Journey to the Center of the Earth (1 Viewer)

[RobertR]

Dee: I read a post on avl that said there was a scene missing from the most recent LD release (the "diamond room" scene). the "diamond room" is flooded shortly after it's entered.
. Is it on the DVD?

 

[Douglas R]

If I recall correctly, the English version also had a different title sequence, with it being superimposed (or at least some of it) over scenes of Edinburgh.

 

[DeeF]

RobertR:

I haven't seen the LD, so I can't comment. But that scene is the scene where Alec (Pat Boone) gets separated from the others, and it is centrally important to the plot. Also, Mason chips away a gem, and that starts the water gushing, another important plot event.

I think the person is mistaken when they say it isn't on the LD (the movie was restored for LD in 1998).

 

[RobertR]

Dee: I'm glad to hear that the scene is on the DVD: Here are posts talking about the LD. It does sound like that scene is really missing:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Has anyone else noticed at least one significant scene (which featured
| > some of Bernard Herrman's music) missing from both the recent remaster
| > and the previous WS release of this movie?
| >
| > Both the previous WS LD release and the current remaster feature a 129
| > minute running time; the IMDb claims the original movie is 132 minutes.
| >
| > Though the new remaster has three alternate scenes as they played in the
| > UK (after the credits), I felt "gypped" since one scene I remember from
| > seeing this movie in the theaters during its original debut in 1959 does
| > not appear. Specifically, the scene was the "diamond room" (my term for
| > it) which had some really rousing B. Herrman music.
| >
| > After watching the RM this evening, I said "WTF?" and went back to side 2
| > and played it at 3x speed [just in case I had dozed off for a moment while
| > watching it earlier] and I still could not find that scene [which probably
| > accounts for the running-time difference].
| >
| > Anyone know what happened here? And before anyone writes "Hey, Thad, you're
| > imagining things" please note I have the original soundtrack from the movie
| > and the music for that scene is not on EITHER laserdisc version of the movie
| > but was present in the [original] theatrical run.
| >
| > To be fair, the new remaster's picture is great; I also haven't a clue why
| > they bothered re-doing the sound in AC-3/DD (my decoder's LEDs showed 5.1)
| > since there wasn't any real audio difference from the previous version(s)
| > and the sound placement almost seemed artificial (not smooth panning from
| > left to right (or vice versa) as characters walked about, for example).
|
|
| please explain what the Diamond Room scene is so we know what you are
| talking about.

OK, I'll get to that in a moment. There's yet another flaw with the new
remaster: the LD jacket says it's supposed to be Closed Captioned but it's NOT.

In any event ...

This took me a while to find, but I found one (of the several "different"
ones I have) soundtrack albums from the movie; the one sitting in my lap
right now is (P) 1974 Decca Record Co., Ltd. CSL1001 (London Records Special
Projects Production; Phase 4 Stereo).

On the LP jacket it states: JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (1959), blah,
blah, blah, RUNNING TIME: 132 minutes. Color. CinemaScope. A 20th Century
Fox Release.

Aha! So first of all it's now confirmed that 3 minutes have been cut from
the current laserdisc release (stated as 129 minutes); three independent
sources (spanning 25 years) claim the movie runs 132 minutes, NOT 129.

Given the selections listed on the LP appear to follow the movie's scenes,
the Bernard Herrmann composition I now assert is missing from the laserdisc
release is, most likely, "GROTTO" (which I termed the "diamond room" in my
original article (above)).

Realizing it's been 39 years since I've seen the movie in its entirety (in
the theater), my recollection of that scene is a journey through a vast
multi-colored diamond and crystalline "room" with a rousing Herrmann score,
and I recall it appears before the scene when the flood occurs. Even the LP
jacket describes this scene as "diamond-studded caves" (but doesn't correlate
the diamond caves to a specific music selection from the movie so I'm still
guessing it's "GROTTO").

To say the least, the omission is really bugging me; if I have some time
after yardwork today, I'll attempt to sync-up the soundtrack to the movie
to pinpoint the cut scene (and I may be able to find some of my other LPs
with the movie's soundtrack on it to identify any other differences).

FWIW, I don't remember the "diamond room" scene as being all that long,
perhaps 1 or 2 minutes, so the question remains: what are the other cuts?

Given that the LD's sides 1 and 2 are CLV and only ran about 57 minutes per
side and that side 3 was CAV and only went up to frame 35,000 (or so), there
was plenty of space for the entire movie and no need for cutting. And I
find it difficult to believe that "only" 3 minutes' worth of original elements
could be lost when the rest of the movie is OK.

 

[DeeF]

Well, in the current DVD, after they discover the "diamond" room, to beautiful Herrmann music (it is discovered by Hans), the next shot is Alec showering amid the jewels. I suppose it's possible that there could have been a 3-minute scene getting to the room, but it's doubtful. While he's showering, Mason and Dahl have a scene where he tells her to remove her corset (no music). All this happens in the "diamond" room. The DVD says it is 129 minute movie. I'm guessing that the 132 was wrong in 1974, and nobody bothered to check it.

Whatever is missing, I've never seen it. The movie is exactly as I've always remembered, and the "missing" scene wouldn't add anything.

 

[RobertR]

Interesting. Maybe the guy's memory is faulty or the scene is truncated in the LD.

 

[Douglas R]

I have seen TV prints which do not have the diamond room sequence, including the omission of Mason telling Dahl to remove her corset. So that cut print presumably ended up on the LD.

 

[Steve Christou]

Great film, great music by Bernard Herrmann.
For a while back in the 80's I had a horrible pan/scan version taped off tv that was cut to 85mins.
Can't wait to see the dvd copy, in widescreen stereo, mmmm.

 

[Jeff_HR]

Since this DVD is not due to be released until 3/4/03, how did you get it? Please email me the retailer or e-tailer since the powers that be on this forum frown on revealing publicly merchants that break street date on DVDs. Thanks a lot.

[email protected]

 

[DeeF]

Jeff_HR,

It wasn't online. I buy all my things at a New York retail store that gets them, usually, about 2 weeks ahead of time. It's the only way they can make any money, because they are NOT Barnes and Noble, Tower Records, Virgin Megastore, etc. I always pay full retail price (which in this case, was $14.95). I'm willing to pay extra to get these ahead of time.

The only reason I posted the review is because I know the normal reviewer here is pretty inundated with discs to review, and the ones he chooses are usually several weeks ahead of release date. I assumed he was choosing not to review this one, so I posted mine.

 

[SteveP]

What store might this be?

 

[RobertR]

Haven't you guys heard of that new invention called private email?

 

[Ronald Epstein]

The only reason I posted the review is because I know the normal reviewer here is pretty inundated with discs to review, and the ones he chooses are usually several weeks ahead of release date. I assumed he was choosing not to review this one, so I posted mine.

Policy is, as long as you don't receive screeners
from a studio that are intended for your particular
website you can post early reviews here.

I can't stop those of you that get DVDs from stores
that break street dates from posting early reviews.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

For British region 1 buyers, the DVD is available now from www.play.com as is The Day The Earth Stood Still.

Both should be in my hands tomorrow.


Gordy

 

[Bill Huelbig]

I believe the difference between the 132-minute running time listed in many different places and the 129-minute actual running time of the movie we all know and love is a Pat Boone song called "The Faithful Heart", which apparently didn't make the final cut. It's on the Varese Sarabande soundtrack album and it's also listed in the opening credits.

Thanks, Dee, for posting the review. I've been waiting for this one since DVD was invented.

--Bill

 

[DeeF]

I really don't mean to post anything inappropriate.

This week, I have bought:

Journey to the Center of the Earth
Metropolis
Cinema Paradiso
Twilight Zone Collection 5
The Day The Earth Stood Still
Star Trek IV
The Donner Party (Rick Burns documentary)

Last week:

An Affair To Remember
Mildred Pierce

Anybody want to hear what I think of any of these?

(Some of these have review threads, already.)

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Dee,

by all means share your thoughts with us!

Question...what type of display are you using?

 

[GregK]

DTESS...? ST IV as in the special edition??

 

[DeeF]

repeat post

 

[DeeF]

My system:

Fujitsu PDS-5001 50" Plasma monitor (fantastic picture!)
Panasonic RP-82 DVD Player (with Faroudja DCDS deinterlacing chip -- probably the best player you can buy, and a great price!)
Boston Acoustics surround sound receiver and speakers (1000?) (This is the cheapest surround sound system that's decent, but since this is all set up in my bedroom, it didn't make sense to get a very powerful unit.)
SA3100HD cable box/decoder from Time Warner

I have about 800 DVDs, mostly older movies that have been "restored" for DVD, plus some television series and a few bigger contemporary titles like Fellowship of the Ring Extended Version, The Fifth Element, Magnolia, Fight Club, etc.

I like musicals, silent movies, wonderful old black and white studio movies, and widescreen movies from the 50s and 60s, foreign films, and great TV shows, and I have a whole group of taped plays.

Contemporary films I usually watch on cable television, sometimes in High Definition.