So bad it’s… bad
A scientist and David Innes (Peter Cushing and Doug McClure) use the former’s awesome drill vehicle, the “Iron Mole,” to journey to the core of the planet where they discover the inner-world of Pellucidar. This prehistoric realm is run by giant telepathic flying reptiles, called Mahars, who are served by the ape-like Sagoth and enslave the primitive humans, including Dia (Caroline Munro) and Ra (Cy Grant).
“At the Earth’s Core” (1976) was an Amicus production, a company that ended their low-budget output with three films based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ books, all starring Doug McClure: “The Land that Time Forgot” (1975), this one, and “The People that Time Forgot” (1977). Despite their obvious modest budgets, I like those other two adventure flicks, especially the first one, but “At the Earth’s Core” is a huge let down and falls into ‘What were they thinking?’ bad.
Cushing’s doddering campy character is the first negative sign, but when the protagonists encounter the telepathic flying reptiles it becomes godawful. I was hoping to roll with these faults and enjoy the comic book story, but it’s just not compelling and is marred by its set-bound limitations (the sets are reminiscent of something out of the original Star Trek TV series). The creators simply failed to translate the story from book to cinema.
On the positive side, McClure is likable as the protagonist, so is Cy Grant, and Caroline Munro is stunning as the cavegirl, but she’s strapped with an outfit that fails to effectively take advantage of her figure. Thankfully, the production team fixed this flaw with Dana Gillespie’s more alluring costume in “The People that Time Forgot.”
The movie runs 1 hour, 29 minutes and was shot at Pinewood Studios, just west of London, England.
GRADE: C-/D+
