Why the dinosaurs died out – the mystery solved!
Thank god for Hollywood, answering the great questions of the universe. Why did the dinosaurs die out? Because they were a bit crap!
Apparently all they could do was sway from side to side a bit like they’ve been nipping at Grandma’s sherry and walk as if they’ve got their trousers around their ankles. It’s not a great survival technique.
In fact the only beast that can move quickly on the ‘Unknown Island’ (1948) is a sort of giant ape and that’s because it’s played by Ray ‘Crash’ Corrigan – once the star of hilarious 1936 serial ‘Undersea Kingdom’. As far as the reptiles go, I couldn’t work out whether they were guys in suits that didn’t fit or terrible model work or a mixture of both.
The last pint always had unforseen consequences…
The plot? Well, it’s the usual: idiotic explorer and his girlfriend charter a boat to try and find a legendary lost island, which is supposed to have dinosaurs on it. They hire Barton MacLane’s ship, obviously unfamiliar with all those gangster movies he did in the 30s for Warner Brothers. And of course they take along a handsome drunken survivor who escaped from the island before. Under the woman’s influence he cleans up and of course we can see where that’s going – the interaction between the lead characters is painfully predictable. Anyway, they get to the island, fanny about a bit, some people are killed by the arthritic dinosaurs and so on…
Actually, I believe this was the first colour movie to feature dinosaurs (if you don’t count the tinted scenes in Willis O’Brien’s 1925 version of ‘The Lost World’). Unless someone out there knows different of course…!
Mark David Welsh 