A Victorian era scientist (Peter Cushing) and his assistant (Doug McClure) take a test run in their Iron Mole drilling machine and end up in a strange underground labyrinth ruled by a species of giant telepathic bird and full of prehistoric monsters and cavemen.Although probably dated today (2015), this is still a fun film with some silly monsters and a plot that makes no real sense. Especially if one tries to think about it from a scientific point of view, and how gravity and air pressure would function (not to mention language). There are also some questions about whether or not the film is sexist, particularly since Caroline Munro more or less stays silent and looks pretty, but that is a whole other discussion.Cushing is great here (as always) and really shows his range as a vocal actor. He also has what is probably the best line in the movie, explaining why he cannot be mesmerized. Doug McClure is a good hero, though by the time he ended up with Amicus his prime years were behind him. Of course, being that this was the final Amicus film, their prime years were behind them, too.

Dr. Abner Perry (Peter Cushing) is a Victorian era scientist who is about to take his revolutionary vehicle, capable of boring through the Earth, on its maiden voyage. Accompanying him is former student turned businessman David Innes (Doug McClure). The vehicle is more powerful than they thought, and they end up deep inside the Earths' core. Here they encounter a nonstop assortment of monsters, a kingdom named Pellucidar, a tribe of primitive people, and their subhuman captors / tormentors, who pray to dinosaur gods.Now how can you resist any hokum featuring those elements? Produced by Amicus, and scripted by Milton Subotsky (based on the novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs), this is decently executed by director Kevin Connor, who was a real go-to filmmaker for this kind of fantasy material in the 1970s. McClure is a jut jawed hero, and Cushing seems to be relishing a rare opportunity to ham it up. His performance may not be one of his most accomplished, but it's certainly a fun one. Caroline Munro is *extremely* alluring as cave girl Dia. Also performing this amiable nonsense with straight faces are Cy Grant as the helpful Ra, Godfrey James as the stolid Ghak, and Sean Lynch as the devious Hoojah (just to be sure we get the point, Hoojah is nicknamed "The Sly One").The movie begins in grand style, with some striking opening titles and a beautiful, rousing piece of music. It promises a solid diversion, and that's what it delivers. The understandable criticisms often leveled at the production are its obvious budget issues, and rubber monsters. But these monsters are just so damn amusing, especially the exploding fire breathing frog. All of this is done in an agreeable tradition of the Saturday matinée feature. The sets and the visuals are reasonably impressive, and Connor keeps things moving along nicely (the movie hits the ground running), and building to an exciting and destructive finale."At the Earth's Core" does put a goofy smile on *this* viewers' face.Seven out of 10.

Peter Cushing stars as Dr. Abner Perry, a Victorian era scientist who has invented a giant mole-drilling machine, which he plans to use in exploring the core of the Earth. With him is his assistant David(played by Doug McClure), and with much public fanfare, they do indeed reach the core, only to find it a prehistoric world ruled over by giant telepathic birds(!) who have enslaved the local population of primitive humans. They befriend a beautiful woman named Dia(played by Caroline Munro) and vow to free her people from this tyranny, since they also have other monsters to contend with...Based on the Edgar Rice Burrough's story, film is pretty clichéd and far-fetched stuff, though has a good cast who give it their all. Still, this is mostly for kids, though has a strange aura of melancholy about it.

Due to the fact that in 1976 there were no CGI I felt that the movie was quite watchable. The studio productions were very good and very elaborate. The background effects were very believable and always appeared as if they were part of the whole set. The actors did OK considering the premise of the film being set in a type of Jules Vern atmosphere where imagination and possibilities of future exploration were at most improbabilities. Had I watched this film in 1976 I probably would have been in awe of the ability of man to build a machine that could travel to the earths core. I still wonder to this day why we are not all flying around in our cars but I digress. McClure and Cushing have their funny moments, mostly from their facial expressions toward each other which of course makes the film somewhat campy which I loved. The 'monsters' left something to be desired but the story had a good premise although I feel as though some other sort of 'thing' could have been more believable under those circumstances. All in all quite watchable for its time and fun now.