Dinosaurus is one of those movies I've always wanted to see since I learned of it but somehow never found on TV nor ever ran across otherwise. It's the third collaboration between producer Jack H. Harris and director Irvin Yeaworth, the first two being the very famous The Blob and the less famous 4D Man.
With the success of two movies, one a blockbuster, Harris was getting much bigger money for his projects, which meant much larger effects. According to Harris the idea for 1960's Dinosaurus came from a confab Harris had with Alfred Bester who didn't want to bother writing the screenplay and mostly gave the story to Harris. He then got Algis Budrys to write the screenplay (which he'd never done before), and Budrys delivered a six-hundred-page monster of a document which was trimmed to make the movie. Harris claims the Willis O'Brien gave some technical advice on the movie.
The cast is literally no one you've ever heard of. As I watched the cast show up at the beginning of the movie, I recognized not a single save maybe perhaps for supporting actor Paul Lukather who had a role in This Island Earth I think. But the actors aren't the show here, it's the dinosaurs which are given life of sorts by means of the tried-and-true stop-motion techniques refined to an art form by Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen. Neither is on this show, and the dinos are minimal at best and wisely used rather sparingly.
Some screen time is taken by Greg Martell who portrays a caveman who is incredibly revived alongside the dinos themselves. He's funny and tragic and all sorts of things and arguably the best performance in the show. The sight of him and a young boy (who you want to strangle every other minute) riding atop a Brontosaur immediately made me think of Dino Boy from Hanna-Barbera.
The movie attempts to offer a blend of danger and humor and I give it credit. But the plot is so daft that there's little to hang onto here. While poking under a Caribbean island some guys find two intact dinosaurs which they drag to shore and leave there until lightning just so happens to revive them. Also, a caveman floats ashore and starts to investigate his new world. A lot of time is spent talking about a fort and then we have construction equipment being used to fend off a T-Rex. That's what I think the movie was about, getting to that delightful scene, but the getting there could be ragged.
The cast is literally no one you've ever heard of. As I watched the cast show up at the beginning of the movie, I recognized not a single save maybe perhaps for supporting actor Paul Lukather who had a role in This Island Earth I think. But the actors aren't the show here, it's the dinosaurs which are given life of sorts by means of the tried-and-true stop-motion techniques refined to an art form by Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen. Neither is on this show, and the dinos are minimal at best and wisely used rather sparingly.
(Greg Martell)
Some screen time is taken by Greg Martell who portrays a caveman who is incredibly revived alongside the dinos themselves. He's funny and tragic and all sorts of things and arguably the best performance in the show. The sight of him and a young boy (who you want to strangle every other minute) riding atop a Brontosaur immediately made me think of Dino Boy from Hanna-Barbera.
(The Dell Comics adaptation featuring interior art by Jesse Marsh.)
The movie attempts to offer a blend of danger and humor and I give it credit. But the plot is so daft that there's little to hang onto here. While poking under a Caribbean island some guys find two intact dinosaurs which they drag to shore and leave there until lightning just so happens to revive them. Also, a caveman floats ashore and starts to investigate his new world. A lot of time is spent talking about a fort and then we have construction equipment being used to fend off a T-Rex. That's what I think the movie was about, getting to that delightful scene, but the getting there could be ragged.
To read the Dell Comic check out this World of Monsters link.
Next time we see Jack Harris move from making movies to packaging other people's movies with a little gem titled Masters of Horror.
Rip Off
Rip Off
This was a bit of a kooky movie, but I enjoyed it when I was younger. Marcel "King Kong" Delgado built the dinosaur models and the highly regarded Wah Chang assisted with the photographic effects. Jack H. Harris has a cameo in the film -- he's one of the tourists on the boat. Thanks for the link!
ReplyDeleteIn a small documentary with the movie someone said the models for the film were much lighter than was typical for such work. Someone said perhaps wires were used instead of a detailed support structure, due to costs.
Delete