AT
THE EARTH'S CORE (1976)Director: Kevin Connor
MGM
AT
THE EARTH'S CORE (1976)This was the second in a series of Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptations that began with THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT (1975), and ended with THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT (1977). All were directed by Kevin Connor, produced by John Dark, photographed by Alan Hume, and starred Doug McClure (there also was a fourth Burroughs-style fantasy produced by the same team for Columbia in 1978--WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS). Made by Amicus Films (once popular rivals to Hammer in the British horror market), AT THE EARTH'S CORE is extremely juvenile in execution but makes for grand entertainment.
Set during Victorian times, the story concerns Dr. Abner Perry (Peter Cushing) and the unveiling of his latest invention, "The Mole," a giant vehicle that is able to drill to the center of the Earth. David Innes (McClure), a rich American engineer (and one of Perry's old students) is backing the project, and sets off in the Mole with his mentor. The machine makes a downward trek into the ground, and advancing uncontrollably at an accelerated speed, cuts clean through into the center of the earth.
When the two explorers wake up from being unconscious, they exit the machine and enter a world that resembles a "Sid & Marty Croft" Saturday morning kids show after a few acid tabs. David and the doctor are soon captured by the Sagoths, a tribe of ugly piggy men with oval shaped heads and balding, "comb over" hairstyles. The Sagoths obey the Mahars, giant bird creatures that use mental telepathy to give orders and attack humans who happen to be treated as slaves. The Mahars are actors in rubbery suits (with wings that seem to be made from garbage bags), and they kind of remind you of that famous giant Japanese bird, Gappa.
David instantly falls for Dia (Caroline Munro), a beautiful slave girl, and he ends up fighting a brutish ogre twice his size in order to win her over. After being captured, David manages to escape and befriends Ra (Cy Grant) another slave with a blond afro. Together they return to lead a rebellion against the Sagoths and the Mahars by formulating a daring plan that will set the humans free once and for a all.
OK, the creatures and effects here look really bad. Especially embarrassing is when two rhinoceros creatures do battle and one of them takes off with a male slave, which becomes a lifeless ventriloquist's dummy in the proceeding shot. There's also a frog monster that looks like a gigantic reproduction of one of those plastic toad garden tool holders that you'd find in your backyard (both scenes--and others--are bound to induce belly laughs). But look past that as the film is very enjoyable.
It's basically a Jules Verne-esque adventure with outrageous, ridiculous monsters and a great cast that knows how to have fun with it. Peter Cushing's Dr. Perry is an amusing character very much like his interpretation of Dr. Who a decade earlier (although here he looks every bit as hold as that "old" character was supposed to be. McClure was great in LAND THAT TIME FORGOT, so he was a natural for this, and holds things together just as well, keeping a straight face throughout. Caroline Munro doesn't have much to do except for looking pretty, being captured and fought over, and speaking bad broken English. She's charming and delightful eye candy.
MGM has released the film on DVD as part of their popular "Midnite Movies" series with a flawless new transfer. The source material is in perfect condition. The film's primary colors lean towards red, orange and purple (due to its inner-earth setpiece), but these are rendered beautifully and smoothly meld with the remaining hues. It's letterboxed in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio and 16x9 enhanced as well, and the mono sound is excellent. The only extra is the original AIP theatrical trailer and optional French and Spanish subtitles. I'm fine with great-looking bare bones DVDs, especially with titles that you'd never though would see the light of day, but I really wish they at least added the production featurette made for this film that included a lot of behind-the-scenes footage. Still, a great job by MGM and another welcomed addition. (George R. Reis)