Journey to the Center of the Earth

Release Date: December 16, 1959
Starring James Mason as Sir Oliver Lindenbrook
Pat Boone as Alec McKuen
Arlene Dahl as Carla Goteborg
Diane Baker as Jenny
Alan Napier as Dean
Director: Henry Levin
Producer: Charles Brackett
Screenplay: Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch
Music: Bernard Hermann
Cinematographer: Leo Tover
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Time: color, CinemaScope 132 mins.

Purchase Journey to the Center of the Earth (DVD) at the TCM store.

Interesting Tidbits

20th Century Fox executives decided to invest a lot money into Journey to the Center of the Earth because of the success of two previous Jules Verne's novels turned movies, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in 80 Days.

The off-screen relationship between James Mason and Arlene Dahl was about as stormy as pictured early in the film. James Mason was a replacement for Clifon Webb prior to filming due to illness. Pat Boone didn't want to do the movie initially; he was talked into it by his agent. He was later glad that he finally agreed because of the residual checks he gets.

A lot of the undergound photography was done at Carlsbad Caverns Nationl Park in New Mexico.

The Plot

Professor Oliver Lindenbrook (James Mason), a newly knighted geologist from the University of Edinburgh, is given a piece of volcanic rock by his admiring student, Alec McKuen (Pat Boone). Deciding that the rock is unusually heavy and, therefore, must contain Icelandic peridotite, Lindenbrook, mostly thanks to the carelessness of his lab assistant, Mr. Paisley (Ben Wright), discovers a plumb bob inside bearing a cryptic inscription. Lindenbrook and Alec discover that it was left by a scientist by the name of Arne Saknussem, who had, almost 300 years earlier, actually found a passage to the center of the Earth. After translating the message on the plumb bob, Lindenbrook immediately sets off with Alec as his assistant to follow the example of the Icelandic pioneer.

Professor Oliver Lindenbrook (James Mason), a newly knighted geologist from the University of Edinburgh, is given a piece of volcanic rock by his admiring student, Alec McKuen (Pat Boone). Deciding that the rock is unusually heavy and, therefore, must contain Icelandic peridotite, Lindenbrook, mostly thanks to the carelessness of his lab assistant, Mr. Paisley (Ben Wright), discovers a plumb bob inside bearing a cryptic inscription. Lindenbrook and Alec discover that it was left by a scientist by the name of Arne Saknussem, who had, almost 300 years earlier, actually found a passage to the center of the Earth. After translating the message on the plumb bob, Lindenbrook immediately sets off with Alec as his assistant to follow the example of the Icelandic pioneer.
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