THE UNKNOWN WORLD (1951)

Did you know that the Earth's crust and upper mantle are hollow, with beautiful stalactites and stalagmites, not to mention flat floors graded just right for people to walk on? Did you also know that our planet's core temperature is cooler than its surface? I didn't either, until I saw this painstaking exercise in scientific accuracy.


Dr. Jeremiah Morley, a world-renowned geologist, is convinced that nuclear war is imminent. (He never explains why he believes that, nor does it occur to anyone to ask.) He and his team of experts design an earth-burrowing vehicle called a Cyclotram, which Morley describes as "a submarine with the ability of a tractor." (I think it looks like a Studebaker, but never mind.) Using the Cyclotram, they will drill hundreds of miles into the earth in the hope of locating an underground environment where humans could survive an atomic holocaust. Not sure how the Cyclotram can do that with no apparent cooling system, but whatever. Oh, and while we're on the subject: the vehicle's drill bit is entirely too small to make holes big enough for the Cyclotram to fit through. The filmmakers knew at the time that their science was wrong; they just didn't care.

Besieged by noxious gasses and magma, the team soon finds its numbers dwindling but vows to continue drilling into the earth. By the time they stop, they've gone 1,640 miles underground—a journey that would take approximately two years in real life. Nothing here indicates it took anywhere nearly that long, especially since the Cyclotram could not have held enough provisions to sustain seven people for two years.

UNKNOWN WORLD spends its 75-minute running time doing nothing. Since this is ostensibly science fiction (more like anti-science fiction), one might think there would be cheesy-looking monsters in the Earth's core for the Morley Expedition to fight. But no. That could make things interesting, and we certainly can't have that. Factor in the lousy acting typical of low-budget '50s sci-fi, and you have a pointless endeavor ideal for young couples at the drive-in to ignore as they make out in the car (possibly a Studebaker).