GETTING CENTERED

Mason and company go deep for answers to some of our oldest questions.

Journey to the Center of the Earth, derived from 1864 source material by French author Jules Verne, is an iconic adventure film that resides in the fun zone between known science and complete fancy. It premiered today in 1959 and starred James Mason, Pat Boone, and Arlene Dahl, who portray a set of intrepid explorers circa 1880 that travel to Iceland—a place we’ve spent some time and absolutely love—and plan to enter the Earth by lowering themselves into the stratovolcano Snæfellsjökull. They soon discover that there’s a competing explorer, as well as unknown parties willing to kill. They deal with those setbacks, but as Mason and his group consign themselves to the depths there’s someone dangerous on their trail.

This is an absurd movie, but it’s absurd fun. The speculative nature of what lies beneath the terrestrial crust is convincingly rendered thanks to fanciful sets, large scale matte backdrops, De Luxe color processing, and CinemaScope widescreen. When we say convincing, we mean it works because most of what you see is physically real, even if it’s largely plaster and paint. What didn’t work for us was cheesy-ass Boone as the movie’s shirtless sex appeal. Even the Pulp Intl. girlfriends thought he was too milquetoast (there’s a word you don’t see much anymore, but PI-1 did in fact utter it). For our part, we concentrated on Miss Dahl. Overall, Journey to the Center of the Earth is a good night of fun. Suspend disbelief and enjoy.

Scotland, Iceland, Journey to the Center of the Earth, James Mason, Pat Boone, Arlene Dahl, Peter Ronson, Henry Levin, Jules Verne, poster art, cinema, sci-fi, movie review

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

February 16

1937—Carothers Patents Nylon

Wallace H. Carothers, an American chemist, inventor and the leader of organic chemistry at DuPont Corporation, receives a patent for a silk substitute fabric called nylon. Carothers was a depressive who for years carried a cyanide capsule on a watch chain in case he wanted to commit suicide, but his genius helped produce other polymers such as neoprene and polyester. He eventually did take cyanideâ€”not in pill form, but dissolved in lemon juiceâ€”resulting in his death in late 1937.

February 15

1933—Franklin Roosevelt Survives Assassination Attempt

In Miami, Florida, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to shoot President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but is restrained by a crowd and, in the course of firing five wild shots, hits five people, including Chicago, Illinois Mayor Anton J. Cermak, who dies of his wounds three weeks later. Zangara is quickly tried and sentenced to eighty years in jail for attempted murder, but is later convicted of murder when Cermak dies. Zangara is sentenced to death and executed in Florida’s electric chair.

February 14

1929—Seven Men Shot Dead in Chicago

Seven people, six of them gangster rivals of Al Capone’s South Side gang, are machine gunned to death in Chicago, Illinois, in an event that would become known as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Because two of the shooters were dressed as police officers, it was initially thought that police might have been responsible, but an investigation soon proved the killings were gang related. The slaughter exceeded anything yet seen in the United States at that time.

February 13

1935—Jury Finds Hauptmann Guilty

A jury in Flemington, New Jersey finds Bruno Hauptmann guilty of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, the son of Charles Lindbergh. Hauptmann is sentenced to death and executed in 1936. For decades, his widow Anna fights to have his named cleared, claiming that Hauptmann did not commit the crime, and was instead a victim of prosecutorial misconduct, but her claims are ultimately dismissed in 1984 after the U.S. Supreme Court refuses to address the case.