BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

AaronCapenBanner Virgil Vogel directed this science fiction yarn about a Naval expedition in the Antarctic(led by Jock Mahoney, William Reynolds, and Phil Harvey) along with a female reporter(played by Shirley Patterson) who land in a crater well below sea level that contains a prehistoric world containing dinosaurs(both on land and in the sea) as well as carnivorous plants and a deranged sole survivor(Dr. Hunter) of a previous expedition. Can they repair their helicopter in time to rendezvous with their ship, before they are stranded in this lethal land? Marginal film has good story but clichéd treatment and characters. Some model F/X are poor(the T-Rex) while others aren't bad at all(the sea dinosaur). Watchable as a rainy-day diversion, but little more, though is an understandable cult item.

bkoganbing Although it rarely makes the news now even in the Fifties when I was growing up polar exploration was still news. So in the context of the times the expedition that Douglas Kennedy is head of is quite congruent. Would that the story here been a bit better done.The Land Unknown is a real camp classic. Part of Kennedy's expedition involves some map making by Jock Mahoney, William Reynolds and Phil Harvey who with reporter Shirley Patterson are taking a helicopter ride over the Antarctic. They encounter a dense fog and then the blade of the helicopter brushes against something big flying into it and a part comes loose forcing them down.Once down the group finds themselves in the Mesozoic age like in so many of these kinds of films. But a scientist from a previous expedition that was lost has survived their among the dinosaurs and that is Henry Brandon. He's set himself up nicely in a cave and has now regressed somewhat to the primitive. And being a caveman he takes one look at Patterson and woos her caveman style.Even among the beasts Mahoney waxes philosophical and shows off his knowledge of paleontology. Patterson outfit is getting skimpier by the minute only encouraging Brandon more. But in a camp sort of way the film is fun.Not the fault of The Land Unknown, but ever since Steven Spielberg gave us Jurassic Park , dinosaur films from the past just don't cut it. We've moved ahead in movie magic, not like poor Henry Brandon.Story is a bit dumb, but enjoyably bad.

Woodyanders A Navy expedition to Antartica crash lands its helicopter in a crater thousands of meters below sea level. Said expedition discovers a hot tropical landscape populated by savage prehistoric dinosaurs. Director Virgil Vogel, working from a tight and to the point script by Laszlo Gorog, relates the engrossing story at a steady pace, maintains a serious tone throughout, and stages the monster attack scenes with real flair and skill. The sound acting from the capable cast helps a lot: Jock Mahoney as the stalwart and erudite Commander Harold Robbins, the lovely Shawn Smith as spunky journalist Margaret Hathaway, William Reynolds as dashing helicopter pilot Lt. Jack Carmen, Henry Brandon as cunning, ruthless, and half-crazed sole previous expedition survivor Dr. Carl Hunter, Phil Harvey as easygoing mechanic Steven Miller, and Douglas Kennedy as the amiable Captain Burnham. Moreover, there's also a neat array of creatures roaming around the humid fog-shrouded subterranean world: A killer plant, a cute little monkey, two giant fighting lizards, a predatory lake beast, and a Tyrannosaurus rex that's obviously some poor shmoe in a laughably lousy suit. Ellis W. Carter's crisp widescreen black and white cinematography gives the picture a pleasingly expansive and atmospheric look. The robust'n'rousing stock film library score does the stirring trick. Best of all, this movie is done with a certain sweetly innocent wide-eyed sincerity that's impossible to either dislike or resist. A hugely enjoyable picture.

MARIO GAUCI This was included in Universal's second "Sci-Fi Collection" set and though it treads familiar territory ("The Lost World") still manages to engage the viewer throughout. Tellingly, the film is redolent of the probing attitude (i.e. heavier on science than thrills) which typified the genre at this time – resulting in a lengthy documentary-style exposition and rather missing out on the sense of wonder and adventure inherent in its theme (exemplified by such later outings as, say, THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT [1975])! What is interesting here is the fact that the Prehistoric tropical world our heroes crash in (incidentally, no attempt is made to rescue them from their plight!) is situated deep in the bowels of Antarctica! Anyway, for director Vogel, this was certainly an improvement on his previous brush with the genre (THE MOLE PEOPLE [1956])…but his efforts are nonetheless undermined, in the long run, by a second-rate cast (all playing stock characters – including one intrepid female reporter and the crazed survivor of a prior expedition), not to mention the less-than-special effects – obvious magnified lizards, a T-Rex that is no more than a man-in-a-monster suit (its mouth hanging open at an exaggerated angle!) and the even-more-laughable sea serpent. For the record, this was one of 12 horror/sci-fi titles (all released by Universal) to be produced by William Alland – otherwise best-known as the interviewer of CITIZEN KANE (1941)!