Goofs

After the dive in the mini-sub, Dr. Sorenson asks Dr. Rampion for the negatives so he can inspect them more carefully. The negatives are 120 square format negs, but the cameras used onboard the sub were 35mm format.

The water around the island they explode is shown to be empty, but the stock footage they used was of an atomic bomb test and there a several unmanned navy ships surrounding the explosion.

The headlamps on Rampion's helmet disappear as he is hoisted out of the volcanic vent.

Rand's sunglasses disappear and reappear when he is riding in the open Land Rover.

Most of the vehicles in the movie have their steering wheels on the left; however, the action is supposed to take place in Tanganyika, a former British colony which drives on the left and auto steering wheels are on the right of the car.

Tanganyika (where main events take place) existed from 1961-1962, then became the Republic of Tanganyika from 1962-1964 before changing its name to the United Republic of Tanzania after merging with Zanzibar. When this film was released in 1965, the country's name had already changed.

Two scientists lowered into a volcano in suits fitted with tanked breathing apparatus cough from the smoke.

In the beginning, while explaining the plan to the commissioners, Dr. Stephen Sorenson said that they are going to use a ten megaton missile to bore through to the mantle. Later, when Dr. Stephen Sorenson and Dr. Rampion are analyzing two spectrographs, they discover a hydrogen signature. Dr. Rampion says, "But you didn't use a hydrogen bomb." The upper limit yield of fission weapons is about 500 KT (about 1/2 of a megaton). Fusion weapons were designed to release more power than a fission bomb, as much as 50 megatons. The bomb Sorenson used must have been a fusion, or hydrogen bomb.

The nuclear bomb that sets off the Tukomor volcano and blows the island out of visible existence creates no waves.

Nuclear Explosion at the Tukomoa volcano is stock footage of the Operation Crossroads "Baker" shot. Battleships can be seen in the ocean as the blast wave advances.

After Rampion arrives on the ocean floor in a deep sea vehicle to investigate eruptions caused by the missile's explosion, he uses his camera's flash mode while taking photos of the eruptions. But the eruptions are very bright, making flash unnecessary. Also, the flashes would reflect off the vehicle's window, resulting in prints showing nothing.

As Rampion and Maggie climb out the elevator and up the ladder, their clothes suddenly become ragged and torn for no visible reason.

When Rampion is lifted from the volcano, he's supposed to be unconscious, but can clearly be seen guiding himself up the crater wall with his arm.

Near the beginning, when the dignitaries are riding in the elevator, a fly or other type of insect is crawling on the Asian dignitary's neck. To his credit, he doesn't react.

During the dive of the mini-sub, one crew member photographs the eruptions on the sea bottom, sitting behind the mini-subs glass using a camera flash unit to light the burning lava ruptures on the sea bed. Not only would such a flash unit only reach a few yards; the lava would be so bright in itself no camera flash light could make it more visible. In fact the images would be all white-outs, since he points the camera and the flash straight at the window which would reflect most of its light back to the camera, whitening out the camera film frames.

At one minute prior to missile launch, the technician at Station 5 appears to be on or near the launch gantry. The rocket fueling trucks at Station 4 appear to be just leaving the missile launch point. There is insufficient time to get to a safe point from either location.

When Dana Andrews is addressing the meeting, and right after he does the test with the hammer and asks his assistant to drop the screen, his voice drops considerably.

When the red glow from the crack shines on the outside of the sub, the red lamp creating the glow is reflected in the glass of the strobe light to the left of the port.

The film's climactic events ostensibly take place in Tanganyika (now Tanzania). However when the scientists are plotting the course of the crack, they are placing marker tape onto a map of the horn of Africa (modern day Somalia and Ethiopia). The location of the crack on the map is over 1200 miles from the northern border of Tanganyika. It would not be possible to drive from the project to observe the crack (and return) in a single afternoon as depicted in the film.

When first plotting the seismic events associated with the crack, the initial point appears to be on the Somali coast, near Mogadishu. That would put the project location (250 miles north) within Ethiopia, near Kebri Dahar; *not* in Tanganyika (present day Tanzania) as depicted in the film.

On the map that Rampion has posted on the wall for his briefing of the Commission explaining the progress of the crack, the line goes straight across the Indian Ocean toward Australia, claiming that the crack is moving along the line of a trench. In reality, the line crosses directly across the Somali and Australian Plates, nowhere near any trenches or subduction zones. The closest trench is actually in Indonesia, well north of where the crack is shown to come ashore in Australia. On the other hand, the choice of Tanganyika as a location for such an experiment is actually quite appropriate, as the East African Rift zone goes through the country; thus, the crust is at its thinnest here; thus, any catastrophic crack would be more likely to go north or south, rather than east to the Indian Ocean.

Had that much of the planet been torn off it would have ripped the atmosphere off with it and destroyed the entire planet.

Dr Stephenson says 20,000 sq miles of the earth will be spit out. This is really really small - a 141 mile square. The path the crack takes looks more like 1000s of miles making Millions of square miles of earth ejected.

When the dignitaries visit the complex, Maggie mispronounces the word "seismographs." She says "SEIZE-mographs" instead of the correct pronunciation, "SIZE-mographs." As an expert holding a doctorate in geology, should ought to know the correct pronunciation of such a basic term.

When Maggie tells Sorenson she wants to have a baby, she ends up going to bed without removing any of her makeup (heavy mascara and lipstick).