasn't changed.

This is a good one to sit down and watch, especially at night when you can't sleep.

[maddmaxx ★]

Sorry, I couldn't watch your late night movie.  I was busy performing light leak checks.

[Randomguy]

18 minutes ago, AirwickWithCheese said:

 

She seems to be a passionate person.  In JthCotE, she waits and waits and waits for Pat Boone while the expedition goes on over a year or so, proving that she is not just some strumpet that will go where the wind blows her.  She represents all that is good with society in this role.

[late]

9 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

I feel this is one of the best science fiction/adventure movies made in the 50's.  I had previously seen it at a science fiction film festival in 1986 or thereabouts, and thought it would be all schlocky and unenjoyable.  I was completely wrong, and felt it was a great movie then.   You tend to sometimes get overenthusiastic sometimes, so I earmarked this as one to see again, and I am glad to say that my opinion hasn't changed.

This is a good one to sit down and watch, especially at night when you can't sleep.

Forbidden Planet

[MickinMD ★]

I loved the 1959 Journey to the Center of the Earth with James Mason, Pat Boone, and Arlene Dahl.

Consequently, like most remakes, I thought I would be disappointed with the 2008 Journey to the Center of the Earth with Brendan Fraser, teenage Josh Hutcherson and the hot-looking, blonde, Icelandic actress Anita Briem.

But I saw it in 3D and it, along with Avatar, is my favorite 3D movie.  Whether you are ducking to miss the anchor Hannah (Briem) throws out of a mining cart that comes flying out of the screen at you, sinking back in your seat to miss the bite of a dinosaur, or covering your head to protect it from hundreds of glowing birds, it's a thrill a minute.

The 2008 movie does not follow the same story line as the 1959 movie, but it's not a disappointment.  The 2008 plot is less developed and less intricate than the great 1959 movie, but the special effects make it a great 3D movie to see.

I watched it on a regular TV, running an Anaglyph (HBSB) video file on the freeware VLC Media Player set to Anaglyph and red-blue to match the 3D glasses I have: red-left blue-right lenses and ran the movie from my laptop to a TV via a HDMI cable.

In the scene below, with red/blue glasses, the tyrannosaur's teeth not only seem to be coming out of the screen toward you, those two circles between the teeth are one string of spit that converged into one ball of spit that flies out of the screen, crosses the room, and causes you to duck to miss it.

The 3D depth is incredible. Most 3D movies only a couple different 3D groupings. But, in this scene, in 2D your brain gives you an idea of the depth of the scene by the facial sizes, etc. But in 3D with red-blue glasses, the wooden pillar on the right in the foreground, then Hannah (Briem), then Sean (Hutcherson) then Trevor (Fraser), then the wall, etc. in the background are seen as having much greater depth.

The mine track scene is as scary as a King's Dominion Roller Coaster, especially where they jump the broken track:

The guys keep screaming and begging for the non-existent brakes while Hannah keeps calmly pumping arm of the handcar to propel them forward:

On a regular video player setting the flashlight scene above looks like the video below and works like the old stereoscope viewers from the 60's where you put in a disk and viewed the Grand Canyon, etc. in 3D due to two photos taken at slightly different angles - you can see below that Hannah on the left is slightly farther to the left of the pillar than she is on the right and that more of the pillar is visible on the left.  The video player software uses the lens colors you specify (usually red left - blue or cyan right, but other combinations exist) and combines the Half-Side-By-Side (HSBS) videos into a single picture with the red and blue accented halves on top of each other - that's why the above screen caps are slightly blurry and you see blue or red sticking out here or there.