At the Earth's Core

Although modern scientists surely have a clear picture of what’s going on in the center of the Earth, layer by meticulous layer, I bet none of them accounted for fire-breathing toads or telepathic birdmen. So until proven otherwise, I suppose there’s still a chance that Pellucidar, the cavernous kingdom created by Tarzan author Edgar Rice Burroughs, is still waiting to be discovered.

This 1976 film adaptation, At The Earth’s Core, (1976) was pretty juvenile stuff at the time of its release…and remains so today, thank goodness. Full of floppy rubber monsters, mushrooms the size of skyscrapers and cave girls who speak perfect English, director Kevin Connor was an old hand at this sort of escapist matinee fare, having already produced the similar Land Time Forgot and People Time Forgot. But the psychedelic color scheme and creative set design gives Earth’s Core a retina-searing edge over its competition.

On a trial run of their new drilling machine, Dr. Abner Perry (Peter Cushing) and adventurer David Innes (Doug McClure) wind up miles off course, crashing into a hidden underground kingdom ruled by a race of prehistoric birds that hypnotically enslave the other humanoid races. After becoming captives themselves, along with a runaway cave girl princess (the gorgeous Caroline Munro), Innes and Perry lead a revolution to unite the warring tribes against their telepathic oppressors.

There’s definitely a sweet spot for this sort of thing: anyone over the age of 40 who might have caught the film on its original run or kids who still sport footy pajamas. For that narrow audience, At The Earth’s Core will push all the right buttons. Fast-paced, colorful, imaginative and refreshingly innocent, this is a holdover from an era of aw-shucks filmmaking that gets passed from one generation to the next. McClure makes for the perfect bland action hero, Cushing adds a touch of class and Munro practically bursts out of her furry bikini. But the real stars are the parade of rubber-suited monsters, all designed without a single concession for the laws of physics or physical anatomy.

While I suspect much of today’s generation would laugh Conner’s film right off the screen, they’re not the audience for Kino’s fantastic Blu-ray edition anyway. The rest of us all get to enjoy a much more clear and colorful transfer than the previous MGM DVD, plus a wonderful (and lengthy!) assortment of extras, including half-hour interviews with Conner and Munro, an audio commentary and five-minute vintage featurette on the special effects. The reversible original poster artwork on the cover is a nice touch, too.