King Dinosaur (1955)

Simply Perfect

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Blistering performances.

This ultra-cheap time killer stars William Bryant, Wanda Curtis, Douglas Henderson, and Patti Gallagher as a quartet of scientists sent to explore a strange new world that has just entered our solar system, and come in close proximity to Earth. They discover a planet much like Earth, with a lot of flora and fauna. They also find an island populated by so-called "dinosaurs", which do battle with each other before the humans' eyes."King Dinosaur" marked the directing debut for Bert I. Gordon, soon to make a name for himself with many "giant thing on the loose" sci-fi thrillers. It's therefore interesting as a somewhat historical curio, with not so special but still amusing effects, which basically consist of photographically enlarging various animals - iguanas, gators, ants, snakes, etc. The movie consists of a lot of stock footage, a very nondescript cast (the little honey bear "Joe" is the most endearing character in this bunch), and mucho exposition to start with, narrated by Marvin Miller. It doesn't have much of what viewers could consider highlights, other than Bryants' character wrestling with a gator and the epic giant reptile title fights near the end. (Not to mention an utterly *ridiculous* resolution.)This passable if not inspired schlock was scripted by Tom Gries (who went on to bigger and better things like "Will Penny" and "Breakheart Pass"), who'd made *his* directing debut on Gordons' first production, "Serpent Island".Five out of 10.

Gordon's debut film certainly gave no indication of his longevity within the fantasy genre: while it is not in the same awful league as, say, ROBOT MONSTER (1953) or Ed Wood's entire body of work, it is all the worse for being dishonest! One simply cannot play up the notion of a gigantic prehistoric creature, and then provide your audience with nothing more than a magnified lizard – to say nothing of having the gall to describe it as being akin to a Tyrannosaurus Rex! For what it is worth, the premise (scripted by Tom Gries!) of an Earth-like planet surfacing in our solar system which, when inspected, is found to still be in its infancy i.e. the age of dinosaurs and active volcanoes (though, thankfully, we do not get to see monosyllabic caveman roaming about) was not too shabby. However, like I noted before, if the budget does not extend to at least a competent level of special effects (after copious stock footage had already served for the space flight with, amusingly, an utter dearth of shots displaying the astronauts inside the vessel!), it would have been better to undertake a more manageable venture in the first place! As it stands, even if barely lasting an hour, the running-time is padded-out with a plethora of scenes revolving around the things I hate most in life: in fact, reptiles of all varieties put in an appearance here (with a particular astronaut being the brunt of most attacks, including a one-on-one with an alligator and – genuinely heart-stopping – being slithered all over by a giant dark-skinned snake)! The titular monster, then, shows his dominance over the rest by winning out in separate combats with another crocodile and an iguana. Perhaps the most outrageous element of all is the decision by the heroes to nuke the place (why would they even require a nuclear weapon during a scouting mission…for what right do humans have to destroy the life-form of another world, however hostile its reception?!) – but, of course, with no harm done to themselves – when they prove unable to overcome "King Dinosaur"!

Scientists discover a new planet and decide to send an exploratory rocket with four scientists (two men and two women – how convenient) aboard. The planet closely resembles Earth with its breathable atmosphere, lush vegetation, and plethora of wildlife. The place seems simply ideal – that is, until they visit an island in the middle of a nearby lake. The island's inhabitants aren't as cute and cuddly as the lemur they've adopted and named Joe. The island is home to dinosaurs! Can our band of intrepid scientists escape the island before they become a snack? One of the things I enjoy about 1950s sci-fi is that regardless of how bad or ridiculous a movie might be, these movies usually have a certain naive charm about them. That's not the case here. King Dinosaur has nothing that could remotely be called "charm". It's an abysmal mess. Even by Bert I. Gordon's standards it's a wretched movie (and if you're unfamiliar with Gordon's other works, those are some pretty low standards). The plot is pathetic. The acting is plain out pitiful. The depiction of the "scientists" and "science" is ludicrous. The special effects are a laugh-out-loud joke. The staged lizard/iguana/alligator fights are reprehensible. At least half the movie is composed of stock footage. And the movie is such a technical mess that I'm surprised this bunch of bozos was even able to get it on film. I'm racking my brain, but I've got absolutely nothing positive to say.But the most ridiculous moment in King Dinosaur (and one of the most ridiculous moments in movie history) comes about 5 minutes before the movie's end. Before the four "scientists" leave the island, one of them says, "I brought the atom bomb. I think it's a good time to use it." Huh? What did he just say? You mean he's been carrying an atomic weapon around like a loaf of bread? Carrying around food, water, or . . . oh I don't know . . . scientific equipment might make sense, but an atom bomb? I could even see carrying some sort of small hand-held weapon for self defense, but a nuclear warhead? It's got to be one of the most ridiculous moments ever put on film.

A new Planet is found and a rocket is sent off to investigate it. Once it arrives the planet is found to be full of giant animals and dinosaurs.El-cheapo production from Bert I Gordon is so full of stock footage one wonders why they bothered to shoot any new footage at all. Watching this again last night I was shocked to find that in the first ten minutes that there was maybe only four shots (those of the stars) that weren't taken from somewhere else. Its gets better after that, but at the same time the story doesn't. Here's proof that they don't make them like they used to any more, thank god. I doubt very much you could cut together this much stock footage and pass it off as a "new" movie and with out an audience screaming for its money back. The effects are regular critters on small sets superimposed behind our stars. Its par for the course for the day, but its unevenly handled, with the stuff lifted from One Million BC looking better than Gordon's new footage.This is a classic bad movie. My rating of 4 out of 10 is based upon viewing it as a bad movie. Those looking for jaw dropping inept film making need look no father. If one wanted to look at it as a normal movie then this would be hovering somewhere around zero.