Title: At The Earth’s Core
Director: Kevin Connor
Released: 1976Starring: Peter Cushing, Doug McClure, Caroline Munro, Cy Grant, Godfrey James, Keith Barron
Plot: Victorian scientist Dr. Perry (Cushing) and his
assistant David (McClure) are making a test run of their drilling machine “The
Iron Mole” when a freak accident throws them off course, were they invariantly
discover a prehistoric world of monsters and cavemen ruled by the telepathic Mahars
and their mindless Sagoth servants.
Review: Another of my childhood
favourites aswell staring my hero Doug McClure whose fantastical adventures
were firm favourites amongst those early cinematic experiences as McClure
played rugged heroes all about seducing exotic ladies and generally
punching out anything which got in his way, I mean what's not to like about
that? While I might not have known his name at the time I did however know that
if he was in the film then monsters and dinosaurs would soon follow, an
assumption only furthered by the fact that it was only those movies of McClure
that were shown over here in the UK.
Based on the novel of the same
name by Edgar Rice Burroughs who is no doubt best known for creating both
"Tarzan" and "John Carter of Mars" with this first book establishing the fictional
hollow Earth of Pellucidar, which would be featured in a further six books with
even Tarzan paying a visit to this mysterious land. Needless to say it makes
for the perfect vehicle for McClure who at the time was coming in hot on the
back of the success of “The Land That Time Forgot” while also finishing off the
trilogy that the British production company Amicus had unintentionally created
with the prior releases the aforementioned Land that Time Forgot and its sequel
“The People That Time Forgot”. This time though he is teamed up
to great effect with a blustering Peter Cushing who here is pretty much
transferring his Doctor Who persona to a different film, which really only adds
to the fun, especially when he’s so frequently hamming things up. Still despite
this added bonus or distraction depending on your stand point on his
performance, this film really is just business as usual for McClure especially
as the film wastes almost zero time before we get out first giant monster
encounter, something only added to by the raw awesomeness of McClure who is so
cool he’s able to run while still smoking a cigar!
The plot itself is pretty minimalistic and generally serves
to fill in the gaps between the monster action and McClure finding someone new
to brawl with, which is essentially what he spend most of the film doing, as
together with Cushing they form the perfect blend of brains and brawn. This is
not to say that David is some square jawed thug, as he frequently proves
himself capable thinking through situations especially when it comes to
befriending the native human population who handily also speak perfect English
despite having no contact with the surface world. Of course such things are minor concern, seeing how the main
draw of McClure’s monster movies was the monster themselves with this film
featuring the most varied selection from gigantic monsters through to
carnivorous plants and even a fire breathing frog here they really pull out the
stops with these creations, while clearly not trying to base them on any sort
of known dinosaur which was always seemed to the case in the other films.
The villains here are pretty hammy to say the least with the
rubbery and far from aerodynamic Mahars, who when not communicating
telepathically through a migraine inducing whine, generally just sit around on
their cliff top leaving their comb-over loving Sagoth servants to do all the
work for them. Unsurprisingly for a bunch of guys in questionable dinosaur
costumes when they do take flight it looks as you would expect like a they are
flying around with the same sort of wire work you’d expect from a pantomime
Peter Pan, while by the end of the film
the production team had clearly had enough of them as they look suspiciously
like they have been stuffed with newspaper and just tossed off the cliff top
Shot on soundstages at Pinewood Studios it is perhaps a more
limited prehistoric world, but seeing how director Connor was trying to deliver
an epic on a budget its not too distracting even if the world is far from as
immersive as the other McClure monster movies. However with a large amount of
the action taking place in the volcano lair of the Mahar’s it doesn’t ever
prove too noticeable until you start looking at the film more closely.
Thankfully though Connor keeps things pretty busy on screen for you to pay too
much attention to the surroundings for there is usually some monster or heated
battle to enjoy and when neither of those are available he generally just
parades the scantily clad future Bond girl Munro in front of the camera.
While this might have been a childhood favourite, it still holds up surprisingly well even if perhaps I am viewing it with a healthy dose of nostalgia which certainly helps when some of the creatures are more noticeably rubbery looking than they perhaps did back then. At the same time though this is still a highly entertaining romp aswell as arguably the best of the McClure’s monster movies or making a suitable double bill partner with “Yor: Hunter of the Future”.
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