At the Earth's Core (1976)

Dir: Kevin Connor

Director Kevin Connor helmed a couple of films starring Doug McClure that I will always fondly remember. Much of that fondness for the B-move actioneers THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT and THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT may be due to nostalgia as I first watched them upon their initial release and was enthralled by the rubber monsters and the mysterious land they inhabited. Both are films that I revisit often. I think of them as the cinematic equivalent of comfort food.  Comfort food isn't haute cuisine and usually isn't thought of being a fine dining experience but it is satisfying in a way nothing else is. The TIME FORGOT films with their cheap and quick productions, simple linear plots and immense fun factor remind me of eating my mother's homemade baked macaroni and cheese. Pure joy.

Connor also directed two other films starring McClure with more or less interchangeable plots, WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS and AT THE EARTH'S CORE. Sadly, I did not see them during their initial theatrical run but have caught up with them on home video.

AT THE EARTH'S CORE has the same plot structure as the other three films. McClure leads a band of off course adventurers into unknown lands ruled by an evil totalitarian regime and must find a way to free the good people, defeat the baddies and make their way home.

Dr. Abner Perry (the great Peter Cushing) and his former student David Innes (McClure) are preparing for a test run of their Victorian marvel the Iron Mole, a massive digging / tunneling machine. The plan is to burrow into one side of a Welsh mountain and come out the other side. The maiden voyage goes awry and instead they end up at the earth's core; a fantastic prehistoric land. Venturing out of their machine they find a world without sunlight yet brightly lit. They also run into the pig faced creatures who have enslaved the humans for their masters', the Mahars, nefarious purposes. The masters, of course, are bird like creatures who use their telepathic abilities (!) to control all. David falls for the princess Dia (the lovely and talented Caroline Munro) now a slave like him and the good doctor. It's up to David and the doc to organize the humans to cast off their chains and overthrow their vicious masters.

Produced by Amicus productions, this films like the two TIME FORGOT films, is based on novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs. There aren't any surprises here, you get exactly what it says on the tin. There are plenty of men in rubber monster suits, the wires that allow the Mahars to fly (poorly and woodenly) across the screen are very visible and the miniatures look like miniatures. Cushing puts in a cheery comedic performance as the slightly bumbling, oft distracted Doctor. McClure is McClure as I stated in my review of WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS. And Munroe is a delight to watch. It all makes for a fun time.

Cushing has the best line of the film, spoken as the Mahars try a bit of mind control on him. 'You cannot mesmerise me, I'm British!'.

**1/2 out of ****