****              The Original Dinosaur Movie!

Brilliant author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a book in 1912 about an expedition to the amazon that found a plateau inhabited by creatures previously thought extinct. Thinking that this would make a good movie, a large project was started, and seven years latter the finished version made it to the screens. Audiences were astounded by the wonders they had seen, some of them believing that the dinosaurs were real. Of course they weren’t real, just well done stop motion effects from well-renowned special effects guy, Willis O'Brien. This movie in turn had a tremendous effect on numerous creative works since. This movie paved the way to “King Kong”, which made “The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms” possible, which in turn influenced “Godzilla”. Of course there is also the direct link to “Jurassic Park” and it’s sequel, “The Lost World: Jurassic Park”, a direct nod to the book and movie. On top of this are the numerous rip-offs, obvious references, overabundant remakes, and tons of documentaries featuring stock footage from this movie. Overall this is a historical landmark on the movie world, and it wouldn’t have done so if it weren’t such a good movie.

Renowned explorer Professor Challenger is found in London claiming that he saw live dinosaurs in the Amazon and asks the community to help in for his return trip. Most believe him to be crazy. Newspaper reported Edward Malone, using his connection with big game hunter Sir John Roxton, tries to insert himself into the expedition believing that it would impress his girlfriend. Tagging it as a rescue mission for explorer Maple White, trapped there from the previous expedition, the newspaper agrees to fund the trip. With White’s daughter, Paula, coming along, they make their way to the Amazon jungles. Finding the plateau again, they find that it is indeed populated by dinosaurs and other ancient creatures. Unfortunately they are trapped up there the same way that Maple White got trapped (a certain tree log bridge incident). Ed and Paula fall in love, the professors have fun observing the dinosaurs, and the remains of the late Maple White are found. Thanks to the help from other members of the party and Jocko the monkey, they are able to get a rope ladder up there for the trapped members to climb down. A certain brontosaurus fell off the cliff, landed in mud, and after a bit of work they bring it to London to prove to the world that dinosaurs exist. The brontosaurus escapes from it’s cage upon arrival and starts roaming around London, destroying buildings and almost stepping on people. Eventually it breaks a bridge it tried to cross, falls in the river, and swims away.

Being a silent movie, the plot is shown mostly visually with the occasional note slipped in that says what they are saying. As is common for the time, the acting is a little over-exaggerated (a holdover from stage plays), but actually the acting is pretty good in this one compared to most movies of the time. There is definitely a classic plot outline to this movie; the basic premise is seen in various forms in latter movies. They get all the required bits done, with action, adventure, drama, romance, and humor all present. The humor itself pervades the movie, at times a simple joke and other times a fairly elaborate visual gag (with slapstick). The romantic bit is a part of the movie from the beginning, with a couple of subtle love triangles forming and dissipating, but the main romance scene is a single conversation that goes from “I like you” to “I want to marry you” in under two minutes. Could have used more development here, but it seems they were busy with the escapism. It’s dominantly an adventure story, set in exotic and varied locations. This is helped with actual footage of jungle animals (some of which don’t actually belong in the Amazon), as well as elaborate special effect backdrops.

The plateau itself is impressively done, giving a sense of wonder as one looks at the exotic geology. Once they get up to the top, you see a whole new land up there, also impressively done with model work and matte paintings. The main feature of course is the varied creatures that live there. You get the occasional strange bug or lizard, as well as an ape-man of sorts who heckles the group, but the main attraction is the large amounts of stop-motion dinosaurs. When I say large amounts I mean two things: you get plenty of scenes involving dinosaurs and you get scenes involving whole herds of dinosaurs. Witness the vicious battles as the allosaurus attacks his prey! Behold the almighty pterodactyl as he glides over his territory in search of fish to eat! Watch in awe as the volcano erupts, insisting a stampede of epic proportions! Revel in fear as the brontosaurs, bigger than eleven elephants, destroys a modern city! Truthfully I’m just scratching the surface with these comments, because there is indeed a large quantity of dinosaur stuff to see here. It’s rather well done stuff as well, for the majority. There are times were the movement is kind of jerky, and some scenes looked like they were just playing around, but for the most part it is high quality stop motion work. Terrific for the time and allowing future movies to be even better.

Overall this is a historic movie that is a must-have for anyone who loves dinosaur movies. You definitely want to get the best version you can find; there are low-quality abridged versions floating around. The one I have is 93 minutes in length, includes two sound tracks (original and new music), a bunch of special features, and color-tinting (a common process of the time that adds a lot to the atmosphere of the scene). Either way there is a lot of entertainment in this movie. Despite it’s age, it still holds up.

Pretty good plot with all the trimmings

Great-for-their-time special effects

An entertaining movie throughout, with plenty of variety

A nice sense of adventure, with exotic locations and obstacles to overcome

More than enough stop-motion dinosaur bits, good attention to detail (breathing and saliva), and fairly scientifically accurate

Allosaurus and brontosaurus and trachodon and agathaumus and stegosaurus and triceratops and pterodactyl and styracosaurus and brachiosaurus, and megalosaurus and diplodocus and tyrannosaurus OH MY!

Not the smartest allosaurus on the block, I tell ya

Sadly we will never know what the true cut of the movie was

Although plenty of subtle romance, the actual romance is rather short

Unfortunate holdovers from the time, including over-acting and undercranking

You would think after spending 7 years on the movie it would be a little more perfect

Actually that did describe a parabola, or maybe it was a curve, no wait it’s parabola, but maybe... ouch my brain hurts

Credits