Crack in the World (1965)

Dana Andrews: Dr. Stephen Sorenson

Photos 

Quotes 

• Dr. Stephen Sorenson : Oh, Reynolds, we don't want the commissioners to think we're all mad scientists.

• Dr. Stephen Sorenson : Give me Section 31, the district below Point Albert.

  John Masefield : There's been no activity in that section, none whatsoever.

  Dr. Stephen Sorenson : There WILL be in about half an hour. There are TWO fissures now, or rather, two ENDS of the same crack. One of them has changed direction, and if the other one does...

  John Masefield : If they're extended, where would they intersect?

  Dr. Stephen Sorenson : At the bore hole, where it all started.

  John Masefield : A circle cut out of the Earth's crust?

  Dr. Stephen Sorenson : Yes. And it will break away, acting as a safety valve of immense proportions, twenty-thousand square miles of the Earth's surface thrown out into space.

  John Masefield : And the effect on the Earth's rotation?

  [Stephen shrugs] 

  John Masefield : Do you think the Earth can survive?

  Dr. Stephen Sorenson : No one has ever observed the birth of a moon, Masefield.

• Dr. Stephen Sorenson : After all, how many men have had an opportunity to turn the page of history? Newton, Pasteur, Einstein...

• Dr. Stephen Sorenson : [standing before a diagram]  Now, you all know the purpose of our target is the magma. If we can succeed in bringing this molten mass to the surface under controlled conditions, we'll have all the energy we could use, all the electricity for all kinds of industries. Now, we've drilled down to this point. The only thing that stands between us now and success is this thin layer. Nevertheless, that thin layer has held us up for 17 weeks. No drill that exists will bore through it, not the toughest steel or the hardest diamond. Conventional explosives are useless.

  Sir Charles Eggerston : What do you mean "conventional explosives are useless?"

  Dr. Stephen Sorenson : I mean, there are other types. I was thinking of a thermonuclear device.

• [last lines] 

  Dr. Stephen Sorenson : I'll keep recording everything that happens as long as I can.

  Dr. Ted Rampion : Sorenson, the whole Project is going! Now open the door and come out with us!

  Dr. Stephen Sorenson : If you survive, you'll find all my records in the safe. If everything goes... doesn't matter anyway.

• Dr. Stephen Sorenson : [the central operations bunker is collapsing]  Maggie what are you doing here?

  [to Ted] 

  Dr. Stephen Sorenson : You've got to get her out of here!

  Dr. Ted Rampion : You're coming with us!

  Dr. Stephen Sorenson : No, I have work to finish. Once in a billion years a moon is born, that's what's happening now. It may destroy the Earth, but it may save it. Whatever happens. I've got to stay here and record it!

  Dr. Maggie Sorenson : We can't leave you, Stephen!

  Dr. Ted Rampion : Don't you realize that the two cracks are going to meet here?

  Dr. Stephen Sorenson : They'll meet at the borehole. The Project is outside the circle!