Welcome to Public Domain Theater, your home for the wonderful world of films that have (in the United States, at least) fallen into the public domain, and are free for everyone to see!
This month, we have the 1951 sci-fi picture Unknown World. Sort of a 1950’s take on Journey to the Center of the Earth, it concerns a group of scientists building a giant drilling machine to reach caverns deep below the Earth – not in the spirit of scientific curiosity, but in the belief that atomic war is due to happen any day now, and they need to find a sheltered place beneath the Earth were humanity can survive.
For a sci-fi film of this era, there’s a surprising lack of monsters or robots for our heroes to contend with. Instead, much of the conflict comes from within this exploration crew, with tempers flaring and people turning on each other as their search becomes more desperate. But if you were hoping for more of a subterranean creature feature, don’t worry, our opening cartoon has you covered!
The Superman cartoon “The Underground World” was produced by Famous Studios, so it doesn’t have the jaw-dropping animation of the earlier Superman cartoons from Fleischer Studios. But then, the Fleischer Superman cartoons never had the Man of Steel battling an underground civilization of vicious hawkpeople!
So come with us on a journey deep into the mysterious lands beneath the Earth to discover some cinematic treasures from the public domain!
Opening Cartoon:
Feature Presentation:
