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At the Earth's Core (1976)
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The Spike
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Joined: 23 Sep 2014
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Location: Birmingham. Great Britain.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 10:18 am    Post subject: At the Earth's Core (1976) Reply with quote



Masterpiece of the Z grade fantasy genre.

I'm serious as well. I mean don't get me wrong, if you haven't got a bent for this type of Z grade, creaky creature feature (why would you be watching is my first thought?) then it's a rating of about 3 to 4 out of 10 tops.

But to me it's a special kind of nonsense that takes me back to a nice time in my childhood. You know the kind, the memories that never leave yo — eagerly taking it all in with youthful wonderment as Doug McClure and Peter Cushing tunnel beneath the mantle to do battle with a host of creatures and sub-human species.

And now that we are all grown up, we can admire the wonder of Caroline Munro and her heaving cleavage. No wonder my older brother was keen to take me to the cinema to see this one!

Yes the effects are bad; men in suits, strings swinging parrot monsters around, and exploding rubber frog-like thingies amuse us greatly. And yes, Cushing and a surprisingly pudgy McClure act as if they have truly been mesmerized by the evil Meyhas at the "core" of our film.

But it matters not, zany and clunky and awash in glorious colour, At The Earth's Core is a throwback to a special pre-ILM time when kids like me queued around the block to see such joyous nonsense. 8/10

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 7:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________________________________

I'm afraid I was less forgiving, Spike. Here's my take on this film.

Being a big Edgar Rice Burroughs's fan I really wanted to like this. I had all these vivid mental images in my head from reading the books and gazing in awe at the great Frank Frazetta paintings like these —





— but the movie broke my heart and left me very disappointed.

The film's somewhat miscast players and lackluster action are only part of the reason why this promising film from director Kevin Connor is a disappointment; the producers unwisely chose to leave out the most interesting aspects of the Burrough's Pelucidar concept.

Peter Cushing is Abner Perry, Doug McClure is David Innes, and Caroline Monroe is Diane the Beautiful in this British adaptation of the first novel in Edgar Rice Burrough's "Pelucidar" series.

Burrough's described Pelucidar as the inner surface of a hollow Earth, where "up" is toward the vacant center of the planet and "down" is outward towards the Earth's outer surface. In this film version, Pelucidar is just a large cavern with a forty-mile-high ceiling (an idea done much better in 1959's "Journey to the Center of the Earth").






The heroes are pitted against the intelligent reptilian overlords of Pelucidar (who look like featherless parrots). The clumsy, immobile monster suits are especially embarrassing when they try to fly on concealed wires.

These days Hollywood could create a great version of At the Earth's Core that would knock my socks off — but I'm still waiting for it.

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Brent Gair
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Joined: 21 Nov 2014
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 08, 2015 8:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

For fans of this movie (unlike Bud the sourpuss Smile), this is a recent Blu-ray release from Kino. It looks spectcular and includes a new on-camera interview with Caroline Munro.

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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 08, 2015 9:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Brent Gair wrote:
For fans of this movie (unlike Bud the sourpuss Smile)...

I warned Bud never to read the book before seeing the movie. Especially if you're young and impressionable.
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Rocky Jones
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 12:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Probably true, Wayne. I read the entire Pellucidar series long after seeing the the Earth's Core film and it certainly was an improvement. I thought some of the other novels were actually better than that one, though.

Maybe if the Fire & Ice live action remake does well there will be interest in doing more films in the style of Frazetta's illustrations. The Pellucidar stories would be a good pick, plus they're probably all in public domain at this point.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 10:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I wondered if that was true, Rocky, so I looked it up. Here's what I found on Wikipedia in an article called Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc..
_________________________________

Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. is an American company founded in 1923 by author Edgar Rice Burroughs. It is based in Tarzana, California. The company holds the rights to the literary works of Burroughs that are still protected by copyright (a number of Burroughs' early works have passed out of copyright and consequently are in the public domain).

Burroughs was one of the first artists to incorporate, which he did for tax reasons and for more control over his works. Burroughs' books were published through the company from 1931 (Tarzan the Invincible) through 1948 (Llana of Gathol), with one additional title (I Am a Barbarian) appearing in 1967.

The company remains in the ownership of the Burroughs family and manages and licenses Burroughs' works and characters, including Tarzan and John Carter of Mars.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Rocky Jones
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 14, 2015 9:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, but the remaining ERB copyrights are running out fast. Apparently the ERB inc. group are doing everything they can to hold on to something, though, such as declaring trademark infringement instead of copyright infringement. I suppose if you hate dealing with rights holders you can always knock out another Sherlock Holmes film/show or two.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 14, 2015 9:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I hate the idea of a copyright running out because the owner forgot to renew it, but I hate even more the idea that copyrights can expire even when the owners want to keep them in effect.

It's like owning a great painting for several decades and then being told that your ownership has expired!

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2015 5:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
It's like owning a great painting for several decades and then being told that your ownership has expired!

No it isn't. You haven't had a constant stream of income from your painting all the time you've owned it, unless somebody's been renting it the whole time.

We don't seem to have the same problem with pharmaceutical patents, probably because big pharma has a more powerful lobby. Patents on medicines that should have expired years ago keep getting renewed. In turn, the patent owners have raised prices on these medications through the roof and beyond, as they have no competition from generic drug manufacturers. So, yeah, let's just keep shoveling our money upstairs for the po' rich folks, while the rest of us do without because we can no longer afford the meds and our medical insurance backs off on their coverage.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2015 3:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

orzel-w wrote:
Bud Brewster wrote:
It's like owning a great painting for several decades and then being told that your ownership has expired!

No it isn't. You haven't had a constant stream of income from your painting all the time you've owned it, unless somebody's been renting it the whole time.

Sorry, you're not getting my point. If I write a novel (which I did) and I copyright it (which I did), then shouldn't the ownership of MY novel remain with me and my heirs forever, just like a painting I own — like, for example, the ones I did myself?

And you jumped from talking about copyrighted works of art to patented medicines — which is apples and oranges, I'm pretty sure. Drug companies are allowed to hold the patents on drugs for a period of time so they can make back the billions of dollars they spent developing them.

When the system works the way it's intended, the patents eventually expire so that other companies can start making generic versions, and the good old free enterprise system kicks in to lower the price.

Yes, I know — the system doesn't always work. I get that.

But if I choose to sell my copyrighted novel for $1,000 each for the next fifty years, nobody should force me to do otherwise. It's mine-all-mine — to sell or give away or light on fire and roast marsh mellows over.

Just because somebody else wants to start selling copies of MY novel should not mean it isn't' mine anymore.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Randy
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2015 5:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud,

Only Congress can change the length of time that copyrights can be held by the copyright owner.

Previously, copyrights were:

"The life of the author plus 50 years"

Sonny Bono (Cher's husband) ran for congress and persuaded Congress to extended copyrights to the following:

"The life of the copyright creator plus 70 years"

This bill was known as the "Mickey Mouse Protection Act" as Walt Disney's copyrights were nearing the point of entering the "Public Domain" and the Disney Corporation was in a blind panic to keep control of Mickey Mouse!
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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2015 7:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whether it's a copyright or a patent, the creator knows up front how long the law protects his exclusive right to profit from it. (Like, is your lifetime + 70 years long enough?) That figures into how much investment of time and money you want to put into it. If it's not worth your investment, you pass. If you miscalculate and the market loses interest before the time has expired, maybe it's time some other interested party took the ball and ran with it.

For example, I'm frankly tired of Disney retaining exclusive rights to do anything new with Harper Goff's Nautilus. I'd just as soon let others have a crack at it. Disney keeps farting around with it and ends up doing nothing while I get closer to my grave.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2015 9:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I know what the law SAYS, guys. I just don't like it!

I still think that if I can pass the ownership of (for example) my artwork on to my grandchildren and great grandchildren, I should be able to do the same for the rights to my literary efforts, too.

And I still maintain there's a significant difference between a patented medicine that's needed to treat illness and a work of art that's the property of the creator.

Now, about that 70-year thing. That sounds all well and good until one of the drug companies develops a cure for aging! Then all the immortal artists are going to have the last laugh when they get to keep the rights to their work for a few centuries.

Ha!

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Randy
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2015 9:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Don't you realize just how old and feeble Mickey Mouse will be when he is finally set free?

It's smacks of indentured servitude!

Shocking, I say ... just shocking
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2015 9:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mickey must have already been given the anti-aging drug! Somebody tell that damn mouse to share it with the world! Shocked
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~ The Space Children (1958)
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