Unknown World
| Unknown World | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Terry O. Morse |
| Written by | Millard Kaufman |
| Produced by | Irving A. Block Jack Rabin Robert L. Lippert |
| Starring | Bruce Kellogg Marilyn Nash Jim Bannon Otto Waldis |
| Cinematography | Henry Freulich Allen G. Siegler |
| Edited by | Terry O. Morse |
| Music by | Ernest Gold |
| Distributed by | Lippert Pictures Inc. |
Release date |
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Running time | 74 minutes |
| Language | English |
Unknown World (a.k.a. Night Without Stars) is a 1951 independently made, black-and-white science fiction adventure film from Lippert Pictures, produced by Irving A. Block, Jack Rabin, and Robert L. Lippert, directed by Terry O. Morse, that stars Bruce Kellogg, Marilyn Nash, Jim Bannon, and Otto Waldis.
Unknown World may have been loosely inspired by Jules Verne's novel Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) and At the Earth's Core (1914) by Edgar Rice Burroughs.[citation needed].
The film's storyline concerns an expedition seeking livable space deep beneath the Earth's surface in the event a nuclear war makes surface life impossible.
Plot
Dr. Jeremiah Morley (Victor Kilian) is concerned about an imminent nuclear war. He organizes an expedition of scientists and has them use a large atomic-powered tank-like boring machine, the Cyclotram, capable of drilling down deep through earth and stone, to find an underground environment where humanity could escape the coming nuclear holocaust.
The expedition (Jim Bannon, Marilyn Nash, Otto Waldis, Tom Handley and Dick Cogan) begins after government funding has fallen through and they are bailed out at the last minute by private funding from a newspaper heir (Bruce Kellogg), who insists on going with them as a lark. Romantic rivalry develops between Bannon and Kellogg for Nash, and two lives are lost to the perils of the dangerous expedition.
In the end the scientists accomplish their goal and find an enormous underground expanse with a plentiful air supply, its own ocean, and phosphorescent light. However, all the lab rabbits brought with them give birth to dead offspring. Through autopsies, it is discovered that this underground world has somehow rendered the rabbits, and hence any other life form, sterile. Dr. Morley is deeply depressed by the news. When an underground volcano suddenly erupts, he fails to enter the Cyclotram and quickly perishes.
The survivors enter the underground ocean and soon find themselves rising to the surface of the upper world, eventually surfacing in the sea near a tropical island.
Cast
- Victor Kilian as Dr. Jeremiah Morley
- Marilyn Nash as Joan Lindsey
- Bruce Kellogg as Wright Thompson
- Otto Waldis as Dr. Max A. Bauer
- Tom Handley as Dr. James Paxton
- Dick Cogan as Dr. George Coleman
- Jim Bannon as Andy
Production
Portions of Unknown World were filmed in Carlsbad Caverns, Bronson Caves, Nichols Canyon, and at Pismo Beach.[citation needed]
Unknown World was put together by two Hollywood special effects men, Jack Rabin and Irving Block, who are two of the film's three producers.[1]
Some of the plot elements of Unknown World were reused years later in the big studio science fiction film The Core (2003).[citation needed]
Reception
The B-Movie Review site Million Monkry Theater found that the "production crew try hard, and it really seems like they have an important message to tell, but the execution and polish are lacking" [2]
References
- ^ Internet Movie Database Trivia
- ^ http://www.millionmonkeytheater.com/UnknownWorld.html
Bibliography
- Warren, Bill. Keep Watching The Skies Vol. I: 1950–1957. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1982. ISBN 0-89950-032-3.
External links
- Unknown World at IMDb
- Unknown World is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
- Decker, Nathan. Million Monkey Theater. Unknown World A detailed description.
- Unknown World on YouTube