This could have been another cheesy 1950's outer space sci-fi flick, but the participants were going in the opposite direction. So instead, this is a cheesy 1950's subterranean film, starring an underground submarine called a cyclotram. It's mission is to discover a habitable region where the world's population can take refuge when the upper world is destroyed by a nuclear holocaust.
The film opens with a voice-over describing the new Atomic Age and it's promise of a more abundant life. However Dr. Jeremiah Morley (Victor Kilian) sees the danger associated with those who would use this power for corrupt purposes, and his warnings earn him the nickname "Prophet of Doom". It seems to me that Morley was the film's dominating presence, yet Kilian's performance is actually uncredited here. His "Society to Save Civilization" disbands after a year for lack of financial backing.
Enter wealthy playboy Wright Thompson (Bruce Kellogg), admittedly jobless and happily so, and looking for adventure. He hooks up with Morley's scientist friends and offers to finance their underground journey, as long as he can come along. With renewed energy, Morley, Thompson, and a group of five additional explorers board the cyclotram to seek humanities' last chance for survival.
What this viewer was left wondering for some time into the picture was when something exciting would happen. There are brief diversions involving bouts of toxic gas and semi dangerous spelunking, but that fearsome cave dinosaur never shows up. In a particularly nonsensical scene, a frayed rope is repeatedly shown as the cyclotram navigator Andy climbs up a rock face after rescuing Thompson. Andy actually makes it up to the top of the cliff ledge when the rope snaps, and he falls to his doom - bad timing!
With repetitive nuance, the cyclotram forges ahead (or below), marking time at 850, 960, 1100, and finally 1640 miles below sea level, where Thompson fashions a directional marker pointing straight up to New York - that may have been the film's innovative high point. Upon finally reaching the subterranean promised land, the group is dismayed to learn that conditions there make their pregnant bunny sterile. So much for the advancement of civilization.
"Unknown World" held the promise of so much more, but doesn't deliver. The cyclotram never finds itself in a situation that it can't handle, and the path it follows conveniently plays along an underground fissure practically the entire way. When it finally reaches a depth of 2500 miles at the earth's core, the cyclotram floats it's way up to the surface world in what seems like no time at all! But the biggest mystery to me would be how seven of the world's pre-eminent scientists could undertake such a momentous journey, and no one thought to bring a camera!
The film opens with a voice-over describing the new Atomic Age and it's promise of a more abundant life. However Dr. Jeremiah Morley (Victor Kilian) sees the danger associated with those who would use this power for corrupt purposes, and his warnings earn him the nickname "Prophet of Doom". It seems to me that Morley was the film's dominating presence, yet Kilian's performance is actually uncredited here. His "Society to Save Civilization" disbands after a year for lack of financial backing.
Enter wealthy playboy Wright Thompson (Bruce Kellogg), admittedly jobless and happily so, and looking for adventure. He hooks up with Morley's scientist friends and offers to finance their underground journey, as long as he can come along. With renewed energy, Morley, Thompson, and a group of five additional explorers board the cyclotram to seek humanities' last chance for survival.
What this viewer was left wondering for some time into the picture was when something exciting would happen. There are brief diversions involving bouts of toxic gas and semi dangerous spelunking, but that fearsome cave dinosaur never shows up. In a particularly nonsensical scene, a frayed rope is repeatedly shown as the cyclotram navigator Andy climbs up a rock face after rescuing Thompson. Andy actually makes it up to the top of the cliff ledge when the rope snaps, and he falls to his doom - bad timing!
With repetitive nuance, the cyclotram forges ahead (or below), marking time at 850, 960, 1100, and finally 1640 miles below sea level, where Thompson fashions a directional marker pointing straight up to New York - that may have been the film's innovative high point. Upon finally reaching the subterranean promised land, the group is dismayed to learn that conditions there make their pregnant bunny sterile. So much for the advancement of civilization.
"Unknown World" held the promise of so much more, but doesn't deliver. The cyclotram never finds itself in a situation that it can't handle, and the path it follows conveniently plays along an underground fissure practically the entire way. When it finally reaches a depth of 2500 miles at the earth's core, the cyclotram floats it's way up to the surface world in what seems like no time at all! But the biggest mystery to me would be how seven of the world's pre-eminent scientists could undertake such a momentous journey, and no one thought to bring a camera!