Journey To The Center Of The Earth

Do you remember Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea?

Paul Smith’s score was just released on CD after being only available as an Itunes exclusive.

In 1959, 20^th Century Fox remembered the success of the film and decided to release their version of a Jules Verne classic.

They chose Journey To The Center of the Earth.

Kirk Douglas’s song “A Whale Of A Tale” had been quite a success in the previous film, so it was decided that crooner Pat Boone would star and sing in the new film with the hope of having hit tunes tied-in to the film.

Alexander Scourby as Count Saknussem

The result was a sci-fi masterpiece. James Mason stars with Arlene Dahl and Diane Baker (who later co-starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie).

The film has many different cuts for different reasons.

A change of actors took place before and after production had begun. Clifton Webb was replaced by James Mason because of health problems. And the part of Count Saknussem was apparently played by Alexander Scourby. He was quickly replaced by Thayer David.

Also, an interesting difference between the American cut and British version is the song sung by the Professor’s students when they surprise him (and at the end of the film). The scene was shot twice using a different song. The British and international version uses the song “Gaudeamus Igitur” in latin.

The Americans went with “Here’s To the Prof of Geology”. The fun part is, on the DVD, since the French dub is offered, the scene is the American one, so the sound on the French track does not match the lips.

Of course, other songs were planned for the film. You just don't have Pat Boone in a starring role if he's not going to sing. Yet the beautiful songs composed by James Van Hausen (with lyrics by Sammy Cahn) met with a rather unfortunate fate.

First of all, they were all cut from foreign versions. This is apparent on the French and German track available on the DVD, where "My Love is Like a Red Red Rose" is offered in English with subtitles.

This song is the only Pat Boone song that survived on the DVD edition. I'm not entirely sure that the other two were cut before release. I read the testimony of a man on the Internet who remembered fondly of the other two sequences when he allegedly first saw them in a theater. So maybe there's hope and we will see them resurface some day.

The first one was a naked Pat Boone singing while washing under a waterfall in the quartz grotto. The number "Twice As Tall", was deleted at some point.

The song I prefer is the one Boone sings on the raft when the group is in the middle of the underground ocean. He plays the bandoneón and sings "The Faithful Heart", thinking of his girlfriend Diane Baker who stayed behind in Scotland. Even though the song was deleted, the producers thought it was good enough to release it on a single disc. To my knowledge, it is the only song of these three to get such a treatment until the 1997 original soundtrack CD came out and they were offered as originally recorded.

As a matter of fact, a good source of information to find out where scenes were deleted is the Bernard Herrmann score. For instance, you can hear a "rope" cue on the CD which was intended for the scene where James Mason comes down the cliff tied to a rope. Now you can only see a snippet of that scene in the trailer, another good source to see alternate takes and deleted sequences.

About the score, I suggest you see the excellent website of Bill Wrobel: I was surprised to find an article there about deleted scenes in this very film! I also love his analysis on various film scores. Read his essay and find out more about the film.
Also, go ahead and buy the DVD and experience the adventure in the center of the earth!
The film is also available in a limited edition on Blu-ray from Twilight Time with an isolated score option.
More pictures on A Lost Film Facebook page.
That's all for today folks!