A regional film historian is bringing another classic movie back to the big screen in Omaha-Council Bluffs in two weeks, along with a visit from one of the film’s original stars. Bruce Crawford is organizing a special showing of the 1959 movie, “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” and the evening will include an appearance by a long-ago Hollywood heart throb.

Crawford says, “Pat Boone will be our guest of honor to discuss the movie, how it was made, his input in it and, of course, his unbelievably long, 55-year career.” Crawford says “Journey” is a true classic film. The plot involves a professor who leads an expedition to our planet’s core via a volcano. Along the way, the group encounters a host of prehistoric monsters and life-threatening challenges.

“”The visual effects, they’re from 1959 but they’re still fun to watch,” Crawford says. “You know, the CGI stuff just exploding in your eyes every two seconds. It’s organic. You know it’s not real but it’s fun and you enjoy it because it suspends your disbelief. It’s like a classic Disney film — they hold up.” Crawford has rounded up a host of entertainment for the event, including re-inactors.

“I’m going to have a group of Omaha Pipes and Drums is going to have some kilted bagpipers because in the film, there is a contingent of bagpipers,” he says. “Pat Boone wears a kilt in part of the movie, by the way. And we’re going to have re-inactors. They call themselves the Nebraska Steampunk Society.” That group is into Victorian-style clothing and gadgetry that incorporates elements of science fiction, fantasy and alternate history. The event is planned for Saturday, May 19th, at the Joslyn (JOZ-lin) Art Museum in Omaha. Tickets are 25-dollars and benefit the Nebraska Kidney Association. This is Crawford’s 30th event. Previous movie nights have brought in stars including: Iowa native Cloris Leachman, Debbie Reynolds, Janet Leigh, and Patricia Neal.