The Land Unknown

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.

A rip-roaring sci-fi adventure that has quite a lot going for it: a novel premise, a square-jawed hero, a lovely blond heroine, and several dinosaurs presented in a bizarre landscape.

Universal's ace effects artist Clifford Stine did a terrific job. The sets are also remarkable. The film's explanation for the presences of a tropical prehistoric world in the frozen Antarctic is intelligent and plausible. The character don't act like stereo-types, so the plot avoids being predictable. Be kind when you view the dinosaurs; they serve the story well, despite the fact that they're puppets, men in suits, and enlarged lizards.

If at all possible, see the wide-screen version. There's nothing worse than watching a dinosaur's mid-section attack somebody off-screen because the dino's head and tail have been cut

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 Yes, the science in the science fiction is outdated and not accurate.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. 

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.

Long before I ever knew about the existence of "The Land Unknown", I had already seen clips of its legendary T-Rex in various TV-shows spoofing bad movies and even wannabe funny commercials promoting the strength of cornflakes. It was like THE archetypal bad 'man-in-a-suit' monster that supposedly had to look ferocious but actually couldn't even fright the smallest child. Granted, the T-Rex looks ludicrous and pitiful, but bear in mind the movie remains a product of the 1950's and – in fact – the T-Rex is the only truly weak element in an overall decent and spirited little Sci-Fi effort. "The Land Unknown" also boosts an adequate screenplay, solid performances and direction and a couple of other and far more successful monster designs, including a Pterodactyl and some kind of Dino living underwater. Heck, the imaginative photography even manages to make smaller and "harmless" animals like iguanas and lizards look menacing. The story revolves on a scientific expedition heading for the continent of Antarctica to investigate why it could possibly have warm-watered seas and lakes amidst all the mountains of ice. A four-headed crew, one woman and three men, become trapped in a sudden storm and their helicopter lowers down a crater, far out of reach of all the headquarters' radars and search parties. For nearly 30 days, they are stuck in a subtropical landscape far below sea level and – even more astonishingly – where times didn't evolve and dinosaurs still prowl around. As paranoia amongst them rises and the hope for rescue lingers, the team faces the biggest ordeals in their lives. Okay, so "The Land Unknown" is rather tacky and often tedious, but it's undeniably charming and the opening quarter is even somewhat educational, with actual footage of the historically fundamental Admiral Byrd expeditions. The footage inside the crater and amongst the dinosaurs is obviously very grotesque and implausible, but hey, so was "Jurassic Park" and yet everybody loved that. Worth watching, but probably not for nowadays Sci-fi target audiences.