Crack in the World (1965)

Alexander Knox: Sir Charles Eggerston

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Quotes 

• [first lines] 

  Dr. Maggie Sorenson : But, Sir Charles, the project entrance is half a mile further on!

  Sir Charles Eggerston : I know, Mrs. Sorenson. I wanted to stop here to take a better look at THAT. That's your drill tower, isn't it?

  Dr. Maggie Sorenson : Yes, it is.

  Sir Charles Eggerston : What's that missile doing up there? I thought we came here to discuss with your husband the POSSIBILITY of using an atomic warhead.

  Dr. Maggie Sorenson : HALF a missile, Sir Charles. If you look closely, you'll see it's not armed.

• 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.

• Sir Charles Eggerston : The question now is not who is to blame but how we can stop the catastrophe.

  Dr. Ted Rampion : At present we don't know any way we can stop it. First, we have to learn to understand the natural forces involved and, if possible, find some way to control them in the time permitted to us.

  Sir Charles Eggerston : What is being done? Now?

  Dr. Ted Rampion : Every university, every scientist, every thinking military leader is helping us.

  Sir Charles Eggerston : Is there anything that we can do?

  Dr. Ted Rampion : Pray.

• Sir Charles Eggerston : A crack in the world?

  [the meeting erupts in chaos] 

  Sir Charles Eggerston : Gentlemen! Gentlemen! Don't let's fall apart. We have work to do. Please! We must hear Dr. Rampion complete his report. You were saying that the crack is extending to the east.

  Dr. Ted Rampion : Along the Macedo Trench. It's following a geological flaw in the Earth's crust, known as the Macedo Fault. That runs from here, to the tip of India, then veers across towards Indonesia, and terminates off the Australian continental shelf.

  Sir Charles Eggerston : How do you know the crack will stop there?

  Dr. Ted Rampion : We don't.

  Sir Charles Eggerston : What if the crack keeps going? Right around the world? What happens then?

  Dr. Ted Rampion : Where the land masses split, the oceans will be sucked in, and the colossal pressure generated by the steam will rip the Earth apart, and destroy it.

  Indian Ambassador : You mean, the world will come to an end?

  Dr. Ted Rampion : The world as we know it, yes.