"The Land Unknown" was being shown last night on Svengoolie, and even a week ago when they advertised the promo for the episode I saw it certainly wasn't going to be anything overly special. Considering as I've seen quite a few old Sci-Fi movies on the show, I immediately recognized it would no doubt turn out to be the typical prehistoric adventure: some scientists have a journey in some special geographical location, and discover a whole bunch of extinct creatures that they have to escape from. That's exactly what this one was - but even considering the generic quality of the story, it still remains a decent film with enough charm to make it interesting.
In this case, the whole exploration has to do with mapping Antarctica - and as the viewer fully expects, the group is forced to stay in this newly discovered world due to (what else?) a helicopter breakdown. What follows is the normal madness: huge lizards and dinosaurs start showing up and causing trouble, while the one woman (of course there must only be one for the romantic side) is kidnapped by another scientist who has been living in the place for years since his own helicopter crash. (Thankfully his wreck has the necessary parts used to fix their helicopter). There is some great action and effects, which results in the typical perilous climax(s) and the usual happy ending.
The main critique I'd have to pick with the film is probably the amount of climaxes they throw our way. Plot twist after plot twist after plot twist is pulled on the audience, each one trying to be intense but not really succeeding in the exciting finale they were going for. First (SPOILERS HERE) when fixing the helicopter, the land dinosaur shows up looking for trouble, but they pull off the ground just before he can get them in a rather anti-climatic way. Then they want to save the scientist from the water beast, and manage to get him in the helicopter at the last minute without much harm inflicted. Lastly, the helicopter breaks down just before they can land, so they crash into the water, but are quickly rescued. None of these twists really give the film the big bang ending it deserves: the strongest would have to be the rescue of the scientist, while the weakest would have to be the helicopter crashing within the last couple minutes. Nonetheless, the effects are pretty top-notch with enough believable elements to make them work well (particularly the giant lizards) and despite being a fairly generic picture overall, it works as good as any other 50's Sci-Fi movie I've seen.
In this case, the whole exploration has to do with mapping Antarctica - and as the viewer fully expects, the group is forced to stay in this newly discovered world due to (what else?) a helicopter breakdown. What follows is the normal madness: huge lizards and dinosaurs start showing up and causing trouble, while the one woman (of course there must only be one for the romantic side) is kidnapped by another scientist who has been living in the place for years since his own helicopter crash. (Thankfully his wreck has the necessary parts used to fix their helicopter). There is some great action and effects, which results in the typical perilous climax(s) and the usual happy ending.
The main critique I'd have to pick with the film is probably the amount of climaxes they throw our way. Plot twist after plot twist after plot twist is pulled on the audience, each one trying to be intense but not really succeeding in the exciting finale they were going for. First (SPOILERS HERE) when fixing the helicopter, the land dinosaur shows up looking for trouble, but they pull off the ground just before he can get them in a rather anti-climatic way. Then they want to save the scientist from the water beast, and manage to get him in the helicopter at the last minute without much harm inflicted. Lastly, the helicopter breaks down just before they can land, so they crash into the water, but are quickly rescued. None of these twists really give the film the big bang ending it deserves: the strongest would have to be the rescue of the scientist, while the weakest would have to be the helicopter crashing within the last couple minutes. Nonetheless, the effects are pretty top-notch with enough believable elements to make them work well (particularly the giant lizards) and despite being a fairly generic picture overall, it works as good as any other 50's Sci-Fi movie I've seen.