Year: 1965
Runtime: 96 mins
Language: English
Director: Andrew Marton
Dr. Steven Sorenson devises a plan to harness Earth’s geothermal power by detonating a thermonuclear device deep beneath the crust. The blast creates a growing fissure that threatens to split the planet in half, and he and his team must race against time to stop the crack before catastrophic devastation occurs.
Get a spoiler-free look at Crack in the World (1965) with a clear plot overview that covers the setting, main characters, and story premise—without revealing key twists or the ending. Perfect for deciding if this film is your next watch.
In the stark expanses of Tanganyika, a multinational scientific consortium has carved an underground outpost that feels more like a cathedral of ambition than a laboratory. Their goal is audacious: drill farther beneath the Earth’s crust than any before them and tap the planet’s own geothermal furnace for limitless power. The remote setting, the hum of massive equipment, and the weight of global expectation create a tense, almost reverential atmosphere, where every reverberation of the deep earth feels like a promise—or a warning.
At the heart of the project is Dr. Steven Sorenson, a visionary whose brilliance is matched only by the private battle he fights against a terminal illness. Sorenson’s drive is both scientific and personal; he sees the experiment as a chance to leave a lasting imprint on humanity while wrestling with the urgency of his own limited time. Opposite him stands Dr. Ted Rampion, the chief geologist whose caution stems from years of watching the subtle scars left by humanity’s past nuclear experiments. Their contrasting philosophies—one of daring optimism, the other of measured restraint—fuel a dynamic that is as much about intellectual debate as it is about survival.
The plan they pursue is as bold as it is perilous: lower a thermonuclear device to the deepest point of the borehole, hoping the blast will pierce an impenetrable mantle and unleash a new source of clean energy. The very notion of detonating a bomb miles beneath the surface casts a long, uneasy shadow over the team, hinting at the fragile line between breakthrough and disaster. The environment itself seems to hold its breath, the earth’s sigh audible in the tremors that echo through the tunnels.
When the explosion ignites a fissure that begins to race along a ancient fault line, the stakes skyrocket from scientific triumph to planetary survival. Sorenson, his steadfast wife Maggie Sorenson, and the rest of the crew find themselves caught in a relentless race against a growing crack that threatens to split the world in half. The film balances breathtaking visual spectacle with a cerebral, existential dread, asking whether humanity’s reach can ever truly be contained within the limits of its own creation.
Last Updated: December 04, 2025 at 23:41
Discover curated groups of movies connected by mood, themes, and story style. Browse collections built around emotion, atmosphere, and narrative focus to easily find films that match what you feel like watching right now.
Stories where humanity's reach exceeds its grasp, with disastrous consequences.If you enjoyed the high-stakes scientific peril of Crack in the World, explore more movies where dangerous technology and hubris threaten catastrophe. These films feature similar themes of unintended consequences and desperate races to prevent global disaster.
Narratives in this thread typically begin with a breakthrough that promises great benefit, only to reveal a fatal flaw. The plot then becomes a linear, escalating crisis as the creators scramble to control the unintended consequences of their own creation, often facing personal and ethical dilemmas.
These films are grouped by their shared focus on the 'dangerous technology' trope, a tense and high-intensity tone driven by imminent disaster, and a straightforward cause-and-effect structure where human error directly creates the central conflict.
Stories where saving the world comes with a heavy, lasting price.Fans of the sobering, high-cost resolution in Crack in the World will appreciate these films. Discover similar movies where survival is bittersweet, marked by heavy emotional weight and the lingering impact of catastrophic events.
The emotional journey follows a desperate struggle against overwhelming odds. While the immediate threat is neutralized, the resolution is complex, acknowledging the sacrifices made and the profound, often permanent, changes to the world or the characters' lives. The ending feels more like a fragile new beginning than a true triumph.
Movies in this thread share a specific emotional mix: the relief of survival is tempered by sadness and loss. They consistently feature heavy emotional weight, high-intensity conflicts, and an ending feel that is definitively bittersweet rather than purely happy or bleak.
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