CRACK IN THE WORLD (Kino Lorber)

Crack in the World
Kino Lorber

The Stats
Video: 1080p High Definition
Audio: DTS-HD
Subtitles: English SDH

Buy it HERE from Diabolik or HERE from Kino Lorber

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, Staff Writer and Podcast Director

Crack in the World comes to Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. Featuring b-movie science fiction mainstays Dana Andrews, Janette Scott, and Kieron Moore in the lead roles, the film combines grand-scale disaster with small-scale drama. The Kino release, though light on special features, acts as an excellent showcase for the incredible and varied practical effects throughout.

The Movie: Excellent

I quite enjoyed Crack in the World! The film itself could absolutely be Mystery Science Theater 3000 fodder, but the restoration goes a long way towards making you take it more seriously despite the ludicrous premise and outdated science. There are a lot of varied effects shots--matte paintings, composite shots using models or stock footage, etc.--and the vast majority of them look amazing! That, along with the dramatic love triangle between Dr. Stephen Sorenson (Dana Andrews), his wife Dr. Maggie Sorenson (Janette Scott), and Dr. Ted Rampion (Kieron Moore) gave me other things to pay attention to aside from just the plot.

Project Inner Space, lead by Dr. Mr. Sorenson, plans to harness the unlimited energy potential within the Earth's core by drawing magma to the surface using a 10 megaton bomb--which is the explosive equivalent of somewhere between ten and twenty typical nuclear bombs, as far as I can tell--and while he thinks this will go smoothly, his professional and romantic rival, Dr. Rampion disagrees. They demonstrate their competing theoretical outcomes in an amazing sequence where one pane of glass is smashed with a hammer, (representing what Rampion thinks the bomb will do to the mantle) while another is pierced smoothly with a heated iron (which is how Dr. Mr. Sorenson believes things will go). Seeing as the film is called Crack in the World, I imagine you may guess who is more correct.

From there, this is, in broad strokes, your standard disaster movie: the scientists realize they may have doomed the planet, then scramble with plan after plan attempting to put right what they've done wrong. And then! On top of all that, Dr. Mr. Sorenson is secretly dying and hasn't told Dr. Mrs. Sorenson! But since this was the 1960s, instead of discussing the things that are weighing upon him, he obtusely ends their relationship, forcing his wife to leave confused, bewildered, and hurt. But I guess he thinks that's better than having to endure any sympathy?

This emotional fissure, mirroring the global one, fuels the love triangle that lends the film some extra dimensionality and an additional point of interest. I won't pretend that these character arcs are unique, fascinating, or even particularly well-developed, but they really help guide the pacing of the action. Some aspect of the story is always moving forward--sometimes more than one in a given scene!--so I was constantly engaged.

I love a good science-run-amok movie--probably from growing up watching so many of them be skewered on the aforementioned MTS3k--but they're usually hamstrung by lackluster or ill-conceived effects. That is most certainly not the case with Crack in the World. The effects here are extremely ambitious, well thought-out, and generally well-realized. Beyond that, I'm just a sucker for the slight imperfections you get with practical effects. Story-wise, the whole thing builds to one of the single coldest lines in science fiction: "No one has ever observed the birth of a moon, Masefield..." and an appropriately apocalyptic (though not hopeless!) finale that left me grinning.

The Packaging: Good

I love the cover art for this, which I believe is by Adelchi Serafini--who I was not familiar with, but I am now a fan of (see below)--is an amazing, painted depiction of a globe splitting in half, surrounded by various smaller illustrations detailing a number of disasters: crumbing or burning cities, vehicles falling off the face of the Earth, people screaming. It's just tremendous. The more you look at it, the more details you notice. Absolute eye candy, but of true bone-chilling horror.

The Kino Lorber release features a reversible cover with essentially two different versions of the imagery described above. One is slightly off-set to the right, allowing for the cast to be listed in black text against the stark white background, and the tagline, above in red: "Thank God It's Only a Motion Picture!" This is also the image on the cardboard sleeve included with the first printing. The reverse image is a somewhat remixed version of that globe image: A bit sharper and darker, with some details swapped--like an ocean liner sinking into a vortex as opposed to burning oil fields--with some color and motion implied in the negative space around the globe. Both images absolutely rule in my humble opinion.

The Video: Excellent

The extremely high quality transfer from Kino Lorber occasionally shines a spotlight on the seams of the visual effects of Crack in the World. There are a handful of composite shots--where two images filmed separately are combined to seem like one--where you can obviously tell that you're looking at a miniature, or stock footage. But importantly, not all of them. Some are so well done that you may not even realize it at first glance.

Effects aside, the colors are fantastic, which greatly enhances numerous scenes including the incredible finale, and the images are overall very crisp with real depth of shadow. It really makes the miniatures even more admirable for having to match these details.

The Audio: Good

First off, a heads-up: while this film starts off at what one might call "a reasonable level"--meaning I had to bump up the volume a bit, as it's largely scientists speaking in conversational tones--by the third act, when the score is all booming brass, the rumbling of a damaged planet, falling debris, and shouting, I was forced to turn it down a bit. In that regard, maybe things could have been balanced with a bit more control, but I'm not sure what limitations the audio restoration team were presented with.

Beyond that, this sounded excellent. No buzzing on the low end, even towards the back of the film, clear dialogue (for the era), and a dynamic score. And while I'm on the subject, not to second guess composer Johnny Douglas (who ended up as the composer for tons of 1980s cartoons like G.I. Joe, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Transformers, etc.), but I personally don't feel like a clarinet is the right instrumental choice to convey implicit danger. Like, "it's getting so hot that metal is melting and I'm about to pass out" should not be accompanied by a whimsical little 'toodle-oop' musical sting. That's just silly.

The Special Features: Average

These are your standard assemblage of commentaries and trailers. As an aside, I'm surprised there wasn't a low res version of the trailer for Crack in the World included, as that kind of thing just makes the visual improvement that much more evident, but I digress. The two Sidebars are fine, with Tim Lucas and Stephen R. Bissette discussing their memories of the film. The commentary track from Gary Gerani was informative, but he's obviously reading from a script, which I enjoy less than the more conversational variety. But, as I said, it's still very informative and it pointed me to other films through various cast and crew member connections.

• Audio commentary by film historian / screenwriter Gary Gerani
• Sidebar with Tim Lucas and Stephen R. Bissette: Part 1
• Sidebar with Tim Lucas and Stephen R. Bissette: Part 2
• Trailers
• The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)
• The Last Man on Earth (1964)

In Summary: Must own!

If you're at all into this era and style of science fiction--cautionary tales born of humanity's hubris--or disaster movies in general, I cannot recommend this film, and this release, enough. I know I've harped on the special effects a lot here, but it's because they're just so impressive. This level of visual upgrade would draw perhaps too much attention to the effects of other similar b-movies, allowing you to see too many seams and zippers, but not here. They're glorious and deserve to be appreciated--there's a volcanic island that, according to the commentary track was an 8-foot tall model that belched smoke & debris and it looks fantastic! So: sorry, not sorry about geeking out about them.

But this is more than an effects showcase. It would all drag if it weren't for the performances of our three leads, who add just the right amount of pathos to their stories. As a bonus, for Rocky Horror Picture Show fans, both Janette Scott and Dana Andrews are mentioned in the lyrics to Science Fiction Double Feature (though not for this film). I'm also a sucker for simple, tangible demonstrations in sci-fi--like the folded paper "wormhole" explanation from Event Horizon--and the glass panel demo I mentioned above is up there among the best. I could go on listing my favorite details from Crack in the World, but why not get a copy and find some for yourself?