Crack in the World
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| Crack in the World | |
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| Directed by | Andrew Marton |
| Produced by | Bernard Glasser Lester A. Sansom |
| Written by | Jon Manchip White Julian Zimet |
| Starring | Dana Andrews Janette Scott Kieron Moore Alexander Knox |
| Music by | Johnny Douglas |
| Cinematography | Manuel Berenguer |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 12, 1965 (U.S. release) |
| Running time | 96 min. |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Crack in the World is an American science-fiction disaster movie filmed in Spain in 1965 and released by Paramount Pictures.
[edit] Story
An international consortium of scientists, operating as Project Inner Space, is trying to tap into the Earth's geothermal energy by drilling a very deep hole through the Earth's crust into the mantle below. The scientists are foiled by an extremely dense layer of material at the boundary between the two. To penetrate the barrier and reach the magma below, they intend to detonate an atomic device at the bottom of the hole.
The leader of the project, Dr. Stephen Sorenson (Dana Andrews), who is (secretly) dying of cancer, believes that the atomic device will gradually burn its way through the barrier, but the project's chief geologist, Dr. Ted Rampion (Kieron Moore), is convinced that the lower layers of the crust have been weakened by decades of underground nuclear tests, and that the detonation could produce a massive crack that would threaten the very existence of Earth.
The atomic device is used and Dr. Rampion's fears prove justified, as the crust of the Earth develops an enormous crack that progresses rapidly. Another atomic device is used in the hope of stopping the crack, but it only changes the crack's direction. Eventually the crack returns to its starting point, and a huge chunk of the planet outlined by the crack is thrown out into space to become a second moon, as Dr. Rampion and Dr. Sorenson's wife (Janette Scott, Moore's real-life spouse), who is now in love with Dr. Rampion, look on.
[edit] Scientific Accuracy
The film was released only a few years before the theory of plate tectonics became mainstream, and later commonly-accepted fact. As it turned out that the surface of the planet was heavily cracked already, the scenario presented in the film is now considered highly improbable. Additionally, the notion of a chunk of the Earth being thrown off into space makes no scientific sense, since even a chunk of the planet completely separated from the rest by a crack would still remain in its original position due to gravity.
