ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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No, it isn't science fiction, but it's a glorious presentation of scientific speculation in the grand tradition of Disney's True Life Adventures (many of which it predated).





And for millions of science fiction fans who love movies about dinosaurs, this is the film that demonstrates what 20th Century Fox's 1960 version of "The Lost World" should have looked like.

Ironically, both films were produced and directed by Irwin Allen!





Two years earlier, Allen won an Academy Award for his documentary-style study of ocean life called "The Sea Around Us." Ray Harryhausen and Willis O'Brien provided the brilliant animation for a segment of "Animal World" dealing with prehistoric life.







In it we see dinosaurs walking, eating, fighting, and even laying eggs, including the hatching of a baby brontosaurus -- pink, slick, wet, and cute as a button. It bares a striking resemblance to Little Foot in Don Bluth's cartoon feature, The Land Before Time.





The stop-motion animation models in "Animal World" are highly detailed, and their prehistoric environment is beautifully designed (a table-top landscape with spectacular mountains in the background). Dinosaur enthusiasts can still purchase the excellent ViewMaster set which offers 3-D pictures of the dinosaurs.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[alltare]

I was unaware of TAW until I noticed it in Bud's alphabetical index

( http://www.allsci-fi.com/viewtopic.php?t=1571 ).

I was going to buy it, mainly because of Ray Harryhausen's input (and despite Irwin Allen's involvement). While reading the customer reviews at Amazon, one of the contributors mentioned that the entire segment done by RH and Willis O'Brien has been excerpted and included as an extra feature on the BLACK SCORPION (1957) DVD. So I didn't order TAW- I ordered BS instead. I'll find out if this info is true in a week or so.

I have most of RH's other DVDs, but don't recall seeing the TAW stuff on any of them. Is anyone aware of this "feature" on other RH discs?

[Bud Brewster]

[alltare]

Thanks, Bud.

[Pow]

If only Allen had utilized Obie's or Ray's tremendous talents on Irwin's Lost World & Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea movies.

[Phantom]

I didn't think this movie existed anymore, until I found the dino segment on YouTube. Not sure about the rest of the film (which I don't remember anyway).
It recently became available on DVD.

Purely out of nostalgia, I bought the DVD of the full movie. It plays well as a non-Disney version of their True Life Adventures, and enjoyed watching it.

[Bud Brewster]

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The scene from Animal World that I clearly remember getting a big reaction from the audience was the hysterical "trap-door spider" segment.

Picture this:

Footage of a trap-door spider in its hole (covered with a small chunk of dirt) is shown, with the spider pushing up the "door" to peek out at a small bug strolling past. The closeup of the spider is shown several times, intercut with shots of the bug getting closer and closer to the hidden "trap door".

Doesn't sound like much, right?

Okay, now imagine those shots with a comic audio. Every shot of the unsuspecting bug was accompanied by casual whistling (like a man strolling down a sidewalk), and each shot of the spider lifting up the clump of sod to peek out had a squeaky hing noise and a maniacal villain's laugh — "Wha-ahahaha!"

The chuckles from the audience started small and got louder with each shot.

Suddenly the spider lunges out, grabs the bug, and pulls it down under the dirt clod!

Loud noises erupted from the hole, like furniture being knocked around and glass breaking. A horrific battle was taking place inside the spider's lair!

Then there was an ominous silence for five seconds —

— after which, the dirt-clod door lifts up, the bug strolls out, and it walks away . . . whistling again.

The audience exploded.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Here's a real treat for people like me and Phantom who remember this movie — a clip from The Animal Word that includes a portion of the main titles and then a segment which comes right before the dinosaurs.

This really was a remarkably entertaining "nature documentary" which was released to downtown theaters in 1956!

_______________ The Animal World (1956) clip


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I only found a short segment of the dinosaur sequence, and it's not even in wide screen.

_______________ The Animal World - brief clip


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But I fould a good copy of the complete segment on DailyMotion, which I downloaded to my laptop and then uploaded it to WeTransfer so that you guys could get a copy too.

But WeTransfer will only keep it until June 22nd, so get it before they delete it from their database!

Here's the link —> https://we.tl/t-QJ1HNYT1ks

The videos above made me remember how much I enjoyed seeing this movie at the huge Loews Grand Theater in Atlanta with my family in 1956. The lobby even had the 3D ViewMaster set the for patrons to look at! I later bought my own set — and still have them.

The segment above with the undersea footage which came before the dinosaurs is very well done. so I ordered the DVD from Amazon.





Hell, it's only $9.99, and that's just a few bucks more than the cost of a case the stuff shown below. And I keep four of these in the fridge at all times!


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)