King Dinosaur

I confess!

I liked this move when I first saw it.

(I was seven in 1955.)

As I recall, an asteroid had passed near the earth and made some stir in the news before this movie appeared. I suspected that was the inspiration of the plot.

(OK so THIS plot was NOT inspired in any way, shape or form. Waddaya gonna do, sue a seven year old kid?)

To a seven year old, an iguana propped up on its hind legs did a passable impersonation of a tyrannosaurus.

When I saw the movie again on MST3K, well, . . . . hey, I was seven and it was cool to me in the 1950s.

(Updt 19 Aug 2014: I found a copy of the 1957 World Book Annual Supplement (events of 1956) at the local book fair (the family 1955 World Book set w. supplements up to the 1960s was abandoned in a move in 1996). There it was: news of the near-earth asteroid Geographos discovered in 1951 named in 1956, predicted to pass 4 million miles from Earth in 1969. But barely 5 by 2 kilometers.)

"King Dinosaur" takes place on a new planet that has entered our solar system. Four astronauts are sent from Earth to explore it. The plot is about what happens to them during this exploration. The science that the kids saw while watching this movie must make science teachers cringe. Everything about this new planet is laughable and the explorers are a joke. It's just like being in the woods on Earth. The monsters are ordinary earth animals and insects. Some are enlarged, some have fins or other things put on them to change their appearance and some are just the way they look on Earth. Throw in some stock footage and you have "King Dinosaur". The astronauts are more on a camping trip than investigating a new planet. The two men are macho and the two women scream a lot. The so called special effects were bad in 1955 and are just laughable today. The main attraction to this movie is the humor you can find in it. The only entertainment value I found with this film was seeing how naive the characters were and how badly done the dinosaurs were. Oddly enough, it is bad enough to make it worth watching. It's good for laughs and to see what was around in the 50s. I wouldn't count on much more.

First of all, let me clear up a frequently sighted misconception: only two brief scenes were taken from the 1940's "One Million, B.C.". The scene with a wooly mammoth trying to shake off the fake fur and another bit with a Komodo dragon sticking it's tongue out for the camera. THAT'S IT! All of the iguana scenes were filmed especially for "KING DINOSAUR".

This is an unbelievable time capsule of a movie. It has all of the popular science fiction elements: Space travel, dinosaurs, and atomic bombs. Filmed during a weekend at Bronson's Canyon in Hollywood, this bit of cinematic tripe should give hope to any aspiring film maker. The fact that it was produced and actually released in theaters is an amazement.

It only has a cast of four people (the other glimpses of humans are from military stock footage). The dialogue is ridiculous. The acting is poor. The handling of animals is cruel. The entire plot doesn't have a single thread of reality in it. If you view a particular scene with the salamander you'll see a human hand holding onto the reptile's tail. If you view the scene where the iguana is first encountered, you'll see the actress get her head shoved into a rock and wince in very real pain. You'll find dozens of contrived scenes and numerous examples of impossibilities that are shrugged off by the scientific quartet.

I love this movie! This film ranks up there with the Marx Brothers "Duck Soup" as one I could view repeatedly and not get bored. There is just something about it. It's the equivalent of a ten car pile-up on the freeway. You are dumbfounded by the carnage. You want to look away, but you can't. You see so much in such a brief time.

This is a perfect example of the "So bad it's good" movie genre. You'll catch small errors in continuity and fact through repeated viewings. Completely silly from start to finish without intending to be. The final line is bloated with irony. Did the lead actor mean for the line to be interpreted sarcastically or with pride? You be the judge!

Now, I did not expect this film to be good. I already knew of its bad repution, and the fact that it is was the first film by Bert I Gorden, I was already prepared to watch a bad film. KING DINOSAUR was actually even worse than I expected! All of the Bert Gordens films that I have seen are all bad, but at least I can find one or two good things to say about them. Not here! Even the opening sequence is dull. Narrator Marvin Miller tells us that a new planet has found its way in the Earths galaxy (sic). Scientists speculate the new planet, which they name "Nova" might be habitable, so plans for a manned flight to the new planet are planned. These plans are shown to us entirely with stock footage As bad as later Gorden films are, I have always felt many of his films like THE AMAZING COLOSSAL and WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST do open well. Perhaps this is the only lesson Gorden has learned from KING DINOSAUR during his long dubious career. The crew consisting of two men and two women arrive on the new planet in a super-imposed V2. WE see no shots of the inside of the ship. The crew exists the rocket and finds the planet to be...well (surprise!) just like good old planet Earth. As the crew wanders around, stock shots of normal animals like bears, moose, geese, tigers, a normal size caiman which one of the crew wrestle with like Tarzan. The crew also adopts a friendly kinkajou (?) they come upon whom they name Joe. In one scene they encounter a poor marco photographed mole cricket which briefly menaces the crew but is quickly dispatched by bullets. They then decide to explore an island that lies in the middle of a lake. I suppose since Gorden figured that King Kong lived on an island inhabited by dinosaurs, he would place his dinosaurs on an island. Hey, the film does have "king" in the title. Upon arriving on the island the crew is menaced by an oversized iguana and a few other enlarged lizards. Before fleeing the island they set the timer off on an atom bomb. Yes! An atom bomb! As they flee the island they are chased by the giant lizards, a stock shot of a mata mata turtle, and a stock footage shot of a woolly elephant from ONE MILLION B.C. They make it shore and the bomb goes off. Someone says the planet is now safe for civilization.

Why would the crew of a rocketship sent to explore a new planet bring along a an atom bomb? Because Bert Gorden probably wanted his film to end things with a bang and atom bombs do make a big bang. How does nukeing a puny island with a few dinosaurs bring civilization? What makes them think that this is only spot on the whole planet where dinosaurs live? Would not scientists back on Earth be interested in studying this abnormal zoology? Off the island they were menaced by a giant cricket. Will future Earth rockets come to nuke the rest of the planet? Did Gorden or anyone involved in the making of this film care? Why do I even bother to ask? How did I ever find this much to say about this rotten film?

A new planet moves into our solar system and four scientists (two couples) are sent to explore Planet Nova. In between romantic interludes, the cast faces an iguana masquerading as a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

This is just bad, no bones about it. With the poster art, and the title, you would think this would be about a dinosaur. But it is not. Nope. Somehow a planet identical to Earth is near the real Earth, so four people wander it while stock footage of different animals play in the background. Then, when you think there might be a dinosaur, it is just an iguana with Gordon's usual silly tricks of making animals look big.

Although the lemur was cute, that hardly redeems this stinker.