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Valley of the Dragons

  • 1961
  • Approved
  • 1h 22m
IMDb RATING
4.9/10
847
YOUR RATING
Cesare Danova, Danielle De Metz, Sean McClory, and Joan Staley in Valley of the Dragons (1961)
Watch Trailer
Play trailer1:16
1 Video
7 Photos
AdventureFantasySci-Fi

In 1881, in Algeria, Michael Denning and Hector Servadac are fighting a duel when a comet brushing Earth takes the two men to the Moon where they discover a prehistoric civilization.In 1881, in Algeria, Michael Denning and Hector Servadac are fighting a duel when a comet brushing Earth takes the two men to the Moon where they discover a prehistoric civilization.In 1881, in Algeria, Michael Denning and Hector Servadac are fighting a duel when a comet brushing Earth takes the two men to the Moon where they discover a prehistoric civilization.

  • Director
    • Edward Bernds
  • Writers
    • Edward Bernds
    • Jules Verne
    • Donald Zimbalist
  • Stars
    • Cesare Danova
    • Sean McClory
    • Joan Staley
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    4.9/10
    847
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Edward Bernds
    • Writers
      • Edward Bernds
      • Jules Verne
      • Donald Zimbalist
    • Stars
      • Cesare Danova
      • Sean McClory
      • Joan Staley
    • 33User reviews
    • 18Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 1:16
    Trailer

    Photos6

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    Top cast17

    Edit
    Cesare Danova
    Cesare Danova
    • Hector Servadac
    Sean McClory
    Sean McClory
    • Michael Denning
    Joan Staley
    Joan Staley
    • Deena
    Danielle De Metz
    Danielle De Metz
    • Nateeta
    Gregg Martell
    Gregg Martell
    • Od-Loo
    Gil Perkins
    Gil Perkins
    • Tarn…
    I. Stanford Jolley
    I. Stanford Jolley
    • Patoo
    Mike Lane
    Mike Lane
    • Anoka
    Roger Til
    Roger Til
    • Vidal
    Mark Dempsey
    Mark Dempsey
    • Andrews
    Jerry Sunshine
    • LeClerc
    Dolly Grey
    • Mara
    Lon Chaney Jr.
    Lon Chaney Jr.
    • Patoo (edited from 'One Million B.C.')
    • (archive footage)
    • (uncredited)
    Chester Hayes
    Chester Hayes
    • Neanderthal
    • (uncredited)
    Irvin 'Zabo' Koszewski
    • Tribesman
    • (uncredited)
    Carole Landis
    Carole Landis
    • Deena (edited from 'One Million B.C.')
    • (archive footage)
    • (uncredited)
    Victor Mature
    Victor Mature
    • Hector (edited from 'One Million B.C.')
    • (archive footage)
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Edward Bernds
    • Writers
      • Edward Bernds
      • Jules Verne
      • Donald Zimbalist
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews33

    4.9847
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    Featured reviews

    moondragon85501

    Long time, no see

    This movie was on fairly regularly when I was a kid; my cousin and I would frequently watch it together (she didn't share my enthusiasm for the animal skin-clad women, but she loved a scene where one of the cavemen gets eaten by a dragon).

    It was years later that I saw One Million B.C. for the first time; I knew it was hailed as a classic, but while I found it enjoyable (I fell in love with Carole Landis), VOTD still held more of a mystique for me.

    I have since looked for it in various video rental places with no success. It seems that these days even the networks aim for more sophisticated fare and overlook simpler joys like this. Just because the movies have graduated to Jurassic Park shouldn't mean that we can't suspend our disbelief for a brief period. VOTD should not be allowed to become extinct!
    4bkoganbing

    A glancing blow

    One of the cheaper adaptions of Jules Verne for the big screen occurs with this film Valley Of The Dragons. Unless those ancient pteranodons are the dragons, there's really no mention of them.

    Sean McClory and Cesare Danova are a pair of 19th century adventurers ready to fight a duel over the affections of a woman who no doubt as they figure later on was egging it all on. An earthquake erupts and these two are swept up in it and transported to the head of a comet upon which a prehistoric society still thrives complete with other animals of the Cenozoic age.

    In no time flat these two wind up leading a pair of feuding tribes and bring them together. And they both get a pair of women companions as there is little other recreational activity.

    The footage from One Million BC is once again recycle for another imitation film. Valley Of The Dragons is even shot in black and white no doubt to better integrate the prehistoric footage.

    It's an interesting concept, but brought to the screen in a cheap knockoff manner. The science is also quite suspect a little below the standard of Jules Verne.
    8asinyne

    great memories here

    I grew up in a tiny little town that had nothing going on except a run down movie theater. I recall somebody taking me to see this movie when I was a little kid. I'm guessing that Valley hit our screen around 63 or 64, a good two years after its release. Anyhow, I loved every second of it and still have vivid memories of the movie to this day. (I caught it one or two other times on TV during the seventies) It had a very dramatic opening scene: two duelist were suddenly swept away just before they were about to kill each other. Then they find themselves on a strange world filled with huge dinosaurs doing battle with each other. As if that wasn't enough they soon are under attack by savage primates. I'm guessing it sorta goes downhill after that but this film was a major event in my very ordinary little life back in the early sixties. I will always be grateful for that no matter how this holds up in comparison to today's stuff. It was pure cinema magic back then.
    Squashpants

    Nope, no elastic in prehistoric times...

    I cannot believe you guys! All this claptrap and no mention of Joan Staley's infamous underwater swimming scene?!?

    I saw this movie when it was first released and I was barely pubescent at that time. The audience was quietly taking in the Verneian antics of our shanghaied duo, until one of the main characters (I forget which) runs off for a swim with the Joan Staley character (Deena).

    OK, so Deena takes off her prehistoric sunsuit and lo and behold she is wearing a Stone-Age bikini! OK, nothing to get excited about --- pretty chaste even for 1961. No elastic in prehistoric times, though, so the top fits rather loosely.

    So the couple jump in the lagoon and start playfully swimming and diving underwater. The decent underwater cinematography lingers on each of the characters as they cavort about.

    It quickly becomes evident that Deena's bikini top is not going to hold her fairly ample anatomy securely in hiding from the voyeurs in the audience.

    I will never forget the eruption of hoots and whistles from the darkened theater as the camera continued to follow Ms. Staley from such a point of view as to make it all too evident that Deena would have no trouble feeding any of her progeny, especially considering the equipment on display.

    Granted, this sort of thing hardly rates the consideration of a PG rating today, but in 1961, it was dynamite. I was at a point in my development where the fuss being made by the male members of the audience only served to make me embarrassed and uncomfortable. The scene seemed to go on forever.

    I was elated to be able to get recently a VHS copy of the movie (recorded, believe it or not, from a TV presentation), and waited breathlessly for the scene burned into my mind as a young lad.

    And there it was in all its glory. And every bit as provocative as it was in that little Galveston, Texas theater back in '61.

    One of the best bits of vintage, unexpected cinematic cheesecake I have ever had the pleasure to encounter.
    5Kingkitsch

    Can you count the things that wandered in from other movies?

    "Valley of the Dragons" is a real scrapbook of other, better movies. Finally available in a very nice DVD print from Columbia Classics, VOTD reveals itself to be the second half of a sci-fi double bill aimed at kids in the early 60s. VOTD is strictly a potboiler patched together from other films Columbia had access to, as well as stock footage. Columbia hoped to cash in on the Jules Verne craze that had seen great success with Disney's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" (1954) and 20th Century Fox's "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (1958). Verne's "Off on a Comet" was pretty much forgotten, so Columbia seized on the title and added an astonishing number of things harvested from other sources in hopes to make the money the aforementioned films harvested. It didn't work, and VOTD ended up on an endless loop in second-run theatres and died a quiet death on TV "Chiller Theater" offerings until vanishing in the late 60s.

    Seeing this oddity again after so many years is why popcorn was invented. It's earnest, yet silly. The production values are not bad, and the story is as flimsy as they come. Earthmen are swept onto a passing comet, discover they're about to become lunchmeat for "dinosaurs", run away from flaming oatmeal spewed out by a volcano, and find hot babes on said comet. Love conquers all and leering commences as the two former enemies realize they have seven years to fool around with the hot babes before maybe getting off the comet when it passes Earth again.

    The "dinosaurs" are the stock variety lizards with fins glued on their backs and blown up via rear projection. Many have wandered over from the classic "One Million BC" (1940), as have a bunch of mangy mastodons. The erupting volcano and the hot oatmeal returns from that spectacle as well. There's a really unpleasant scene featuring a giant kinkajou attacking and really eating a snake. Rodan (1956) wanders over from Japan and makes a few peek-a-boo appearances. The giant spider/bug is from "World Without End"(1956). The Morlocks from MGM's "The Time Machine" (1960) show up, although the faces have been changed and lack the glow-in-the-dark eyes. And so on.

    All that aside, VOTD isn't a bad way to spend a few minutes, and there's some cheesecake and a loose bikini top in an underwater swim sequence. This is poverty row movie-making at it's finest. Be warned though, if you making a drinking game of this by taking a shot every time you spot something from another B-movie monster mash, you'll be stinking drunk by the 45 minute mark.

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    Related interests

    Still frame
    Adventure
    Elijah Wood in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
    Fantasy
    James Earl Jones and David Prowse in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
    Sci-Fi

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      This 1961 release is believed to be the final wide general release feature to use stock footage from "One Million B.C." (1940) to supplement the special effects.
    • Goofs
      When Hector is mixing up the gunpowder, he puts it in a tin can, not too common in prehistoric times.
    • Quotes

      Michael Denning: It's amazing how a Frenchman always finds a woman.

    • Connections
      Edited from One Million B.C. (1940)

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 1961 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • El valle de los dragones
    • Filming locations
      • USA
    • Production company
      • Zimbalist-Roberts-Bernds Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 22m(82 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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