Unknown World (1951)

User Rating:

4.0/10   

Director:

Terry O. Morse

Writer:

Millard Kaufman (original screenplay)

Release Date:

26 October 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Drilling into the forbidding depths of the earth!

Plot:

Scientists use a gigantic drilling machine for an expedition to the center of the earth.

Plot Keywords:

Scientist | Subterranean | Nuclear War | Drilling Machine | Male Female Relationship

Cast

Bruce Kellogg	...	Wright Thompson
Otto Waldis	...	Dr. Max A. Bauer
Jim Bannon	...	Andy Ostergaard
Tom Handley	...	Dr. James Paxton
Dick Cogan	...	Dr. George Coleman
George Baxter	...	Carlisle Foundation Chairman
Marilyn Nash	...	Dr. Joan Lindsey

Also Known As:

Night Without Stars (USA) (working title)
To the Center of the Earth

Runtime:

74 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Bronson Caves, Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Lippert Pictures

Trivia:

There seems to be some inspiration for this film taken from Jules Verne's "Journey to the Centre of the Earth". Both feature an underground sea. In both, the entrance to the Earth is close to the top of the Earth (Iceland in Verne's novel and Alaska in this film) and the escape from the underground is unexpected and amazingly rapid.

Quotes:

Dr. Jeremiah Morley: Go back to what? To a world bent on self destruction? We can live the rest of our lives here in peace.
Dr. Joan Lindsey: Morley, you're wrong! This isn't peace! This is a resting place for the dead!

Serious but indifferently acted and sluggish sci-fi.

As with ROCKETSHIP XM, Irving Block, Jack Rabin and the Lippert Company were trying to make a serious science fiction film with something to say. To the films credit, UNKNOWN WORLD is not exploitive or stupid as Rabins and Blocks next film ,CAT WOMEN OF THE MOON was. Years before I first saw this film, I owned a still of the drilling machine that takes the cast to center of the Earth and found it rather interesting looking. Its not bad looking in the film, and the scenes of it drilling into the Earth are of some visual interest. However, the film is just to lethargic and indifferently acted too be of interest to anyone other 1950's science fiction buffs. The trip to the center of the Earth is just to slow going.