It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Dull outing about a group of scientists and a financier embarking on a journey to find a refuge to escape what they have determined to be near certain nuclear holocaust by drilling into the earth. Reminiscent of "At The Earth's Core", this has none of the charm of that movie. Instead it focuses on a lot of pseudo scientific mumbo jumbo. The group goes down in a special vehicle called a Cyclotram but it doesn't do much. Much of the movie appears to be shot in a cave. There is the requisite conflict between the financier and one of the scientist. Nothing happens in this. Bad waste of time.

A group of scientists who seemingly can't stand each other take a trip into the core of our world, determined to find safe shelter in the event of a nuclear disaster. Fighting amongst themselves for much of the journey, they come together in joy with the discovery of drinkable water in the earth's crust and in tragedy when disaster occurs. This isn't really a typical science fiction film, often staid yet occasionally filled with some vital points. The discovery of a possible utopia brings on more joy, some amazing (fictional) scientific finds, bringing more questions than answers. Told through the perspective of the one female scientist, it ends up being a statement against the advancement of nuclear power, insisting that humanity couldn't survive a really strong blast. Low budget yet sometimes imaginative, it still never fully comes to life.

There are various versions of this sci-fi wannabe floating around, stating it runs anywhere from 64 to 73 minutes--whatever the showing time, it's far too long, for most of the running time you gasp for air! There are essentially two sets--the Carlsbad Caverns (or as a stand-in, some caverns near Griffith Park in Los Angeles) and the interior of some contraption called the Cyclotram, sort of a large dumpster with controls and four leatherette office chairs with straps. Plot: Scientists have decided to burrow to the center of the Earth to avoid the predicted oncoming Atomic Holocaust.The titles on the print from one purveyor are jumpy and miss listing the only female in the cast--and one who has an interesting back-story: Marilyn Nash was supposedly discovered by Charlie Chaplin while playing tennis in Hollywood, and he signed her to a contract to play "The Girl" in Monsieur Verdoux; her contract was for five years, in which time Chaplin made no further films in the U.S. Miss Nash's Tinseltown buzz faded quickly and years later she tried to make a "comeback" with this Lippert Films release. Too late. It's pretty dull stuff, if not excruciating, and not even mild camp, unless you are starved for an underground adventure with few thrills, deadly dialogue, and forgotten actors.

The only reason I'm keeping "Unknown World" is because it's on a DVD with 4 other movies. The acting is from Dullsville; the special effects are terminally tacky even by 1951 standards; and if I want to be preached at, I'll turn on one of those late-night pray-TV shows, thankyouverymuch.On the other hand, the Carlsbad Caverns scenery is nice even in black and white, and the cutaway drawing of the Cyclotram reminds me of some of the illustrations in the handful of early-1950s science fiction magazines I've managed to acquire. So maybe this hunk of cinematic cheese does have a few redeeming qualities after all...But darn few...