Quand la Terre s'entr'ouvrira

Dana Andrews plays Dr. Stephen Sorenson, a terminally ill scientist who decides to follow through on his dream project: using a missile to break through to the planet Earths' magma layer. His associate, Dr. Ted Rampion (Kieron Moore), has been preaching that this will be dangerous, and Ted is naturally proved to be correct. However, he has no time to say "I told you so", because he, Stephen, and others must race to save the world from the resulting title disaster.

Copious stock footage mixes with pretty impressive special effects, designed by Eugene Lourie, himself the director of the classic dinosaur flick "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms". Some viewers may be able to poke a lot of holes in the "science fact" aspect to the screenplay, but this shouldn't get in the way of enjoying what is a reasonably entertaining forerunner to the "disaster film cycle" of the 1970s. It's rather slow to get started, and does devote a fair amount of the running time to the love triangle. Ultimately, it delivers the goods if you stick with it. One thing about it that people should appreciate is the fact that it doesn't necessarily guarantee the viewer a happy ending. It keeps you hanging until its final frame. Among its other assets are the art direction (by Lourie), cinematography (by Manuel Berenguer), and music (by Johnny Douglas).

Andrews gives a typically solid performance in the lead, but most everybody here is fine. That includes the gorgeous Janette Scott as the female scientist caught between Ted and Stephen. Alexander Knox rounds out the quartet of top billed performers in the role of the pragmatic Sir Charles Eggerston.

This does offer a fair amount of fun if you're looking to discover sci-fi and disaster pictures from decades past.

Seven out of 10.

This is a pretty decent "end of the world" flick from the 1960's. The story is good and the acting is pretty decent. The only flaw in this film is the love triangle, which seems to bog the film down. However, besides the story and the acting the special effects are great considering that this film was released in 1965. I just wish that they would show it more often on television.

Reasonably intelligent, suspenseful science-fiction drama which is still worth a look despite modern science/plate tectonics theory having rendered it largely superfluous. Fine acting by Dana Andrews and Kieron Moore help elevate the proceedings.

GORGO director Eugene Lourie supervised the special effects, and there are several standout sequences of miniatures photography, along with the usual requisite stock footage, some good and some NSG. There's also a well-handled set piece of thermal-suited scientists descending into a volcanic caldera in order to place an A-bomb that generates some good suspense. (We'll overlook the subsequent post-blast scene where there is disconcertingly no shock wave.) I saw this on a double bill (it was the 2nd feature) with a Japanese giant monster flick back in the 60's; can't remember the monster (maybe Ghidrah?) but this is the picture that sticks in my mind. The denouement is audacious and thought- provoking.

Loved this movie as a kid, and even today, it stands up as great B-movie sci-fi stuff. Not a dull moment, and they even find time to throw in a sordid love triangle! Nothing else quite like it-except for modern Deep Impact/Armageddon stuff. Wish I could get it on video/DVD.

This film falls into one of my favourite categories, that is to say the category " Man Tampers With Nature ". Shot in Technicolor with superb picture quality, it is a feast for the eyes ( Why can't they get the same Technicolor quality in today's films ?? ) The sci-fi films of the 50s and 60s are feasts for the eyes and visual gems ( excuse the tautology ! )The story of this one is fairly limited, but the special effects are wonderful and realistic. I put the film on a par with others such as "Invaders from Mars", "Incredible Shrinking Man" etc. Obviously, the may be scientific inaccuracies, and science has advanced since 1965 but there again, this is an entertaining film and not a technically correct documentary.