Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)

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Movie
German title The journey to the centre of the earth
Original title Journey to the Center of the Earth
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1959
length 132 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Henry Levin
script Charles Brackett
Walter Reisch
production Charles Brackett
music Bernard Herrmann
camera Leo Tover
cut Stuart Gilmore
Jack W. Holmes
occupation
synchronization
The singer and actor Pat Boone, cast member of Alec, around the time of the filming (around 1960)

The Journey to the Center of the Earth is a film adaptation from 1959 of the novel of the same name by Jules Verne .

action

Edinburgh 1880: The freshly ennobled geology professor Oliver Lindenbrook receives a mysterious lava lump from his student Alec , which is heavier than it should actually be. When an explosion occurred while investigating the stone, it turned out that there was a plumb line in the lava chunk with a message from the Icelandic scholar Arne Saknussemm. Saknussemm, who wanted to reach the center of the earth three hundred years earlier, mysteriously disappeared one day.

Since Lindenbrook's colleague Goetaborg does not answer his letters, but sets off to the center of the earth himself, Lindenbrook immediately sets off with Alec to Iceland. In Reykjavik they find out that Goetaborg was poisoned by a stranger and meet the young man Hans Belker (with his duck Gêrtrût) and Goetaborg's widow Carla. It turns out that Goetaborg was murdered by Count Saknussemm, a descendant of the missing researcher.

Finally, Lindenbrook, Alec, Hans (accompanied by Gêrtrût) and Carla set off on their expedition to the center of the earth and are followed by Count Saknussemm. He tries to set the wrong track, which Carla notices. In a tidal wave in which the group almost drowns, you lose sight of Alec. In the meantime, however, it encounters Saknussem. When Alec is found by his companions, Saknussemm threatens them with a pistol, but they are able to overpower him. As their expedition continues, Saknussem discovers a large ocean where the group is threatened by a Dimetrodon herd, but is able to flee on a raft. One reaches the center of the earth; Gêrtrût comes to an inglorious end at the hand of the hungry Saknussemm. When he is attacked by the angry Hans and killed by boulders, the group discovers a sunken city - the lost Atlantis - and the skeletonized corpse of the missing researcher Saknussemm. When the four of them cause an explosion with his gunpowder, an earthquake occurs and the group, crouching in a huge altar bowl, glides on lava through the vent of the Stromboli volcano to the surface of the earth.

In front of a host of fellow countrymen who welcomed him, Lindenbrook declared the expedition to have failed because he was unable to provide any evidence for his observations; however, there is a kiss between him and Carla.

Reviews

“A utopian story based on a novel by Jules Verne, which was staged effectively and with attention to detail. Carefree, exciting entertainment with lots of funny ideas. "

- Lexicon of international film

“The [...] fantasy film captivates despite the antiquated trick technology. [...] Charming, nostalgic adventure. "

- cinema

Remakes

In 1976, a Spanish film version of the material was made (director: Juan Piquer Simón ), and in 1989 an American version (director: Rusty Lemorande and Albert Pyun ). There are also two American television films: from 1993 (directed by William Dear ) and from 1999 (directed by George Miller ). The little amusing to the original story remake Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008) ( Journey to the Center of the Earth ) with Brendan Fraser as Professor Trevor Anderson was the first production for the digital 3D cinema ( D-Cinema true) with Acting (other productions were computer animated).

synchronization

Others

  • The German TV version is almost two minutes shorter. Scenes at the beginning of the film were deleted. Above all, a longer vocal part by Pat Boone on the piano has been severely shortened.
  • Composer Bernard Herrmann , also known for numerous film scores for Alfred Hitchcock , used five organs for the background music for the scenes in the underground city of Atlantis , including four electronic organs as well as an organ in a cathedral .
  • The 1.93 meter tall Peter Ronson, who played Hans , is actually called Pétur Rögnvaldsson and was an Icelandic decathlete . After this film he received further offers, which he refused. The journey to the center of the earth should remain his only film.
  • Portions of the film were in the Carlsbad Caverns National Park rotated

Premieres

  • USA: December 16, 1959
  • Germany: January 29, 1960
  • Austria: March 1960

The film was first broadcast on German television on April 3, 1972 on ZDF .

Differences from the novel

As with many novel adaptations, this film version differs from Jules Verne's novel.

  • In the novel, the main character is called Otto Lidenbrock . In the film he was renamed Oliver Lindenbrook .
  • Lindenbrook's helper Alec is called Axel in the novel and is his nephew. In addition, Hans Bjelke became Hans Belker .
  • In the novel, Lidenbrock and Axel find their inspiration and the first clue about the path to the center of the earth in an ancient Icelandic book in which the medieval scholar Arne Saknussemm had hidden an encrypted message on parchment. In the film, after the unintentional explosion of a furnace, Lidenbrock finds a plumb line on which Arne Saknussemm's message about the path and destination is applied in red paint (blood?).
  • In the film, the group only encounters a Dimetrodon herd, in the novel, however, they encounter animals of various extinct species.
  • In the novel, Lindenbrook is German and lives in Hamburg . He became a Scot in the film and lives in Edinburgh.
  • Before traveling to Iceland , Lindenbrook and Alec visit Copenhagen in the novel . This scene doesn't exist in the film.
  • With a few exceptions, the companions go the right way in the film, while in the novel they go the wrong way.
  • While searching for water, Hans discovered a water vein , the resulting stream was then called Hansbach . This scene only appears in the novel.
  • When it comes to rafting, there are big differences between film and novel. In the film, the group does not experience anything special, whereas in the novel they witness a fight between an ichthyosaurus and a plesiosaurus . In addition, a ball lightning bolt rolls over the raft during the storm .
  • In the novel, the group does not come across the remains of Atlantis and the skeleton of Saknussemms, but rather a huge dinosaur cemetery and sees an unspecified living prehistoric man.
  • In the novel, the following happens at the end: When the travelers blast the path, they tear open an abyss. On the raft they first get on water, then on lava in the crater of the erupting volcano on the island of Stromboli. They are thrown back onto the surface of the earth through the crater. The end of the film is different: when an earthquake occurs, the group glides on a huge bowl through the chimney of a volcano to the surface of the earth.
  • Carla Goetaborg and Graf Saknussemm, who play important roles in the film, do not appear in the novel. Hans too Ente Gêrtrût and Carla's husband Professor Goetaborg, whom Count Saknussemm murdered, do not exist in the novel.

Awards

media

DVD release

  • The journey to the center of the earth . Twentieth Century-Fox Home Entertainment 2003 and 2010

Soundtrack

  • Bernard Herrmann : Journey to the Center of the Earth. Original motion picture soundtrack. Varèse Sarabande / Colosseum, Nuremberg 1997. Sound carrier no. VSD (CVS) 5849 - Original recording of the film music conducted by the composer.

literature

  • Jules Verne : Journey to the Center of the Earth. Novel. (Original title: Voyage au center de la terre ). German by Volker Dehs . Artemis and Winkler, Düsseldorf and Zurich 2005, 423 pages, ISBN 3-538-06972-7 .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The journey to the center of the earth. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed February 4, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ http://www.cinema.de/kino/filmarchiv/film/die-reise-zum-mittelpunkt-der-erde,1308692,ApplicationMovie.html
  3. ↑ World premieres according to IMDb
  4. ↑ Two thousand and one film lexicon and Spiegel.de .