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Path: utzoo!lsuc!msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader)
From: msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: Another bad SF movie (well, not exactly)
Message-ID: <347@lsuc.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 2-Feb-85 03:48:00 EST
Article-I.D.: lsuc.347
Posted: Sat Feb  2 03:48:00 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 2-Feb-85 05:01:24 EST
References: <202@ttidcc.UUCP> <2304@nsc.UUCP>
Sender: msb@lsuc.UUCP
Reply-To: msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader)
Organization: Law Society of Upper Canada, Toronto
Lines: 22
Summary: Amusing silliness in mediocre movie - The (Transatlantic) Tunnel ('35)

> >Ever wonder how they got that enormous elevator shaft into that small ship?
> >[in Dark Star]
> 
> Better yet, look closely at the size of the bombs vs. the size of the ship,
> and try to figure out where they stored 20 of those things.

Last weekend I saw the 1935 movie The Tunnel, also titled The Transatlantic
Tunnel.  (It's a British remake of a 1933 German movie.  All prints of it
were believed lost.)  For a 1930's sf movie, it wasn't that bad -- but there
were some nice howlers.

Like... you're digging a tunnel, depicted as about 30-40 feet in diameter,
from London to New York.  This is somewhat over 3000 miles.  Converting
to metric, say 10 m diam and 5000 km length.  The volume of the tunnel is
therefore PI*5*5*5000000 m^3, just about 400000000 m^3.  Even if the rock has
only 2.5 times the density of water, that's ONE BILLION metric TONS of spoil
(some miles below sea level, too) that you have to dispose of... this was
simply ignored!  And the 1500-mile trip from the tunnel ends to the working
face was depicted as taking no more than, oh, an hour... in vehicles shown
moving at no more than 50 mph...

Mark Brader