Few writers have ever had the vivid imagination of the legendary and super-prolific Jules Verne (1828-1905), a spinner of some 85 tall tales, many of which have ended up as extremely popular fare in a medium that hadn't yet been invented when he took his last breath, something I think would have delighted the old boy since most of his stories had to do with inventions, deeds and possibilities that were still far, far in the future when he wrote about them.

Some of the movies made from Verne stories have gone on to become genuine classics including the Academy award winning AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA and a European-made version of his MICHAEL STROGOFF.  Others have been less awesome but no less entertaining (MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON) but one film version of a Verne story which has always been far underrated is this1959 version of JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, one of the reasons we're including it in this year's festival.  (Another prime reasons: being able to see it in all it's CinemaScopic widescreen glory.)

This is tongue-in-cheek Verne, a wild and woolly adventure opus with large check of comedy about a treacherous 19th century expedition by a party of four - plus a duck! --  who lower themselves into a volcanic crater in Iceland, embarking on a hunt for a dying explorer who has mysteriously disappeared only to, zooks!, end up with their encountering everything from landslides, wild winds and underground floods to prehistoric reptiles with bad attitudes, a shipwreck in a subterranean sea and a spectacular volcanic eruption.

Chosen by 20th Century-Fox as that studio's Christmas attraction for 1959, the Daily News of London called it “Gloriously outrageous film fun,” and the Sunday Times pronounced it “Hilarious science fiction.” One of the film's major assets is it's cast, headed by James Mason, this the same year he was menacing Cary Grant in Hitchcock's “North By Northwest,” and Arlene Dahl, looking gorgeous as always while also adding more substance to the shenanigans than most movie heroines ever do. Pat Boone gets the top-billing and even croons a tune and Diane Baker briefly pops up as his sweetheart back in the real world but it's the film's unadulterated fun mixed with its wild imagination that makes this a particular treat for a movie matinee. We couldn't resist it.

1959. 130 minutes. CinemaScope, DeLuxe Color. . Producer: Charles Brackett. Director: Henry Levin. Screenplay: Walter Reisch, Charles Brackett, from the book by Jules Verne. Cinematography: Leo Tover. Editors: Stuart Gilmore, Jack W. Holmes.  Music: Bernard Hermann. Special effects: L.B. Abbott, James B. Gordon, Emila Kosa. Cast: JAMES MASON, PAT BOONE, ARLENE DAHL, DIANE BAKER, Thayer David, Peter Ronson, Robert Adler, Alan Napier, Alex Finlayson, Ben Wright, Mary Brady. Released by 20th Century-Fox.