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Journey to the Center of the Earth

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Brief Synopsis

Cast & crew, henry levin, james mason, arlene dahl, diane baker, thayer david, photos & videos, technical specs.

In Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1880, Professor Oliver Lindenbrook is knighted to the acclaim of his colleagues and students. When his prize pupil, Alec McEwen, presents him with a lava paperweight to commemorate the occasion, Oliver discovers that encased within the Italian lava is a rock from Iceland, halfway across the world from the volcano. After Oliver identifies some etchings on the rock as those of Saknussemm, an Icelandic scientist who years earlier descended into the interior of the earth, never to return, he sends a dispatch to his colleague, Prof. Goetaborg in Stockholm, asking him to confirm his findings. Upon learning that Goetaborg has vanished, Oliver realizes that the Swede has decided to conduct his own expedition. Now in a race to reach the center of the earth, Oliver and Alec leave immediately for Iceland and Alec bids farewell to his fiancée Jenny, Oliver's niece. Aware that they must begin their descent on the last day of May when the sunrise will pinpoint the opening into the Earth, Oliver hurries to assemble the equipment needed for his journey, but soon learns that it has all been purchased by Goetaborg. When he goes to confront Goetaborg about the situation, Oliver discovers the Swede lying lifeless in his hotel room, poisoned. Soon after, Goetaborg's wife Carla arrives to join her husband. Oliver breaks the news of her husband's death, but when he requests the use of the equipment, Carla agrees on the condition that she be allowed to join the expedition. With no other choice, Oliver reluctantly accepts, and the three are then joined by a husky Icelandic jack-of-all trades named Hans Belker and his pet duck Gertrude. As they slip inside the Earth on the last day of May, they are secretly followed by Count Saknussemm, a descendent of the original explorer. Their first trial occurs when a boulder, dislodged by an earthquake, tumbles threateningly toward them. After a narrow escape, they discern a series of notches left by Saknussemm, marking the path to the center of the Earth. Unknown to them, the count has sabotaged his ancestor's markings, sending Alec over the side of a precipice. After Hans rescues Alec, Carla uncovers the real markings, and they realize they have been tricked. Becoming separated from the rest when he follows a tunnel, Alec sinks through a bed of salt into a chamber, where he comes face to face with the count. When Alex refuses to carry the count's equipment, the count shoots at him, and the sound of gunfire alerts the others to their whereabouts. Following the echoing gunshots, the three soon find the wounded Alec and the count, who threatens them all at gunpoint. After Oliver tricks the count by throwing salt in his eyes, they accuse him of murdering Goetaborg and find him guilty in a mock trial. Although he is sentenced to die, the three find themselves unable to carry out the sentence. The Count then begrudgingly joins the expedition, and as their lamps begin to fail, he discovers a luminescent algae that renders artificial light unnecessary. Two hundred fifty six days later, Carla and Oliver are still bickering about the journey. When Alec discovers a massive mushroom forest, Carla prepares the mushrooms for dinner while the count orders Hans to chop the plants down to build a raft that will carry them across the ocean of the underworld. Just as they are about to set sail, an army of giant flesh-eating lizards appear, but they escape by fleeing into the water. Once at sea, they are encompassed by a magnetic force field which Oliver realizes is the center of the Earth, whose intense centrifugal force throws them onto shore, exhausted. As they sleep, Gertrude waddles off, and when Hans awakens, all he finds is a pile of bloody feathers. Realizing that the count has eaten Gertrude for dinner, Hans lunges at him, and when the count retreats, he is crushed by a falling pillar of rocks. The collapse reveals the sunken city of Atlantis, where they find the skeleton of Saknussemm, his finger pointing to a shaft that leads to the chimney of a volcano in Stromboli, Italy, the way out of the underground. Oliver sends Hans to inspect the shaft, and when Hans reports that it is obstructed by a giant block of stone, Oliver decides to dislodge the obstruction by using a cache of gunpowder found in Saknussemm's knapsack. The group takes refuge from the explosion in a giant asbestos chalice, but when the gunpowder fails to ignite, Oliver jumps down to relight it and is attacked by a giant scorpion. Escaping with Alec's help, Oliver climbs back into the chalice just as the gunpowder detonates, killing the serpent and destroying Atlantis. The chalice and its inhabitants are swept up though the tunnel and spewed out into the sea, where all but Alec, who lands in a tree, are rescued by Italian fishermen. The party then returns triumphant to Edinburgh, where Jenny and Alec are married. When Oliver asks Carla to stay and collaborate with him on his memoirs, she reacts with indignation at being relegated to the role of his secretary until he proposes and embraces her.

Peter Ronson

Robert adler.

Alan Napier

Alex finlayson, frederick halliday, alan caillou, ivan triesault, peter wright, molly roden, edith evanson, owen mcgivney, kendrik huxham, molly glessing, john barclay, peter fontaine, john ainsworth, myra nelson, thomas f. martin, l. b. abbott, franz bachelin, lincoln barnett, herman a. blumenthal, charles brackett, robert burns, charles [g.] clarke, warren b. delaplain, leonard doss, david ffolkes, bernard freericks, stuart gilmore, james b. gordon, bernard herrmann, jack w. holmes, joseph kish, emila kose jr., lionel newman, walter reisch, joseph m. schenck, bernard schwartz, walter m. scott, helen turpin, james van heusen, lyle r. wheeler, photo collections.

Award Nominations

Best art direction, best special effects.

I never sleep. I hate those little slices of death. - Count Saknussem

The screenwriter evidently thought that since English-speaking people can have surnames like London or York then Swedes can be named Goetaborg (Goteborg is the second largest city in Sweden) - which is most unlikely.

The film's title card reads "Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth ." The film closes with the following written acknowledgment: "Carlsbad Caverns National Park served as the background for portions of the motion picture. Twentieth Century-Fox expresses its appreciation for the cooperation extended by the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior." According to studio publicity contained in the film's production files at the AMPAS Library, filming was allowed only at night because of daily public tours scheduled in the caverns. Location filming was also done in Edinburgh, Scotland; Amboy Crater, CA and Sequit Point, CA.        A number of studios and producers considered filming Verne's novel prior to Twentieth Century-Fox's production. According to December 1955 and February 1956 Los Angeles Times news items, producer Eugene Lourie planned to film a version in Italy with Gerard Philipe and Michele Morgan as the stars. According to September 1956 items in Hollywood Citizen-News and Daily Variety , producer Bryan Foy bought the rights to the novel for release through Columbia, but Columbia withdrew its plans upon learning that RKO had begun extensive pre-production work on the same subject.        In October 1958, a Los Angeles Examiner news item stated that Charles Brackett, in association with Twentieth Century-Fox, had bought the rights to the novel from the Korda estate and wanted Clifton Webb to play the role of "Oliver Lindenbrook." Although an April 1959 Hollywood Reporter news item added that Lincoln Barnett was to write the screenplay for Brackett, Barnett's contribution to the released film has not been determined. According to a March 1959 Hollywood Reporter news item, Cooga Mooga Film Productions was Pat Boone's production company. Under Boone'e deal with Twentieth Century-Fox, Boone was to produce and star in the film for a share in the profits, as well as a salary. Journey to tne Center of the Earth marked Boone's first production. In Verne's novel, the character of Lindenbrook was German. The characters "Carla" and "Saknussemm" were added for the film.        Journey to the Center of the Earth was nominated for the following Academy Awards: Best Art Direction, Best Set Decoration, Best Sound and Best Special Effects. Modern sources add that Anna Jane Sitton worked as Arlene Dahl's stand-in and that Alexander Scourby was orginally cast as Saknussemm. According to modern sources, Pat Boone wrote and recorded a theme song that was never used in the film.        Verne's novel has been filmed several other times. In 1976, Almena Films, a Spanish company, released Viaje al centro de la Tierra , starring Kenneth More and directed by Juan Piquer Simón, and in 1989, the Canon Group/Golan-Globus released a version directed by Rusty Lemorande and starring Erno Philips. From 1967-69, ABC television broadcast an animated series loosely based on Verne's novel. Although several new feature film versions of Verne's novel were announced in the early 2000s, none was in production as of spring 2005.

Miscellaneous Notes

Released in United States Winter December 1959

Released in United States on Video August 25, 1988

Released in United States 1998

Shown at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) as part of program "Twentieth Century Fox and the Golden Age of CinemaScope" July 3 - August 15, 1998.

CinemaScope

Released in United States 1998 (Shown at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) as part of program "Twentieth Century Fox and the Golden Age of CinemaScope" July 3 - August 15, 1998.)

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Journey to the Center of the Earth

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Journey to the Center of the Earth streaming: where to watch online?

Currently you are able to watch "Journey to the Center of the Earth" streaming on Max, Max Amazon Channel. It is also possible to buy "Journey to the Center of the Earth" on Apple TV, Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Vudu, Microsoft Store, AMC on Demand as download or rent it on Amazon Video, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Vudu, Microsoft Store online.

Where does Journey to the Center of the Earth rank today? The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

Streaming charts last updated: 9:23:57 PM, 06/18/2024

Journey to the Center of the Earth is 18031 on the JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts today. The movie has moved up the charts by 11380 places since yesterday. In the United States, it is currently more popular than The Party but less popular than Captain Marvel.

On a quest to find out what happened to his missing brother, a scientist, his nephew and their mountain guide discover a fantastic and dangerous lost world in the center of the earth.

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Streaming Charts The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

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Journey to the Center of the Earth

• Action/Adventure , Drama

Content Caution

In Theaters

• Brendan Fraser as Professor Trevor Anderson; Josh Hutcherson as Sean Anderson; Anita Briem as Hannah Asgeirsson; Jean Michel Pare as Max Anderson

Home Release Date

• Eric Brevig

Distributor

• New Line Cinema

Movie Review

It’s not just that Trevor Anderson is fascinated by rocks, lava and seismic activity. He also feels that he owes it to his brother Max to carry on the “progressive volcanology” research Max began before his disappearance a decade previously. But a scientific breakthrough proves elusive, and the powers that be are about to shut down Trevor’s lab. Distracted by these tribulations, Trevor nearly forgets that his nephew Sean—Max’s son—is about to arrive for a 10-day visit.

At first the two don’t know what to do with each other. But after a few awkward moments, their painful lack of common ground is upstaged by some strange rumblings underground. Despite years of inactivity, one of Max’s seismic monitors suddenly starts uploading data. It seems that the tectonic plates have arranged themselves in precisely the same configuration they were in when Max disappeared.

Trevor and Sean join forces with a cute mountain guide named Hannah, and the three embark on a quest to unlock the mystery of Max’s departure. Perhaps they’ll even uncover a passageway that will allow them to Journey to the Center of the Earth .

Positive Elements

Sean is a boy desperately in need of a father—or at least a father figure. Hesitantly at first, then more intentionally, Trevor assumes that role in Sean’s life. He also fills in some blanks that Sean has in his mind about his dad. Trevor lauds Max’s talent in front of the boy, telling him about Max’s hobbies and interests. Together, they sort through some of Max’s belongings. In the process, Sean receives affirmation regarding the man he’s meant to be. He also learns that his dad loved him immensely.

Trevor puts his own life in jeopardy twice in order to save Sean and Hannah.

Journey is a summer action flick aimed at kids that advocates action. Sean is persuaded to turn off his video games and put away his cell phone in favor of a good book or an outdoor adventure. Though he’s initially an unwilling explorer, Sean winds up having the time of his life. To his surprise, there are no video game controllers involved.

Sexual Content

Trevor and Sean repeatedly joke about having “dibs” on Hannah, who appears in the last half of the movie in a snug-fitting shirt and shorts. Especially when it gets wet, her top shows a bit too much.

Violent Content

Journey to the Center of the Earth earned its PG rating for “intense adventure action and some scary moments.” That’s pretty accurate. I’ll add that such content permeates about 90 percent of its screen time.

For starters, one could hardly reach the center of the earth in any sort of reasonable time frame without first falling a long way. That’s exactly what happens to the story’s heroes, and the water landing at the end of their fall results in Hannah almost being drowned. Sean, Trevor and Hannah dodge lightning bolts and hot magma, set off explosions in a confined space and take a wild handcart ride on a track that looks like it was built for Six Flags rather than for a mining operation. Broken and missing sections make for even more terrifying and body-battering moments.

The heroes also battle vicious carnivorous plants, run from an angry Tyrannosaurus Rex and fend off ferocious prehistoric fish (one of which tries to take a large bite out of Hannah’s posterior). They are nearly crushed by falling rocks and are catapulted forcefully out the top of an erupting volcano while riding in the overturned skull of a T-Rex. When they land, they crash hard.

Once, it seems to the audience that Hannah is about to intentionally make Trevor fall to his death, but it turns out he’s only a few feet from the bottom of the cliff they’re rappelling down when she cuts his rope. Hannah is almost strangled by a vine with a mind of its own. Reference is made to the deaths of 81 people in a mining accident. In a dream sequence, a man is shown falling into a fiery lava pit.

[ Spoiler Warning ] Once they reach the center of the earth, Hannah and Trevor discover Max’s body. We don’t see the corpse, but we can put the clues together and infer that he died by being baked to death as temperatures rose to unbearable levels—a pretty gruesome thought. The scene in which Trevor breaks the news to Sean may be difficult for sympathetic younger viewers to handle.

Crude or Profane Language

Shortly after Trevor, Sean and Hannah enter their underground fantasyland, Trevor comments on how much schist (a type of metamorphic rock) there is in the cavern walls around them. This gives Sean a later opportunity to exclaim that the trio is in “deep schist.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

Other negative elements.

Though the connection is not explicitly made, the phraseology surrounding Trevor’s teaching and research will strike many viewers as being related to the evolutionary-minded Big Bang Theory. An old-earth view is unquestioningly assumed.

Sean makes a positive reference to the lowbrow TV comedy The Family Guy . He is occasionally disrespectful toward his uncle.

At the earth’s core, Sean is shown eating trilobites for dinner—and they make a rather nasty-looking entrée.

What if the 1846 novel titled Journey to the Center of the Earth was not a creation of Jules Verne’s imagination, but a record of his scientific discoveries? Of course, that’s completely impossible, but that’s the point. Using this big what if as the premise for a PG action flick affords filmmakers the perfect opportunity to string together a series of fantastical—and sometimes harrowing—underground adventures without giving much thought to plot development.

There’s nothing new under, uh, the earth’s crust here, but the fact that the film is being shown in 3-D in many theaters adds enough wow-factor to fully engage and entertain tweens, if not their adult chaperones. The squeals and shouts throughout the young audience in the screening I attended were proof of that. Parents should cautiously consider the film’s few lapses in judgment, content-wise, as well as the potential effects of intense action scenes on their littlest adventurers. But without hesitation I can say that at its Center —very much in the same vein as the Spy Kids movies—this Journey at least has some good things to say about the importance of male bonding, family-style.

Lindy Keffer

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Journey to the Center of the Earth

Set in the late 1870's - A woman hires an anthropologist/adventurer to track down her husband, who has disappeared while searching for an elusive passage to the center of the earth. Set in the late 1870's - A woman hires an anthropologist/adventurer to track down her husband, who has disappeared while searching for an elusive passage to the center of the earth. Set in the late 1870's - A woman hires an anthropologist/adventurer to track down her husband, who has disappeared while searching for an elusive passage to the center of the earth.

• Jules Verne
• William Gray
• Thomas Baum
• Ricky Schroder
• Victoria Pratt
• Peter Fonda
• 34 User reviews
• 6 Critic reviews

• Jonathan Brock
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• Martha Dennison

• Edward Dennison

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Did you know

• Trivia There were 3 "Journey" movies released in 2008.
• Goofs As the team descends deeper into the underground cavern, there is also a source of light from either behind them or up ahead illumining the way. This would not be the case in an actual underground cave which would in fact be pitch black with no light.

Abel Brock , Jonathan Brock : [Prize Fight]

Abel Brock : [just knocked to the ground] Uncle! Uncle!

Jonathan Brock : What time is it Abel?

Abel Brock : 4:30.

Jonathan Brock : Well, I think I played with this guy long enough.

Abel Brock : No, not this time.

• Connections Version of Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 30 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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A professor discovers how to reach the center of the Earth. When his colleague verifies his discovery, they engage in a race to see who will reach the center of the Earth first.

Journey to the Center of the Earth

The film follows a Scottish professor, Oliver Lindenbrook, who accidentally discovers a map of sorts with directions on how to reach the center of the Earth through an Icelandic crater. When the professor looks to his colleague Alec McEwen to verify his discovery, Alec turns on him and the two engage in a race to see who will reach the center of the Earth first.

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Three minutes to the centre of the Earth

Script consultant: Dr Paula Koelemeijer from the University of Oxford, Earth Science Department. It's 6,371 kilometres to the centre of the Earth. Follow us down. We're going all the way to the heart of the planet. Our world is made of layers, a bit like an onion, and as far as we know, life only exists in the first layer - the crust. In the crust, you'll find the burrows of animals such as moles and badgers. The deepest are made by Nile crocodiles and can reach depths of 12 metres. The crust is also home to ancient underground cities like Elengubu in Turkey, an elaborate labyrinth capable of housing 20,000 people, complete with schools and chapels. It is thought to have been built around 370 years BC. The world's deepest mines can go down to around four kilometres. South African gold miners have found worms two kilometres down, but all life stops before three kilometres. Then there's the deepest hole ever drilled - the Kola Superdeep Borehole in Russia. Some call it the gateway to hell, with locals claiming to hear the screams of tortured souls. At around 30 to 50 kilometres depth, we reach the next layer - the mantle. It's made of hot rock, which appears solid to us but actually flows very slowly, just a few centimetres a year. These delicate shifts below can give rise to earthquakes above. In the 1960s, a group of scientists attempted to drill into the Earth's mantle. Although unsuccessful, new efforts are afoot with a plan to drill deep below the Indian Ocean. As we descend, the increasing pressure means that atoms become warped, and even the most familiar materials behave bizarrely. Crystals change from green to blue to brown, and rock becomes as malleable as plastic. 2,900 kilometres down, we reach the bottom of the mantle. See those two giant blobs? They're the size of continents. Scientists aren't sure how they were formed or what they're made of. They cradle the next layer - the outer core. In Jules Verne's classic novel, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Professor Otto Lidenbrock encounters an entire underground world, replete with prehistoric creatures and a subterranean ocean. While the dinosaurs might have been a bit of a stretch, there is an ocean of sorts, but this one consists of flowing red-hot iron and nickel, a sunless sea with its own currents and jet streams. This motion creates a magnetic field that protects the Earth from dangerous solar rays. The final layer is known as the inner core. It's 6,000 degrees in here. The pressure is so intense that the metals here have crystallised, forming a solid sphere at the very centre of our planet. In reality, our little vehicle would have been crushed and melted long ago. And as for our driver, I think she better head back to the surface. It's a long way to go. Good luck!