Unknown Island

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Audience Member Two tough ship-owners who are not short on comedic antics are hired out of Singapore to make way for a previously undiscovered island near Bali. Already at sea, upon learning of the destination, the upset crew is close to mutiny and one such incident is quelled. Once upon the island the group find themselves surrounded by threatening dinosaurs; the crew again mutinies. Despite this, the captain is insistent upon capturing one of the prehistoric beasts, yet a giant sloth gets the better of him. Dinos: 3/10 Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Audience Member Yesterday I suffered "Unknown Island," the first color dinosaur film from 1948. The posters claim this 75 minute curiosity took a year to produce, but the results make Roger Corman look like Cecil B DeMille. The plot riffs "King King" so much I'm amazed RKO did not sue. And Willis O'Brien surely had a giggle fit over the men in rubber suits trying to look like T Rexes. If the first half channels "Kong," the second channels "Giligan's Island," as the explorers try to escape the island.Tip of the hat to Dave Gregory and Joseph Parra for suggesting this. Not for the comically impaired Rated 0.5/5 Stars •  Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member It is not right for mortal man to be here--A Rollicking Goof!! Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Slow and boring. The dinosaurs are silly looking, but at least they're not lizards. The characters are pretty generic and uninteresting, and there isn't enough dinosaur action. There's a few decent scenes, but nothing worth your time. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Audience Member wowe another island discovered with dinosaurs-yes this is that thread worn plot Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member This movie's original tagline read "So spectacular it took one year to produce!". I can only assume the film-makers were really poor at time management as there is nothing on screen to warrant such a lengthy production. Perhaps rubber costumes took a lot longer to construct in the forties than today? It might be shot in glorious technicolor but don't let that fool you; this is most definitely a B-movie. Usually that means you're in for a fun time but "Unknown Island" is for the most part just dull. In the wake of "King Kong" in the early thirties we had a bunch of great pictures featuring expeditions to strange islands inhabited by bizarre creatures; "The Most Dangerous Game" and "Island of Lost Souls" being two of the best. The advent of World War II killed off that particular sub-genre, the idea of Americans sailing off to their doom in the Pacific had sadly become a reality. This late entry has none of the artistry of it's earlier counterparts. At least with the older films you were always guaranteed some pretty impressive stop motion creatures but here they're replaced by the dreaded man in a rubber suit gimmick. Judging by the stumbling movements of the "dinosaurs" it seems they recruited their actors from the local drunk tank. They bump into and fall over each other like a surreal cross between "The Banana Splits" and the shambling zombies from "Night Of The Living Dead". The producers pull out all the stops for the climax which features a creature with the body of an Orangutan and the head of a Doberman. Denning, here playing an alcoholic ex-soldier, would go on to star in quality sci-fi fare like "Target Earth" and "Creature From the Black Lagoon". I advise you to watch those before you even think of going near this effort. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/29/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Unknown Island

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