It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I like a lot of the older, slower sci-fi films but this one is super boring. It's extremely drab, flat, one dimensional and nothing happens. It just them drilling and drilling for most of the film. The exciting thing that happens is when the finally pop out and see water. That's as exciting as it gets - they see water. OK there's a little bit more to the water stuff in the ending but by the time you get to that point your either asleep or just really don't care.If you are gonna watch the film, there is no need in watching it normally, just hit the fast-forward button and watch it that way because the dialogue is as interesting as the sock-lent between my toes.1/10

Interestingly, I got this movie as part of a 10 movie collection called 'The Best Of The Worst'. This movie pack included gems such as "Eegah!","Manos", and "Mesa Of Lost Women". And I have to say..."Unknown World" really doesn't belong in such august company.In spite of the typical genre copy you'll see for this movie on promotional posters back in the day...UK seems to be fundamentally serious and well meaning in its attempt to convey a message about mankind taking responsibility for its future. And when you compare it to something like "The Incredible Petrified World" (which has a similar plot about explorers in a subterranean world)...UK is obviously in a different and better rank of movies.But its attempt to balance fantastic themes with a sober, realistic message falls flat because it just....drags...and drags...and drags.In fact, it is hard to imagine watching "Unknown World" for any kind of real entertainment value. You may watch this once, for some reason...but I can't imagine anyone wanting to watch it again.

If you can imagine "Journey To The Centre Of The Earth" minus any and all excitement, then you have a pretty good grasp on what this movie is all about. The basic story revolves around Dr. Morley, a scientist who has become convinced that humanity is on the brink of a nuclear war (to the point at which his nickname has become "The Prophet Of Doom"), and so he assembles a team of experts who pack themselves into a fancy vehicle and bore (and I do mean bore in every sense of the word) hundreds of miles into the earth in an attempt to find someplace to ride out the nuclear storm. So they go down. And down. And down some more. And nothing much really happens, except for a few arguments among the team members. Even the scenes where team members get killed (and by the end three of them have bitten the dust) are anti-climactic at best.Too bad, really. The plot had potential, and being made in the early 50's, when the threat of nuclear annihilation was a big topic for people, it could have delved into some of those questions in more depth. The acting wasn't great, but I've seen some of these shlocky 50's and 60's sci-fi flicks where the acting has been a lot worse. I even liked the opening of the movie, which gave us the basic background to the story disguised as one of those 50's newsreel type movies. Good qualities aside, though, a movie in which nothing much happens isn't a very good movie. 3/10

The film begins with some stock footage about nuclear war and is part of a presentation scientists are making in order to drum up support for an ark, of sorts, to be sent deep within the planet. This way, in case we have a nuclear war, the species can survive deep inside mother Earth. The story, at times, is highly reminiscent of Jules Verne's JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH.When I rented this film, I assumed based on the box cover that it was a typical low-budget 1950s sci-fi/horror film. However, to my surprise, there were no bug-eyed monsters, alligators or lizards with cheap fins pasted on or silly masked ghouls. While it certainly did not have a huge budget, the film made a genuine effort to entertain, have SOME basis in scientific facts of the day and say something about mankind. While some might find this all pretty dull, I actually enjoyed it more than I thought and in hindsight I am glad the usual silly and schlocky monsters and such were missing. Now this isn't to say this is a masterpiece. Occasionally, the characters behave a bit silly--such as their needlessly bickering (which makes no sense for such an expedition) and the science behind all this is suspect (such as the lack of differences in air pressure, the presence of drinkable water as well as breathable air over a thousand miles inside the Earth and their ability to ascend at an incredible rate without exploding!). Still, it is oddly compelling and the acting (while they weren't arguing) was pretty good. Plus, unlike JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, it's nice NOT to see dinosaurs and other creatures waiting to greet our heroes.Final verdict--well worth a look and a decent time-passer despite some limitations.PS--This film is from Alpha Video--one of the worst producers of DVDs out there. Fortunately, unlike many of their films which are scratchy public domain prints, this one is a very good copy and is very watchable.