King Dinosaur (1955)

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

A Masterpiece!

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

This was Bert I. Gordon's debut movie, and I'm frankly surprised that he managed to have a long filmmaking career after making this. I know he was working with a very tight budget, but I think anyone with even a little competence could have done a lot better. There's a substantial amount of stock footage used, not just with the long and tedious opening five minutes setting up the situation. The newly made special effects are pretty tacky even by '50s standards, with imposing images of regular animals in a way to make them look big. The biggest problem with the movie is that it is really boring. There's no excitement, no shocks, no thrills, no pulse. The whole exploring of a new planet is treated as a matter of fact. The best I can say for the movie is that it's pretty short.

A new planet moves into our solar system and four scientists (two couples) are sent to explore Planet Nova. In between romantic interludes, the cast faces an iguana masquerading as a Tyrannosaurus Rex.This is just bad, no bones about it. With the poster art, and the title, you would think this would be about a dinosaur. But it is not. Nope. Somehow a planet identical to Earth is near the real Earth, so four people wander it while stock footage of different animals play in the background. Then, when you think there might be a dinosaur, it is just an iguana with Gordon's usual silly tricks of making animals look big.Although the lemur was cute, that hardly redeems this stinker.

The film begins with a narrator telling us about how a new planet has moved into our solar system (?!). There are many shots of what looks like Mount Wilson or Mount Palomar Observatory as they "discover" the planet (even though in reality you wouldn't need "the most powerful telescope in the world" to see a new planet right next to Earth). Yes, this is a kind of a silly sci-fi adventure movie that begins very seriously as if it was a docu-drama about space exploration. But the scientists in this movie are the kind that don't even carry a compass and don't have any idea how long the daily light cycles would be on this new planet ("it might spin faster than the Earth" says one big busted female scientist). Notice how the male scientists carry rifles and the female scientists carry pistols, and the men collect firewood while the women collect kindling. Good patronizing stuff, even if they do have a blonde chemist! I love how the outer space expeditions in these movies look more like they belong in a jungle movie than a sci-fi movie. These people aren't fazed at all by seeing normal earth wildlife on the strange new planet. Of course the strange new planet has an uncanny resemblance to Griffith Park.......And then there's the "strange island" that one of the woman just feels drawn to... gotta love how the women in these movies have strange urges like that which make them wander out into places they shouldn't go.The first really hilarious scene in the movie is when the two blonde scientists (yes there's a blond guy/girl and a brunette guy/girl) go off for a walk together. He stumbles on something and literally hurtles himself into a ditch where he has to battle a crocodile. It's the classic sex/death connection just like in the slasher films 20 years later... don't go off into the woods with your gal, never mind what planet you're on! The dialog in this movie is just painful at times. These are scientists who don't even speak English with good grammar. And the film's idea of good snappy dialog is to have the injured scientist say stuff like "I need some medicine" right before kissing his gal. Ugh.Bert I. Gordon movies are so great. This is his first movie and he's already up to his tricks. Just like how the spider roared like a lion in "Earth Versus the Spider", in this one we have a roaring snake! I guess Bert Gordon didn't think that a monster was scary if it didn't make noise. Maybe he's right, but it sure is goofy on screen! Logic shouldn't get in the way of the movie. Even though they have been attacked by snakes and giant insects, the leader scientist decides "we haven't run into anything we can't handle" and decides to split up the party so he can go investigate the island. Even though they already said that exploring the island was not supposed to be part of the expedition, they brought 2 rafts along in their spaceship.I guess I should expect to be disappointed but sadly when we finally do see "King Dinosaur" it turns out to be just an iguana photographed with rear projection. "It resembles the T-Rex of ancient Earth".... well not really but nice thought. Of course the hero's rifle jams up so they have to run into robot monster cave. Hilariously, after all the things that they have seen the hero says "nobody is going to believe this!" as if a planet comes into our solar system full of meercats and bears all the time but a giant iguana? Never! Of course a giant alligator shows up to distract the ignuana, just like in the old H.R. Haggard movies. From the way they battle, I don't think this movie received the blessings of any animal rights organizations. They don't run for it for some reason but then later they decide to run away when a gila monster attacks "King Dinosaur." In the meantime the action has caused him to take off his shirt and her skirt to get ripped up the side, allowing for some nice 50s light exploitation. The other couple has been called to the island by way of flare gun apparently so they can sit there and say "over here! go faster!" to the other two without doing anything to help them. And then the blonde scientist says the best line in the whole movie: "I brought the atom bomb. I think it's a good time to use it." I mean, smart scientists usually destroy alien species as soon as they encounter them.Next thing you know, we have a giant armadillo! Who knew it was a Tod Browning movie? (sorry, kind of an inside joke... watch "Dracula" really carefully and you'll see what I mean). There's even some bison and a woolly mammoth. Why the "dinosaur" doesn't just eat those instead of the tiny humans is another question better not asked.And then let's not forget the cryptic lines at the end of the movie. "Well, we've done it." "Yeah, brought civilization to Nova." ??? Was it supposed to be ironic? Who knows.I can't say the movie was supposed to be funny or that it was a good movie, but I enjoyed watching it.

Initiated into film with 1954's Serpent Island, which I would love to see, Bert I. Gordon got his chance to direct with King Dinosaur, whose being influenced by King Kong is indicated in in the title and the monster battles.The mini-epic, filmed in Bronson Caverns etc. on a mini budget, starred Bill Bryant, who had minor roles in some other films like CHISUM and appeared on TV in westerns as well. He plays one of four intrepid scientists who venture to newly discovered Planet Nova, which has just entered the solar system. Well, actually this occurs after a barrage of about 15 min of stock footage accompanied by Marvin Miller filling us in with about every piece of useless information we might need.Anyway, they eventually get to Nova and discover an island and some monsters, walking and talking a lot along the way.That's the main weakness of the script and film in general; an all-encompassing lack of genuine intrigue. However, it's kind of fun for sci-fi fans and devotees of Gordon's to see his slightly amateurish first feature, even if it means sitting through a lot of stale scenarios to get to those full-blooded reptile brawls.