A scientist and a macho hero type burrow into the Earth in a mechanical mole, and find a hidden world where stone age humans are subjugated by hypnotic pterodactyls (yes, really).
At The Earth's Core sneaked in about half an hour before Star Wars rewrote the manual for fantasy cinema. So we don't have motion control, high quality travelling mattes, fantastic model work, state of the art make up, seamless interaction between real and fabricated backgrounds - no, what we have are blokes in rubber costumes, lurid set lighting, and unconvincing miniatures.
Thing is, it captures Edgar Rice Burroughs Pellucidar quite well. Oh, it's all terribly unconvincing (especially the pterodactyls, even more so when they indulge in wobbly flying on all-too-visible wires), but the original books are written in prose which is even more purple than some of the set lighting.
Peter Cushing and Doug Maclure play the two protagonists efficiently enough, and Caroline Munroe is beguiling. But then, she always was.
At The Earth's Core sneaked in about half an hour before Star Wars rewrote the manual for fantasy cinema. So we don't have motion control, high quality travelling mattes, fantastic model work, state of the art make up, seamless interaction between real and fabricated backgrounds - no, what we have are blokes in rubber costumes, lurid set lighting, and unconvincing miniatures.
Thing is, it captures Edgar Rice Burroughs Pellucidar quite well. Oh, it's all terribly unconvincing (especially the pterodactyls, even more so when they indulge in wobbly flying on all-too-visible wires), but the original books are written in prose which is even more purple than some of the set lighting.
Peter Cushing and Doug Maclure play the two protagonists efficiently enough, and Caroline Munroe is beguiling. But then, she always was.