At the Earth's Core (film)

At the Earth's Core is a 1976 fantasy-science fiction film produced by Britain's Amicus Productions. A British-American co-production, the film was directed by Kevin Connor and stars Doug McClure, Peter Cushing and Caroline Munro. It was filmed in Technicolor, and is based on the 1914 fantasy novel At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the first book of his Pellucidar series, in token of which the film is also known as Edgar Rice Burroughs' At the Earth's Core.

Plot
Dr. Abner Perry, a British Victorian scientist, and his US financier David Innes make a test run of their Iron Mole drilling machine in a Welsh mountain. While drilling underground, the extreme heat emanating from the magma around the Mole knocks the duo out and makes them temporarily lose control over where the machine is taking them. After it passes through the magma crust and gets closer to the Earth's core, the temperature inside the Mole starts to lower, and the duo regains consciousness. Perry and Innes eventually reach a surface where they can safely get out. The two notice they are in a strange land filled with the flora and fauna of prehistoric times. They are eventually captured by the Sagoths, ape-like creatures, who aim to enslave every human tribe there. The Sagoths are themselves ruled by a species of telepathic flying reptiles, the Mahars (Pterodactyls with parrot-like beaks).

The Mahars have the power of mind control. David falls for the enslaved Princess Dia. She is eventually chosen as a sacrificial victim in the Mahar city, while David is put to work in the magma mines and Perry visits the library. Worried about Dia, David incites a riot within the mine and is captured with Ra, another rebellious slave. The two are sent to the arena where a crowd of slaves watch. The Mahars send a giant dinosaur to kill the duo, but with the help of Perry (who shouts about the creature's weak point from the crowd), David and Ra survive. They not only kill the dinosaur but an attacking Mahar as well, earning the respect of the slaves. David and Ra must rally the surviving human slaves to rebel and win their freedom. To achieve this, Innes, Ra and Dia organise the oppressed tribes and help them work together while Perry teaches them how to construct and use bows and arrows.

Together, the humans manage to kill the Mahars and subdue their minions. After repairing the Mole, Perry and Innes prepare to go back to the surface with Dia. However, despite how much Dia loves Innes, she believes she will not fit in the surface world, like Innes does not fit in her own world. A hurt Innes accepts her reasoning and decides to return alone with Perry to the United Kingdom.

However, a miscalculation results in the Iron Mole resurfacing outside the White House, much to the shock of two policemen standing guard there.

Cast

 * Doug McClure as David Innes
 * Peter Cushing as Dr. Abner Perry
 * Caroline Munro as Princess Dia
 * Cy Grant as Ra
 * Godfrey James as Ghak the Ugly One
 * Sean Lynch as Hoojah
 * Keith Barron as Dowsett
 * Helen Gill as Maisie
 * Anthony Verner as Gadsby
 * Robert Gillespie as Photographer
 * Michael Crane as Jubal
 * Bobby Parr as Sagoth Chief
 * Andee Cromarty as Girl Slave

Production notes

 * The film was made following the success of The Land That Time Forgot.
 * Kevin Connor later recalled, "we tried to get the beasts bigger so as to interact better with the actors – more one on one. We had a somewhat bigger budget thanks to the success of ‘Land.’ The beasts were specially designed so that small stunt guys could work inside the suits in a crouched position and on all-fours. Needless to say it was very cramped and the stunt guys had to take frequent breathers. Some worked better than others – but we were experimenting and trying something different."

Release
The film premiered at the Marble Arch Odeon in London on 15 July 1976.

Box office
The film was popular, becoming the 18th most profitable British film of 1976. It made a profit.

Critical reception
Amongst contemporary critics, however, The New York Times was not impressed: "All the money used to make 'At the Earth's Core' seems to have been spent on building monsters with parrotlike beaks that open, close, and emit a steady squawling as if someone were vacuuming next door. Close up, the monsters look like sections of rough concrete wall and the decision to film them in closeup is only one example of the total lack of talent or effort with which the picture is made...the movie is a kind of no-talent competition in which the acting, the script, the direction and the camera-work vie for last place." More recently, in more positive vein, BFI Screenonline said, "Extravagant, colourful and thoroughly preposterous, At the Earth's Core is utterly without pretension but has the exuberant charm of the best of its decade."

In popular culture
The film was featured in the season finale of the revived Mystery Science Theater 3000, the show's eleventh season overall, released on April 14, 2017, through Netflix.

Featured animals

 * Homo habilis, or is it Paranthropus? (Sagoth): The furry servants of the Mahars who are lighter in build than a gorilla.
 * Inostrancevia (Lato)
 * Mastodonsaurus (In the movie, A fire-breathing Amphibian)
 * Megacerops (identified by its synonym Brontotherium): Incorrectly having a pair of horns on its head and razor-sharp teeth.
 * Psittacosaurus
 * Rhamphorhynchus (Mahar): Incorrectly having a bird-like beak, dragon-like wings, and the size of an oversized Vulture.
 * Tanystropheus (Hydrophidian): Poster only