The Land Unknown

This rip-roaring sci-fi adventure scores high marks in several categories. The story concerns four people whose helicopter lands in an unknown prehistoric valley, a freak temperate zone located thousands of feet below sea level in the Antarctic, kept warm by volcanically-heated water and a permanent cloud layer that traps the warm air.

The special effects are by Universal's FX wizard Clifford Stine, and even though the dinosaurs are not animated, they aren't badly done. The Tyrannosaurus Rex is a man in a suit, the flippered dinosaur is fairly convincing puppet, and the rest are enlarged lizards. All the dinosaurs are skillfully integrated with live action shots.

Stine loaded the film with wonderful scenes of the fog-shrouded prehistoric landscape, using marvelous matt shots and impressive sets, creating a Skull Island atmosphere.

In some ways, this is the perfect 1950's sci-fi film, because it proudly presents a wealth of facts about the Antarctic before it begins its fanciful story.

The music by Joseph Gershenson is extremely effective. Director Virgil Vogel ("The Mole People") keeps the action moving right along. Hero Jock Mahoney (who later played Tarzan) is a stalwart hero, and Shawn Smith (the stern lady astronaut in "It! The Terror from Beyond Space" and the luscious babe in a mini-skirt in "World Without End") makes a gorgeous heroine. Henry Brandon does a commendable job as a half-crazed survivor from a previous expedition -- and I read somewhere that he was actually a member of the 1947 Bird Expedition to the North Pole. Don't remember where I read it, so I might be misinformed.

When I was young, on rare occasions my father would allow me stay up on Saturday nights and watch a program called creature feature. It was my first exposure to Hammer horror classics like Frankenstein and the wolf man. However, my favorite of all of these were the dinosaur movies. This movie is a throw back to that time.

Yes, it is black and white. Yes, the science in the science fiction is outdated and not accurate. However, in that time period, things like craters in Antarctica with tropical weather and environments lost in time were perfectly legitimate ideas. As were, martians, landing on Jupiter, and atomic mutations.

This movie is perfect for those that grew up on these types of movies or enjoy a classic sci-fi lost in time late night creature feature. I suppose I like the film so much because it brings back those childhood memories of staying up late and watching black and white horror movies. The special effects were probably high tech for the fifties. Yet, they seem to look a bit more authentic than some of the CGI products currently on the market. Yet, it simply has a feel and ambiance that I enjoy. Again, I am sure it is because of the memories it brings back when I watch it.

It is not the best of late night B cinema from the fifties. But it still captivates and holds your attention if you want to revert to a young lad with a vivid imagination glued to a TV on a Saturday night. 

Today's kids, raised on computer-generated graphics, will probably sneer at it, but by 1957 standards THE LAND UNKNOWN was pretty hard to beat. Drawing inspiration from 1920s silent classic THE LOST WORLD and using film shot by Byrd during his polar expedition, THE LAND UNKNOWN presents the story of a helicopter forced down at a warm-water oasis in Antartica--where the crew discovers a prehistoric world where everything seems determined to gobble them up.

The special effects are a mixed bag, ranging from live-action shots of lizards-in-combat to Godzilla-style rubber suits to full size mechanics. While I wouldn't describe it as greatly sophisticated or even consistently executed, it is all a tremendous amount of fun. The script is more intelligent than you might expect--and the story takes an unexpected turn that tempers the action-heavy plot with a certain depth. The cast is no-name, but every one plays expertly, and THE LAND UNKNOWN moves at a cracking pace. This will never compete with the likes of Harryhausen's stop-motion classics, nor will it go down in the history of film as an equal to the truly great science-fiction and fantasy films of its day. But THE LAND UNKNOWN is a fun flick, and I recommend it to fans of 1950s creature features.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT Amazon Reviewer

A military mapping operation goes awry and lands a helicopter in a hidden volcanic crater with live dinosaurs.

This movie oozes potential. A reasonable script, decent actors, good pacing, spectacular sets, and the grandeur of CinemaScope. Then you see the dinosaurs.... oh lord, do you ever. One can easily see where their budget ran dry. The movie employs the two worst methods of portraying dinosaurs, and doesn't even do it well. However, the compositing is nearly seamless, so if it were possible, one could become convinced that the producers managed to find a 20 foot tall man to wear a full size Tyrannosaurus costume.

Aside from the special effects, the movie is quite good, nearly rising above B-movie status. The actors all seem for the most part, naturalistic. They all seem to find the line between flat and hammy. The movie never wastes much time on non-essential plot elements, and the running time works out quite well.

Recommanded for those who love the genre type, be it dinosaurs or jungle movies.

Okay, I love lost world films. I'm a sucker for them. It has to do more with the monsters more than anything else. Here we a bunch of reasonably okay dinosaurs running amok.

The plot is simple, a helicopter crashes into what had, until then, been a hidden tropical jungle in the frozen wastes of Antarctica. It then becomes a race to repair the helicopter before the dinosaurs eat the entire party.

This is a reasonably well done movie with some reasonably well done dinosaurs that get points for NOT being lizards enlarged with trick photography. No they aren't the best monsters in the world and nowhere near as good as what they do today, but what monster is, aside from King Kong? Frankly its the dinosaurs in both the relative quality of what was done and the variety of what we see that makes this movie for me.

I'm hoping that the film will get a restored DVD release soon. This film was shot widescreen however the release on videotape is pan and scan so much of the composition appears to have been lost. I've seen a widescreen trailer and the dinosaur scenes looked better un-pan and scanned.

If you love old black and white, monster or dinosaur films see this film. Yes its been done before but there is something about the way its done here that lifts it up from the rest of the pack.

8 out of 10 for dinosaur/monster lovers.