Where Time Began
Where Time Began is a 1977 Spanish science fantasy adventure film co-written and directed by Juan Piquer Simón, based on the 1864 novel Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne. It stars Kenneth More,, Ivonne Sentis, Frank Braña, and Jack Taylor.
Plot
A group of geologists, including Professor Otto Lidenbrock, discuss various theories on the make-up of the interior of the Earth. They decide that the only way to know for sure would be to mount an expedition to discover which theory was true.Whilst visiting a bookshop, Lidenbrock buys an old book, written by Arne Saknussemm, containing undisclosed, coded knowledge of the centre of the Earth from a mysterious gentleman. Eager to know more, he enlists his niece Grauben and her fiancé Axel, a soldier. Axel is charged with keeping a diary of the journey.
Upon arriving in Iceland, they hire shepherd and mountaineer Hans. Together, the four of them set off for the adventure of a lifetime to the centre of the Earth. The group lose their water stores when Grauben drops them, she then falls into a bog and is only saved by the intervention of a mysterious stranger who has been following them. Desperate for water and losing the mysterious book, the group attempt to find water by breaking through a stone wall. The stranger reveals himself to help them, he is Olsen, a fellow scientist also on a mission to explore the underground world.
The group find and travel across a huge underground ocean on a raft built by Hans. Discovering giant fungi, dinosaurs, giant apes, sea creatures and tortoises, extinct on the surface for millions of years. Lidenbrock works out they have travelled to an area underneath the Mediterranean sea. The group reaches land where Olsen reveals to Grauben and Axel the existence of a city. They see a laboratory where men who all resemble Olsen are conducting experiments. Olsen tells Lidenbrock that time is relative and not absolute. The group find a grotto which is the end of their journey with no path forward. Lidenbrock stubbornly attempts to continue by breaking through a stone wall, distraught, Grauben requests Olsen's help. He uses his box to set off an explosion which allows water to flood into the grotto elevating the raft back to the surface, where they escape amidst a volcano erupting.
Some years later, Grauben and Axel are married, and Hans has become a successful shepherd. Lidenbrock still searches old bookstops, hoping for more information. In one of those shops, Lidenbrock is told that a package has been left for him, and it proves to be Olsen's box. Looking through the shop window, Lidenbrock sees Olsen, now an old man, looking back at him.
Cast
- Kenneth More as Professor Otto Lidenbrock
- as Axel
- Ivonne Sentis as Grauben
- Frank Braña as Hans
- Jack Taylor as Olsen
- Emiliano Redondo as Professor Kristoff
- Lone Fleming as Molly
- Ricardo Palacios as a train ticket collector
- José María Caffarel as a professor
- George Rigaud as a professor
- Barta Barri as a professor
- Ángel Álvarez as a professor
Reception