When we were kids, my classmates and I were somehow always able to cajole our parents into letting us stay up late to watch an occasional network "late night movie," something that doesn't exist anymore. We watched Journey to the Center of the Earth and Hitchcock's The Birds over and over. Unlike a lot of old movies, this one retains its charms. We had no idea who Pat Boone and James Mason were, but there were dinosaurs! I still remember a lot of the film which has been inscribed into memory. Some things I picked up on this viewing—
>I was listening to the music thinking, who did this Citizen Kane sound-alike soundtrack? I mean it sounds exactly like Kane, with the vibraphone and everything. The answer, amazingly enough: Bernard Herrmann.
>The movie has a serious Raiders of the Lost Ark vibe. The team finds the path to the center of the earth because of the way the sun beams through a rock feature, laser-like, on a particular day of the month. There's a rolling boulder which almost flattens the heroes. Of course, there's lost treasure and—Atlantis!
>There's an interesting use of sound. Our heroes are walking deeper and deeper into the earth. We then cut to a close up of walking feet. Normally, we'd assume that these were our heroes' feet. But in this case, we know these are the villain's feet because we hear our heroes' voices in the background, all echoey and distant. In this case, a sound cue is used to provide geographical clarity.
>There's an interesting example of bad misdirection at the beginning of the movie. Professor Lindenbrook is in a foul mood because he just received some bad news by mail. As he storms into the library, his daughter (?), Jenny runs up a step ladder to avoid him. After discussion, Lindenbrook and McKuen hatch their scheme to journey to the center of the earth. Expressing her shock, Jenny, who has been listening, bumps down the ladder one step at a time. As I watched the scene unfold, I wondered, why is she running away from him up a ladder? Weird blocking emphasized by an edit. Then, of course, there's the payoff. I often think that conjuring is a good metaphor for film. To continue with the metaphor, the setup attracts too much attention to itself, like a feint that that doesn't work.
Watch it on Netflix instant.
No comments:
Post a Comment