Saturday, April 11, 2015

CRACK IN THE WORLD - Johnny Douglas - "Thank God It's Only A Movie!" (1965)

Tonight's Saturday Night Special is an interesting film! There's not a lot of 60's science fiction left for us to explore out there, and "Crack In The World" is okay as far as it goes, but they could have used a good rubber monster to perk it up a little! I mean why not? The premise is totally unfathomable already!

Mr. "Living Strings" himself Johnny Douglas composed the music for "Crack In The World," and while it's a bit much for my meager tastes, this theme does set the scene quite nicely! Johnny was also responsible for the music in "Psycho Circus," and the 80's TV shows "G.I. Joe," and "The Transformers!"

"Project Inner Space" where they are looking for a way to bring a new energy source to the world!

This is an awesome matte painting!

The star of the show is Dana (Curse Of The Demon) Andrews as Stephen Sorenson, the Doctor in charge of the project! Here he's showing how if they do it right, they can send a nuclear bomb right through the layers of the earth and bring up an unlimited supply of magma for future energy creation! Dana also starred in the "Twilight Zone" episode titled "No Time Like The Past!"

Dr. Sorenson is dying, but he doesn't want to share that information with his wife of one year, Janette (The Day Of The Triffids, Paranoiac) Scott as Dr. Maggie Sorenson, and it's putting quite a strain on their relationship! In real life, Janette was married to the Velvet Fog Mel Tormé for 11 years! Nice underground pad they have here, you have to admit!

Kieron (Dr. Blood's Coffin, The Day Of The Triffids) Moore is the hero of the movie, Dr. Ted Rampion! Dr. Rampion is the ex-lover of Maggie Sorenson, and is also at odds with Dr. Sorenson on how the project should be handled! He's pretty sure Dr. Sorenson's theory is dangerous, and he's going to be 100% correct!

Would you just look at this place? You just know this guy is important by how many fancy phones he has, not to mention that killer library!

Despite Dr. Rampion's opinion, they shoot a rocket loaded with a nuclear warhead straight down toward the middle of the earth! No, it didn't really seem like a good idea to me either!!

Kablooie!!

Well, that all went pretty good considering..........but then, Uh, Oh! Trouble in paradise! It appears that a giant crack has formed!

There's more than just a little bit of rivalry going on here! I forgot to mention that Dr. Sorenson is also a real ass!!

Here's a different takeoff on the olde 'arrow through the head' routine!

Even though there's only two elevators, they must be clearly marked individually when the Brainiacs of the world take over!

Dr. Sorenson admits he rushed the whole project because of his poor health, and now thousands and thousands of people have died!

Dr. Rampion volunteers to help drop another nuclear bomb into a volcano to attempt at stopping the crack they've created before it splits the whole world in two! Dig those crazy Mickey Mouse ears, twin headlight helmets! Too bad their suits were never tested at this high of a temperature!

For me this movie would have been a lot better if it would have ended right about here, but unfortunately that last little trick didn't work so they have to come up with yet another plan, and the soap opera between the Doctors continues!

Then it gets down right stupid as fleeing villagers get on a train as the Doctors yell at them, "Stop, Stop, you're heading for the crack!

One last attempt at stopping the crack from growing larger, sets off an explosion so big that it creates another moon!

The new Adam and Eve! 

"Crack In The World" is a pretty good movie for at least 45 minutes, and is another film that can be viewed on Amazon Prime if and when you're in the mood for something a little different!

7 comments:

Randall Landers said...

Okay, I have to admit I liked this one because the plan to save the world DID NOT work, and a huge hole was ripped out of the Earth along the Indian Ocean, creating a new moon. Yes, the idiotic "Stop the Train!" scene was total BS, but the what're you gonna do? Kirk does the same thing screaming "Khan!!!!" in ST:TWoK. It's one of those things, like the flaming dummy in ST:TVH, you just have to set aside. :)

Anonymous said...

I've always enjoyed this movie as well... enough to buy it on blu-ray.

Paul from Oz

Grant said...

Dana Andrews really made his mark on "genre" stories, like NIGHT OF THE DEMON and THE FROZEN DEAD, but another one I always connect him with is the Night Gallery episode THE DIFFERENT ONES. The plot of it sounds like a rehash of that famous Twilight Zone episode EYE OF THE BEHOLDER, but it's pretty original, and he and the actor John Korkes are very good in it.

Tommy Ross said...

Nice one! Love the poster, thanks for the reco.

Eegah!! said...

Thanx Guys! Glad somebody is still out there reading!

Lacey said...

This is a great movie of the era.

Great music, simple but engaging story (not unlike Twister), and a company Logo that is almost logical (as opposed to CMDF in Fantastic Voyage).
And all of the actors showed up to work, not just wander through the sets like a lot of them seem to do today.

Eegah!! said...

Thanx Lacey, glad to see you're still out there!

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