Valley of the Dragons (1961)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Too much of everything

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

A Frenchman (Cesare Danova) and an American (Sean McClory) are about to fight a duel in Algiers in the year 1881 when a passing comet sweeps them up. Apparently the comet does this every hundred thousand years or so and each time it picks up pieces of Earth, along with people and animals. So the two men find themselves hurtling through space on the comet, in a strange world with prehistoric people and creatures, including dinosaurs. Danova and McClory are both likable. They're joined by Danielle De Metz and former Playboy centerfold Joan Staley as the cavegirls these lucky dogs find themselves paired up with. Staley's underwater swimming scene is a highlight of the movie. Based on the Jules Verne story "Off on a Comet," the premise is outdated and ridiculous but that's part of what I like about it. I enjoy fanciful old science fiction stories from a time when people didn't think they had everything figured out. There was still a sense of wonder about discovery and exploration in the world that seems to be sadly missing today. Yeah, the special effects are hokey and it borrows liberally from other movies, including a good bit of stock footage. Still, I found it a fun, charming B movie. If you're a fan of sci-fi and fantasy movies from this period, I'm sure you'll find it appealing despite its faults.

Okay this is obviously done well before the advent of CGI. A baby gator or croc with a fin attached some how (glue?). A lot of monitor lizards, iguanas, and some boas. While I did like this movie some things stand out that raise questions in my mind. The Earthlings are never shown starting a fire yet always have one. This is suppose to be a comet that had passed close to Earth a long time ago. While I am not an astronomer, I don't believe any comet or asteroid that would have the mass to suck a portion of the Earth with it would also cause a lot of destruction if it actually got that close. Even if that did happen what about gravity? No astral body like that one would have a gravity near Earth's so the two men would have been a lot stronger but much more awkward on the comet. There were a couple of nice cave women though. I didn't see any furry animals yet every one dressed in pelts. What about genetic diversity? Didn't seem to be enough humans to keep from becoming inbred and by extrapolation degenerate.

This is another movie I'd been after for years and recently obtained a copy off ebay on the Colombia Classics label.2 men having a duel somehow end up on a comet when a storm breaks out. This comet contains a prehistoric jungle and strange creatures (more on them later). They also make friends with natives (cave men and women) and find love too. But they also have to fight off unfriendly, missing link creatures.Now to those prehistoric creatures, these are mostly lots of giant lizard stock footage from One Million BC. We also see Wolly Mammoths, Mastadons and a giant spider.I found this move enjoyable and great fun to watch.Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

This was one of the very first dinosaur movies I ever watched. When I was a kid I loved the a lot of the scenes, especially the ones from the volcanic eruption. Little did I know at the time that most of the footage was "borrowed" from the original "jurassic classic" One Million B.C. (1940). Also, I didn't find out until several years later that this film was based on a work by the master of science fiction, Jules Verne. This is an okay film for lovers of B movies. Too bad that they don't really show it on television anymore.