James Mason was a lovely English actor. Pat Boone was, at the time, an American teen heart-throb. So, naturally, 20th Century-Fox cast them both in leading roles as Scottish men! While to many of my fellow Americans Scots and English are pretty much the same, their accents are not and Brits would most likely object to being lumped together like this. But Pat Boone?! He's about as Scottish as Speedy Gonzales!! And, oddly, at times, he approximated a Scottish accent and others he sounded pretty much like an American....and they had him sing several times throughout the film! Surely, the executives at the studio could have done a better job casting the film than this!! Oh, and did I mention that Arlene Dahl was cast as a Scandinavian?! It's sad, because otherwise it's a pretty good film.

The story is based on Jules Verne's novel. I have never read this book, so I have no idea how faithful all this is to his vision. The story begins in Edinburgh. A geology professor discovers a strange artifact with runes near a volcano and he is confused what it all means--perhaps there are channels running under the Earth and it is honeycombed with them. Eventually, he and his colleague (Boone) go to explore a dormant volcano in Iceland and meet up with a pushy lady (Dahl),a blond Icelandic guy and a duck! The five find their way into the earth and follow its path downward--further and further under the Earth's crust. What they don't know is that they are being followed by someone...someone with evil intent. What's next in their adventure? Watch the film and see for yourself. Just be prepared for lots of impossibilities--such as dinosaurs, lightning and an ocean deep, deep within the planet.

The film and plot are terribly dated. But, the film, for 1959, is quite nice--with very nice music, colorful sets, and a fun story...fun but kind of dumb. It's definitely a film that will appeal to those who can let go of their brains and just enjoy the film for what it is--cheesy fun. So, despite bad casting, dumb dinosaurs and a silly story, it manages to entertain. While I would love to see what they could do today with this story (with great new CGI),I am still loathe to see the recent "Journey" films. Brendan Frasier is no replacement for James Mason!

I like the Jules Verne story a lot, so I was looking forward to this film. And I really liked it. It is a little too long, and perhaps too slow at times, my only two criticisms of the film.

Even with these faults this film is very good, and sticks fairly faithfully to the story. The sets and costumes are excellent, and the special effects are superb. Same with Bernard Hermann's score, which I am running out of positive adjectives to describe how good it was. The script was well written, the direction was solid and the story is engaging. And I liked the acting, I was worried at Pat Boone being cast but he was actually pretty good, while everyone else ranged from good(Arlene Dahl) to very good(James Mason).

Overall, this is very good, definitely worth watching. 8/10 Bethany Cox

While this film suffers from some annoying "cuteness" and has lizards parading as dinosaurs, it is nonetheless the best film version of the novel because Verne's themes of exploration and discovery remain. Bernard Herrmann's score is indeed fantastic and this film has a wonderful pace. The cast here is also very talented and the film is so well made one can forgive it its minor flaws.