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The Land Unknown (1957)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2016 4:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I've said for years that the T-Rex suit in this movie would have worked much better if the tail had a counterweight that allowed the wearer to lean well forward.

To prove it, today I took this picture —



— and painted out the T-Rex, which gave me this background.



Then I modified the T-Rex to give him the right posture.



And finally I put the background and the new, improved T-Rex together to get this! Compare it to the original. Very Happy





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


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bulldogtrekker
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PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2016 4:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Push Pull Tube

There is a discussion of push pull tubes during The Land Unknown. This a drawing of a push pull tube.Imgur



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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Sat May 21, 2016 2:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
I've said for years that the T-Rex suit in this movie would have worked much better if the tail had a counterweight that allowed the wearer to lean well forward.

True, but everyone back then knew T-Rexes were tail draggers.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 1:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

On May 20th, 2016 The Land Unknown was featured during All Sci-Fi's Friday Live Chat, so I decided to add the trailer and the movie link to this thread. Very Happy


_______________ The Land Unknown — trailer

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


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 12:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

GETTING TO KNOW OUR FAVORITE MONSTERS!
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The giant monsters from our favorite sci-fi films range from great to not-so-great, depending on the methods used to create the FX.

I can???t think of a single monster created with a man-in-a-suit that I really like, but I actually enjoy the T-Rex in this movie, and the lizard-dinosaurs are (in my opinion) done quite effectively.

Other than the fact that they aren???t really giant monsters, we certainly can't accuse them of faking the fights we see in movies like this one and The Lost Word (1960)!

Behold! Very Happy


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________ Komodo Knockout | Animal Fight Night


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


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 20, 2017 3:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Thinking Outside the "Plot"!
________________________________

There is no lush jungle filled with dinosaurs in Antarctic today, but scientist believe that 15 million years ago, during the Miocene period, it resembled the kind of forested tundra seen today in New Zealand or parts of Chile.

Notice the glacier above the waterfall. Cool. Cool

~ New Zealand






~ Chile





A website called Atlas Obscura has an article which includes these paragraphs.

Despite being the most inhospitable place on the planet, recent scientific discoveries suggest that this forgotten continent version — sometimes nicknamed the "Great White Desert" version — may in fact have once been carpeted in forest.

However, due to the extreme southern placement of the continent, even a warmer Antarctica would have been without light for months on end during the winter — while summer would have been one endless day. This raises the question of how plants were able to survive, the light required for photosynthesis being unavailable for months at a time.

During a recent research trip, [Professor Patricia Ryberg and a team of scientists] collected samples from the fossilized wood in order to analyze the rings of these ancient trees. A pattern soon emerged in the cells, showing how the forests would grow upwards and outward before turning dormant for months at a time, storing carbon in their cells.

Ryberg has also hypothesized that much of the ring structure in these samples shares characteristics with tropical trees. As tropical trees experience less of a seasonal effect, they are known to go through periods of short-term dormancy; a process that results in sporadic bursts of growth.

This might well account for how the forests of Antarctica were able to survive during extended periods of darkness.


So, the six months of darkness which the hidden valley in The Land Unknown experienced annually would not have killed off the plants we see in that exotic region. In other words, the movie got that part exactly right. Wink

As for the dinosaurs in The Land Unknown, Wikipedia has an article entitled List of Australian and Antarctic dinosaurs. The list is quite extensive. Very Happy

My point is that if there actually had been a deep valley in Antarctic during the Miocene period, heated by subterranean volcanic activity as described in The Land Unknown, the valley and it's unique heat source might have protected the prehistoric environment from the catastrophe which caused the extinction of the rest of the dinosaurs around the world.

Yes, I know, the prevailing theory is that a world-wide "nuclear winter" killed off the dinosaurs after a big meteorite smacked into the earth. And, of course, that would mean that the hidden valley wouldn't get it's yearly six-month allotment of sunshine for several years — although it should be noted that a "nuclear winter" doesn't block sunlight completely, it only reduces the amount of sunlight which gets through.

I Googled the question, "How long does a nuclear winder last?" and got this answer from Popular Science.

After one year, the average surface temperature of the Earth falls by 1.1 kelvin, or about two degrees Fahrenheit. After five years, the Earth is, on average, three degrees colder than it used to be. Twenty years on, our home planet warms again to about one degree cooler than the average before the nuclear war.

Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, I submit that the one place on Earth that would be uniquely suited to survive the extinction of the dinosaurs would be the valley described in The Land Unknown! Shocked

It has an extremely low elevation with higher air pressure than sea level, an underground heat source, a permanent cloud cover to hold in the heat, and an unusual ecosystem which evolved over millions of years to remain dormant during the total darkness of the Antarctic winter!






It's also a fact that the largest of the Antarctic warm-water lakes mentioned at the beginning of The Land Unknown is the recently discovered Lake Vostok, which scientists say is over 4,800 square miles of water, and could contain life forms never before seen by humans.

~ Lake Vostok






A site called Huffpost has this to say about Lake Vostok.

Scientists think the new lake is around 62 miles long and six miles wide, a leader of the project told New Scientist. Researchers have flown over the suspected location of the lake to gather radar data that could confirm their hypothesis.

What could be inside? Literally anything. Many glacial lakes have been sealed off from the outer world for millions of years, meaning that life forms were left to evolve at a pace all their own.


What if there really had been a deep valley in the Antarctic millions of years ago, warmed by subterranean volcanic activity, and filled with prehistoric life forms! And what if continental drift eventually caused this deep valley to be flooded by sea water.

Under those entirely plausible circumstances, The Land Unknown might have become The Lake Unknown . . . and it's still filled with prehistoric creatures! Shocked






And THAT, folks, is why I love to "think outside the plot"! Laughing
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 12:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________
_______________

_____________________ The Land Unknown


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A semi-classic. As far as dinosaurs and lost lands go, you can't really beat this for concepts.

I do believe writers like Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote a lot of stuff similar to this premise (memory is fogging over). By using the continent of Antartica, a writer has the ability to create a huge landscape — the lost land may be as big as the USA, for example. The landscape starts out as mist covered, so we don't see any details at first, then there's a big reveal.

__________

The film actually utilized both the T-Rex costume AND blown-up (enlarged) lizards (a la The Lost World/1960), which I'd forgotten about. But the lizards are integrated quite well into the sets.

Over at Marvel Comics, their version of a hidden land in this same area was called 'The Savage Land,' introduced in 1965 with the character of Ka-Zar, a Tarzan-like hero who dwelled there with his sabretooth tiger, Zabu. They also fought dinosaurs, as well as apemen and the like.

Speaking of Tarzan, lead Jock Mahoney, after playing the baddie in the Tarzan movie Tarzan the Magnificent (1960), went on to play Tarzan in a couple of features, Tarzan Goes to India and Tarzan's Three Challenges.

In the next decade, Marvel Comics published a short-lived (8 issues) series titled Skull the Slayer, which also had a very similar premise - modern humans accidentally ending up in a lost land of dinosaurs, though this happened in the Bermuda Triangle and involved time travel.

The Land Unknown is a bit tricky when trying to appraise it fairly, at least for some of us. There are the added factors of nostalgia, childhood memories and so on. But, if we put aside all those, it comes down to, I think, concept and execution.

For me, the concept is just terrific. I mentioned my own fondness for Edgar Rice Burroughs and even some Marvel Comics stories which utilized this concept: the lost land, the hidden jungle, the large creatures. In a way, it's kind of hard to mess something like that up. In the execution department, The Land Unknown does OK, maybe even just so-so, probably better than some other films in the fifties with the same concept (Lost Continent) with lower budgets.



The Land That Time Forgot (1975) is at about the same level, with the advantage of color and 18 years of fine-tuning some fake (if still sloppy) dinosaur FX.

But, again, I'm a bit more fond of The Land Unknown. Why? Better pace & story? Or more nostalgia?

I myself probably make too many allowances for the sometimes sloppy looking/moving T-Rex. Even when I was much younger and first watched this, something about that T-Rex didn't seem right to me. I also got this sense of a soundstage when I watched The Land Unknown years ago.

BoG's Score: 5.5 out of 10



BoG
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 1:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Bogmeister and I don't quite see eye-to-eye on this one.


BoG wrote:
In the execution department, The Land Unknown does OK, maybe even just so-so, probably better than some other films in the fifties with the same concept (Lost Continent) with lower budgets.

I also got this sense of a sound stage when I watched The Land Unknown years ago.

My dissenting opinion is that the execution is magnificent, and one of the biggest pluses are the sets! Shocked

But his review certainly does the movie justice, and I agree with all the praise he gives it. Very Happy

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


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Maurice
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 03, 2019 4:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dunno if this is been mentioned before, but there are some who claim that the T-Rex in this movie had its head repurposed as "Spot" on The Munsters. When I look at photos from the episodes the teeth sure seem to be a match.Discussed here (link) with some photos.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 17, 2019 4:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Please take a look at my thread called Beneath Antarctica's Ice, Evidence of Lost Continents! which presents an entertaining discussion of how the concept in this movie might have been possible. Cool

It starts with scientific data about the depth of the Antarctic ice —






— and offers illustrations (by me) that show what a land UNDER the ice might look like.





Then it describes how this incredible land formed in the distant past. A computer generated image of the landmass under Antarctic is included.





Since you're a member of All Sci-Fi, you obviously like to use your noggin to ponder stuff like this. So . . . I know you'll enjoy that discussion. Cool
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 4:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Thinking Outside the "Plot"!
________________________________

~ A Question for the Members: I've always been intrigued by the character of Dr. Carl Hunter (played by Henry Brandon).

He survived alone for ten long years in a prehistoric world of pitch-black darkness for six months each year! One of his most aggressive survival strategies was to roam around this savage land and smash the dinosaur eggs . . . thereby reducing the number of beast he'd have to deal with!

My question is this.

After being rescued at the end of the movie, would Dr. Hunter turn his terrible experience into an opportunity to become incredibly rich and successful? Confused

~ My Theory: Because of Hunter's detailed knowledge of the Antarctic prehistoric world and its unique ecosystem, he could easily charge a large fortune every time he agreed to serve as the guide for scientific expeditions which journeyed to this hidden land of dinosaurs.






And he would also make a fortune from books he wrote about it! Some of these would be scholarly reference works with a wealth of facts, and others would be exciting "true tales" of his amazing ten-year ordeal! Shocked





The incredible wealth which Dr. Hunter earned from these enterprises would make him more than enough money to finance his own expeditions to the hidden valley . . . for the express purpose of collecting specimens of the very eggs he used to smash! Shocked

These eggs would be priceless on the black market, simply because their unauthorized removal from the hidden valley would be strictly prohibited by international law! Shocked

But Hunter would be convinced (with some justification) that he'd earned the right to acquire these eggs because of what he endured for a decade in The Land Unknown.

If a sequel had been made in the late 1950s of this movie — and the concept I just described was the basis for the plot — I'd want Dr. Carl Hunter to be treated the same way he was in the original movie! Very Happy






~ We thought he was a villain, but it turned out he was not!

~ We thought he would suffer a violent death . . . but it turned out he did not!

~ We disapproved of his behavior at first, but then we found out that he was remarkably sane and noble — in spite of the traumatic experience he'd suffered!






In this sequel, we learn that he's trafficking in illegally obtained dinosaur eggs . . . but in the end we discover he's actually making amends for all the eggs he smashed! Shocked

Dr. Hunter is actually donating the eggs he collects to several reputable scientific organizations around the world who can't afford the outrageous price being charged by the official agency who protects the ecosystem of the Antarctica Prehistoric Preserve!

I think this is a worthy continuation of the great story in The Land Unknown. Cool

If Hollywood in the 1950s understood the value of "movie franchises" the way they do today, The Land Unknown would have spawned several great sequels! Cool

(I just tossed this out to encourage a discussion. I hope we get one.)

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


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Maurice
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 10, 2020 2:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
And just look what can be done in a rubber suit if it's worn by the right person. Why, with a little training and practice, that T-Rex could be have been a star! Very Happy
________________________________

_______________ Teaching A T-Rex to Macarena

___________

I guarantee you that Land Unknown T-Rex suit was a lot thicker, less flexible, and waaaaay heavier than that lightweight "balloon" (it's inflated) dino costume. There's no way the guy in the former could dance around.

It occurs to me that there might've been another way to simulate motion blur in stop motion, but it would double or triple the animator's workload. For example, to shoot two frames of animation for each frame of the finished film, and in the optical printing stage combine the two frames into one (each at 50%), so there'd be a sort of double-exposed effect around the moving bits that isn't so rock-steady.

I think I will attempt to do this when I get a chance and see what the result is.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 10, 2020 4:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

By gum, I think that would work! Very Happy

I realize that stop motion is obsolete now, but if CGI could be used with your idea, it wouldn't be so time consuming.

Good thinking, Maurice! Cool

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Pow
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 25, 2020 8:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Watching TLU right now on Saturday evening's MeTV "Svengoolie" show.

I wanted to check out the awesome looking jungle set and matte paintings once more. They remain fantastic looking even if the dino scenes are laughable.

Svengoolie is getting in some funny quips about the dinos during commercial breaks.

The animatronic plant is well done although it might have been even greater had they done it via an editing mix of animatronic & stop-frame animation. It does work well as is for the film.

A shame that the sets & mattes were not able to be reused in other films or TV shows.

They would have been perfect for "The Land Of The Lost" TV show from the 70's.

The model for the helicopter is quite decent looking for the movie also.

I know I said (wrote) it before but I gotta say it again. Had TLU utilized stop~frame animation for all the dino scenes this movie could have been a minor gem from the 50's.

Aww, that dang carnivorous plant done ate that cute little mammal the marooned party discovered.

Now I'm mad!
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 25, 2020 8:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Trivia } Reportedly the T-rex head was recycled and utilized as the head for Spot on "The Munsters" TV series.

Could well be since TLU is a Universal Studio film and TM was a Universal TV production.
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