Step Outline: Journey to the Center of the Earth
132 minutes
I provide a brief step outline of a climactic scene towards the conclusion of the 1959 epic film Journey to the Center of the Earth, based on the book by Jules Verne.
1. GERTRUDE (the duck, sidekick to Icelandic guide HANS BELKER) wanders off as SIR OLIVER S. LINDENBROOK (“PROFESSOR”), MADAME GÖTEBERG, and ALEC MCKUEN fall asleep on the beach of the ocean they have just washed up on at the magnetic center of the earth.
2. COUNT SAKNUSSEM, who claims the volcano leading to the center of the earth and the land under it is his, follows GERTRUDE behind some rocks with a hungry look on his face, repeating “Here, duck.” GERTRUDE is the main motivator of the plot, and always leads our heroes in the correct direction when they are lost. Now she is pursued by the villainous SAKNUSSEM.
3. HANS awakes to find Gertrude missing. He follows her tracks, shouting her name. The others follow HANS, shouting his name.
4. HANS discovers a trail of feathers, and then the severed wing of GERTRUDE in the sand. He hears a sound and finds it is COUNT SAKNUSSEM, chiseling a new mark (a trail blaze they have been following their entire journey) into the rock.
5. When HANS spots COUNT SAKNUSSEM, he approaches him slowly, his typically stoic and lovable demeanor transformed into a fit of rage upon realizing the COUNT has eaten his duck. COUNT SAKNUSSEM demands that the PROFESSOR call him off.
6. HANS begins to strangle the COUNT. PROFESSOR, MADAME GÖTEBERG, and ALEC pull him off.
7. The COUNT delivers a brief speech about his importance to the expedition: “You ingrates! What can you do without me! Only I can show you the way out of this realm of mine!” At this moment boulders near him dislodge and, as MADAME GÖTEBERG warns him, he is crushed to death.