The Land Unknown

An above average B-grade dinosaur affair, which I'll boldly rank among the best I've seen. What is interesting is that the overgrown lizards in The Land Unknown are not animated by stop-motion animation, but, with the exception of two real monitor lizards, they are "living puppet miniatures" (and in the case of the tyrannosaurus, "actors" in rubber costumes), who, thanks to ingenious camera magic, try to eat the main characters in a very impressive way. What deserves absolute recognition, however, are the beautiful sets that were created for this film. They are like the perfect artificial forest we saw in King Kong, and they must have taken a lot of work to make. The whole film is also beautifully widescreen and quite skillfully directed, and the mysterious atmosphere abounds thanks to Mancini's music... It is indeed very good. It's a pity that only a few illogicalities spoiled the impression of a perfect prehistoric expedition. But fortunately, not too much. (07/06/2012)

Very satisfied. Visually, it is a very good film, it was shot completely in widescreen cinemascope format, which was not common for films of this kind in its day. The real footage from Antarctica, with an icebreaker and impressive ice scenery, provides the introduction to the plot, and when the landscape with its hidden prehistoric fauna is revealed, I believe viewers at the time must have gasped in amazement at how beautiful it is. The rear projections, which are not overused, are perfect and completely functional, whether it's shots with giant monitor lizards or a hungry tyrannosaur. And about the monitor lizards, their duel looks like the legendary scene from Robot Monster, but this one is so perfectly filmed and edited that it doesn't look bad in the whole context. The B-movie fun is provided by the rather stiff water monster and especially the Tyrannosaurus, an actor in a costume, but at least he winks adorably and his jaw moves, so here too a plus point. The only small reservation I would have would be the caveman with a well-groomed beard. (01/09/2009)