The movie of the day is the 1959 classic Journey to the Center of the Earth released in 1959. Based on the book by Jules Verne. The plot is very simple and slow moving it follows a professor and his colleagues on a chase to go where no man has gone before. The movie takes quite some time to get moving and you are not treated to any interesting scenery until about just past the halfway mark.
Some of the gear is what we today call “Steampunk” but by the standards then very sci-fi looking. Characters are rather uninteresting and it’s hard to develop any rapport with them or care about them in any way.
Some of the matte painting is absolutely outstanding as shown below. Special effects at the time I’m sure were amazing. Nothing like taking a dinosaur fin and gluing it to the back of a iguana!
When it comes to book to movie adaptations I have to say stick to the book on this one. Your imagination can do so much more than this movie ever could.
Overall though the quality of the reproduction in 1080p is outstanding and looks and sounds out of this world. By far the best version I’ve ever seen having seen this on VHS and DVD they don’t hold a candle to the digital restoration that is the Blu-Ray copy.
