''King Dinosaur'' is a 1955 science fiction film starring William Bryant and Wanda Curtis with narration by Marvin Miller. It was co-written, produced, and directed by

Bert I. Gordon Bert Ira Gordon (born September 24, 1922) is an American filmmaker and visual effects artist. He is best known for writing and directing science fiction and horror B-movies such as ''King Dinosaur'' (1955), ''The Amazing Colossal Man'' (1957), '' ...

, in his directorial debut. The film was featured on season 2 of '' Mystery Science Theater 3000''.

Plot

Five years in the future (1960), four scientists (zoologist Dr. Richard Gordon, geologist Dr. Nora Pierce, medical specialist Dr. Ralph Martin, and chemist Dr. Patrica Bennett) are selected as

astronauts An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

to travel to an ancient planet called Nova that has just entered Earth's

Solar System The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...

. The crew begins studying the planet to see if it is suitable for a possible Earth colony. After first discovering normal Earth animals such as a

kinkajou The kinkajou ( /ˈkɪŋkədʒuː/ ''KING-kə-joo''; ''Potos flavus'') is a tropical rainforest mammal of the family Procyonidae related to olingos, coatis, raccoons, and the ringtail and cacomistle. It is the only member of the genus ''Potos'' ...

which they refer to as a

lemur Lemurs ( ) (from Latin ''lemures'' – ghosts or spirits) are wet-nosed primates of the superfamily Lemuroidea (), divided into 8 families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 existing species. They are endemic to the island of Madagas ...

crow A crow is a bird of the genus '' Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not pinned scientifica ...

s which they call

vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...

s, and an

alligator An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...

(A Prehistoric species called

Diplocynodon ''Diplocynodon'' is an extinct genus of alligatoroid that lived during the Paleocene to Middle Miocene in Europe. It looked very similar to the modern caiman in that it was small and had bony armour scutes covering its neck, back, belly, and tail ...

), they soon encounter and battle giant insects, an enormous snake known as Gigantophis, and prehistoric mammals like a

Cave Bear The cave bear (''Ursus spelaeus'') is a prehistoric species of bear that lived in Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene and became extinct about 24,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum. Both the word "cave" and the scientific name ' ...

, a

Mastodon A mastodon ( 'breast' + 'tooth') is any proboscidean belonging to the extinct genus ''Mammut'' (family Mammutidae). Mastodons inhabited North and Central America during the late Miocene or late Pliocene up to their extinction at the end of th ...

, and a Glyptodont. Richard and Nora paddle a raft out to an island and are trapped in a cave by Prehistoric Reptiles, even a

Tyrannosaurus rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...

(portrayed by a green iguana). They fire off a signal flare. Back on the mainland near their spaceship, Ralph and Patricia see the distress signal, grab the auxiliary nuclear power supply and paddle their raft out to the island to rescue Richard and Nora. Before they leave the island, they set the power supply to "unharness" in 30 minutes and leave it on the island. After encountering more prehistoric creatures, they reach their spaceship. The power supply blows up the island in a nuclear

mushroom cloud A mushroom cloud is a distinctive mushroom-shaped flammagenitus cloud of debris, smoke and usually condensed water vapor resulting from a large explosion. The effect is most commonly associated with a nuclear explosion, but any sufficiently ener ...

, rendering King Dinosaur and the other dinosaurs of Nova extinct.

Cast

* William Bryant – Dr. Ralph Martin * Wanda Curtis – Dr. Patricia Bennett * Douglas Henderson – Dr. Richard Gordon * Patti Gallagher – Nora Pierce * Marvin Miller – Narrator

Production

Filming started in September 1954. The film was directed over a seven-day period by

and was Gordon's debut. The camera and other pieces of equipment were borrowed and the cast worked for deferred salaries. The scene of the attacking

mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks an ...

was stock footage recycled from the film ''

One Million B.C. ''One Million B.C.'' is a 1940 American fantasy film produced by Hal Roach Studios and released by United Artists. It is also known by the titles ''Cave Man'', ''Man and His Mate'' and ''Tumak''. The film stars Victor Mature as protagonist ...

''. There were only four actors in this film. The rest of the band and soldiers were just military stock footage, as was the footage of the atomic bomb explosions.

''Mystery Science Theater 3000''

The film was featured in a second-season episode of '' Mystery Science Theater 3000'' in December 1990.

Reception

TV Guide gave the movie one out of five stars, stating that the quickness of the movie shooting shows. Film historian

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...

rated the movie 0 of 4 stars, describing it as "First and worst of director Gordon's many 1950s sci-fi films .... Boring, silly, and awesomely cheap ....""King Dinosaur", Turner Classic Movies.
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References

External links

* * * * {{Bert I. Gordon 1955 films 1950s monster movies 1950s science fiction films Giant monster films Films about astronauts Films about extraterrestrial life Films about dinosaurs American black-and-white films Films directed by Bert I. Gordon Lippert Pictures films Films set in 1960 Films set in the future Films set on fictional islands Films set on fictional planets 1950s English-language films American science fiction films