Tonight we backpedaled a bit after the spectacular success of "Phantom From 10,000 Leagues". I found a movie that sounded great on IMDB, but didn't turn out to be so hot when I actually watched it. But hey! It wasn't terrible (not compared to "Petrified World" anyway), so I guess the situation could've been worse. It was called "Unknown World" (1951), the story of a team of scientists who drill deep into the Earth in search of a safe haven against nuclear warfare. Physicist Jerimiah Morley (Victor Kilian) is worried about The Bomb, so worried that he organises a tunneling expedition, to look for caverns below the Earth's crust. Morley is a believer in the Honeycomb Theory, that our planet is pocketed with giant caves, created over the eons by dripping seawater. He gathers a team of scientists, from different disciplines, all with the same goal of saving civilisation. Now all they need is the dough for their drilling machine.
After a corporate bigwig pulls the plug on funding, the expedition is saved when his son (Bruce Kellogg), a carefree playboy, agrees to front the cash himself - but only if he's allowed to tag along. The team's chief engineer (Andy Ostergaard) doesn't like this idea, feeling - rightly, as it turns out - that Kellogg is a reckless dilettante, one who could cause problems for the group once their journey is underway. But the Chief's warnings are overruled by Dr. Morley, who declares that the mission is too important to be canceled. Bottom line, either Sonny Boy gets to go, or no one does. Okay, hop in then, kiddo.
A Gigantic Excavating Machine, known as the "Cyclotram", is manufactured to Dr. Morley's specifications and soon the jaunt is underway. Morley, Kellogg and Chief Andy are joined by four others, among them a Geologist, a Wise and Genial Professor of European Extraction (de rigeur in these movies), an Air Force Hard Guy, and a Beautiful but Serious Female Doctor, so don't try any hanky panky you Bozos.
As they bore ever deeper - 2 miles, 50 miles, 300 miles......2500 miles! - they encounter many problems, such as lack of water and oxygen, personality clashes that lead to a life or death challenge, and a loss of faith in the Honeycomb Theory : the Earth appears to be solid after all. But the main problem they run into is a lack of imagination, or perhaps an insufficient budget. Maybe it's not fair to blame this one on the screenwriter because he does present a series of conflicts, most of them psychological in nature, that offer some interesting exchanges between the characters.
"Why are we doing this"? "Is Mankind Worth Saving"? "Does Man Rule Nature or Nature Rule Man"? "Wouldn't It Be Better For Us To Fight Against War Than To Run Away From It"? This is all very thought provoking, but it goes on too long. These diatribes are broken up by the antics of young Master Kellogg, who - in trying to get his money's worth - is continually agitating for some action. "We'll never find these caves if we don't get out of this contraption and look around"! This is where the Mortal Challenge will occur, when the Hard Guy gets sick of Kellogg's complaining and accedes to his demands. "You wanna get out? Alright, follow me"! This leads to a Journey To The Center Of The Earth - type moment, where Kellogg - not as macho as he though he was - finds himself clinging to a ledge by his fingertips, with only the Hard Guy to help him up. Something else will take place here, but I can't tell you what it is.
There will be a romance, also. The Serious Female Physician, of all people, will fall for the immature, posturing Kellogg. She takes to the spoiled rich boy because he's now the underdog. The others aboard have all shunned him, and as predicted, Chief Andy's warning has come true. Kellogg has nearly ruined the mission. But the Beautiful Doctor sees something good in him. Will he change his ways and man up, in time to redeem himself? She believes he will.
There's a decent story in all of this, not a complex one, but never "boring" (if you'll pardon the Tunneling Pun). The thing is, this is supposed to be a Sci-Fi Adventure, and there's very little adventure. Where's the Mole People? Where's the Hidden Underground Nazi Base? Where is the Strange and Unaccountable Oscillating Force? That's the trouble : there's no Weird Stuff going on, and to my understanding, Rule #1 in Science Fiction is that "There Has To Be Weird Stuff".
Here, in "Unknown World", the Stuff is mostly psychological, as if the team is really tunneling into Man's Collective Id. If they'd just taken 15 minutes to battle a Rubber Suited Dirt Monster, it would've livened things up considerably, but instead they substituted the running egomania of the Kellogg character, depriving the plot of some much-needed tension.
The movie deserves a good rating anyhow, because of the intelligent dialogue and the Cyclotram itself, a cool-looking thingamajig that resembles a classic late 40s Nash if you put a Giant Drill Bit on the front end. I could swear I've seen it, and the movie, before. Scenes of it tunneling, tunneling, tunneling, caused me some Deja Vu. "Did I see this movie in the theater as a little kid"? I pondered the possibility, but the release year (1951) suggested not. They did, however, use to re-release Sci-Fi and Horror movies to show on special double bills back in the day.........cause I'm certain I've seen the Cyclotram somewhere, and what seems like long ago. Well at any rate, Two Regular Thumbs Up for "Unknown World". See it for an early example of 1950s-style Science Fiction, in glorious black and white. ////
That's all I have for the time being. I hope you're hanging in there. One day this situation will be behind us. Too bad the Corona Virus isn't wearing a Giant Rubber Suit like one of the Monsters in our movies, then we could trap it in Bronson Canyon or underwater, blast it with a Death Ray or something.......
Stay well and I'll see you in a little while, at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
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