From Edinburgh to the centre of the world

The year 1880, as viewed in 1959

When I returned from hospital recently, it wasn't long before I was settling down to watch a movie. The only problem was that I wasn't sure which one to go for.

Here's the issue - the combination of pain, lack of sleep and various drugs meant I wasn't really in the best frame of mind to watch anything new. I really thought I ought to watch something that, firstly, didn't require too much brain power and, secondly, was something I was already familiar with. I figured this was the best way to go since it was pretty likely I was going to nod off in the middle of it.

So which of the old favourites to go for? Eventually I opted for the old Saturday afternoon favourite, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH - that's the 1959 version starring James Mason as the miserable old scientist and Pat Boone (ask your dad) as his young colleague.

The story, for the two or three of you who are unfamiliar with the movie or the original Jules Verne book, is (in a nutshell) about a bunch of people who discover a route to the mysterious world that lies beneath the surface of our Earth. Bet that surprised you, eh?

The reasons for my love of this movie are many and varied. For one thing I've always loved such fantasy adventures about these mysterious lost worlds. I grew up watching the likes of Doug McClure duking it out with big fake dinosaurs and implausibly endowed cavewomen. In fact I was recently in fanboy heaven when I happened to meet Roger Dicken, who provided some of the effects for these films. He was very quick to point out however that the rubbish pterodactyl in THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT was nothing to do with him.

Rrrrrraaaaaarrrrrr!

But back to the film at hand. This movie has everything you want in a film like this - large dinosaurs (avoiding the animatronic route, this movie instead goes for the other tradition of filming some lizards and employing some trick projection work), underground tunnels, danger at every turn, globe-spanning adventure, mysterious lost worlds (including the ruins of Atlantis), an evil nemesis looking to beat our intrepid crew to the centre of the world, predictable love story... it's all there.

The film also has a typical bunch of adventure archetypes too - the grumpy old scientist, the token woman, the rash young adventurer, the dim-witted muscle man (in this case he's not really dim, he just doesn't speak English), the evil arch-nemesis, and the slightly daft comic relief (a duck named Gertrude).

All in all it's just a perfect fantasy adventure movie, great fun for young kids and slightly older kids too (such as kids in their late 20s, for example).

There is another reason why my choice of movie was significant, though it certainly wasn't on my mind at the time (or at least not consciously anyway - subconsciously, who knows?). When I was younger I used to have a copy of this on VHS that I'd watch over and over again, but in particular it was always a favourite when I was off school sick. It was either this or I'd end up watching Richard & Judy, and thus be confronted by monsters of a very different kind. So, how appropriate that I should pick this one for viewing on my latest sickie.

So I'd lie there in front of the telly with my cup of tea, being transported to that strange new world just beneath our feet, marvelling at every monster, every jewel-encrusted cave, every bizarre new world they'd discover. It's a bit odd, really, because I don't like tea and have no idea why I would have been drinking the stuff. Maybe that's why I was sick to start with. Anyway, enough about tea. Moving on...

That was then; this is now. That worn out old VHS tape has given way to wondrous new technology and we can now watch the movie in all its digitally remastered widescreen glory thanks to the DVD revolution. Not only do we finally see the strange new worlds in all their visual splendour, the presentation finally does justice to Bernard Herrman's thrilling, otherworldly score for the movie.

Although most famous for his Hitchcock collaborations (a certain shower scene probably springs to mind), this has always been one of my favourite works (if not THE favourite) by Mr Herrman. I do own the soundtrack CD but I must confess a real fondness for the re-recording done by Decca in the 70s to show off their "Phase 4 Stereo" technology. Sorry, I'm waffling again.

There's one other reason why this film in particular, of all the lost world movies made over the years, captured my imagination. Our intrepid explorers begin their journey from nearby (to me) Edinburgh, and there's always been a real thrill seeing the familiar (to me at least) streets of Auld Reekie on screen as the starting point for one of my most beloved adventures. But this, in recent years, has thrown up a problem.

Of all the things that captured my imagination in this movie when I was young, most have dated and yet very few are a problem when suspending my disbelief. I have no problem believing the ludicrous notion of a world at the centre of the Earth; I can buy the idea of a team of scientists getting there with little equipment via some handy-sized tunnels; I still believe I'm watching them be attacked by giant dinosaurs despite the voice in the back of my head shouting "they're just lizards, you idiot"; I can even (just) buy into the notion of Pat Boone wandering through the underground tunnels playing his accordion without anyone twatting him.

Our heroes wandering the streets of Edinburgh though? Nope, I don't buy it.

Maybe it's because after spending so many years studying and working there I'm too familiar with the streets of Edinburgh; or maybe I'm just a cynic after all. But now, whenever I watch this movie, I can't help noticing that whenever we see the main cast anywhere in Edinburgh they're either in front of a fake backdrop, on a soundstage dressed up as 19th century Scotland, or else their faces aren't visible (suggesting a body double). The terrible revelation? After all these years, I have to accept that, actually, Pat Boone and James Mason never set foot in the country. Not for this movie, anyway. My childhood sense of wonder shattered!

Definitely Edinburgh. Definitely not James Mason.

But I forgive them. It's just too great a film not to. Like I said before, it's just a terrific, fun movie for folks of all ages - so go on, if you've never seen it, go and pick up a copy and marvel in child-like awe at adventure movies the way they used to be before CGI and toystore tie-ins. Or you could even keep it for the next time you're off work ill.

I wouldn't bother with a cup of tea though.