Those who thought that the center of our planet Earth only existed of rock, clay and lava should urgently reconsider! The Earth's core apparently is a vividly adventurous place, full of telepathic prehistoric monsters and even an entire civilization of primitive human beings, including some very hot and scantily dressed specimens like Caroline Munro!
Ok, this is just a daft Victorian action-adventure film with Doug McClure as the dashing explorer ably assisted by Peter Cushing (delivering a very similar style of performances as his "Doctor Who") as the boffin who designed the ultimate boring machine to travel to the innards of the planet. Once there, they encounter slaves ruled by a race of giant, angry looking, telepathic penguins.
There is something about Doug McLure's appearance in a movie that is a warranty of wretchedness. His DG initials are like a special cinema-certification, that comes somewhere before 'U'.
Peter Cushing stars as Dr. Abner Perry, a Victorian era scientist who has invented a giant mole-drilling machine, which he plans to use in exploring the core of the Earth.
A scientist and David Innes (Peter Cushing and Doug McClure) use the former's awesome drill vehicle, the "Iron Mole," to journey to the core of the planet where they discover the inner-world of Pellucidar. This prehistoric realm is run by giant telepathic flying reptiles, called Mahars, who are served by the ape-like Sagoth and enslave the primitive humans, including Dia (Caroline Munro) and Ra (Cy Grant).
'At the Earth's Core' is a fun sci-fi adventure movie in a lost underground world. The movie starts off pretty good and it makes you think that this is going to be a very impressive movie.
This engaging adaptation is a special version of the Edgar Rice Burroughs adventure yarn . There are rip-roaring action, spirit of adventure, derring-do, thrills, and results to be quite entertaining.
At the Earth's Core (1976) *** (out of 4)Set in the Victorian times, this Amicus picture has a scientist (Peter Cushing) and his assistant (Doug McClure) creating a machine that allows them to dig through the ground. They plan to go to the center of the Earth but they end up in some sort of land with monsters and humans who are being held by slaves by some sort of tribe.
Funny, I'd read most of Edgar Rice Burroughs' fantasy adventure novels by the time I saw this movie, and knew that this wasn't Pellucidar: where were the vast, open spaces of the hollow earth, the blazing sun, the endless forests and lakes and mountains? Where were the friggin' tarags and thipdars??
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