Unknown Island is a low budget lost world movie that aspires to be King Kong, but lacks the script to make the story interesting and the budget to make its dinosaurs exciting. Photographer Ted Osborne and his rich fiancee Carole hire a shifty freighter captain to take them to an island where Osborne claims to have seen living dinosaurs while flying over the island during "the war" - presumably World War II. Also along for the trip is John Fairbanks, a down-on-his-luck ex-marine left shell-shocked after once being stranded on the island and seeing his crew killed.
Almost from the start, the viewer can see the problems brewing. Captain Tarnowski is a hard-drinking, violent bully. Any sane person can see he can't be trusted. Both he and Fairbanks spend a lot of time sniffing around Carole like two dogs in heat, sometimes right in front of her fiancee. Tarnowski's crew is made up mostly of indigenous South Sea Islanders who consider the island "taboo" and try to mutiny barely a half-hour into the movie. Once the expedition reaches the island, Osborne becomes obsessed with getting pictures of the dinosaurs, to the exclusion of all other concerns, including Carole's growing distaste with this sweaty tropical paradise. Then Captain Tarnowski comes down with a sudden case of insanity apparently provoked by malaria.
But I know what you're thinking: what about the dinosaurs? Well, they're about as cheap as they come. The best thing that can be said about the dinosaurs is that the filmmakers opted not to use caimans and monitor lizards pimped out with rubber horns and force to fight.
There's some sauropods that look like models being pulled through swamp water like toy boats, and some Dimetrodons that are nearly-immobile rubber puppets. The primary threat is large therapods called Tyrannosauruses, but they look more like Ceratosaurs with horns on their noses. They are played by men in suits only slightly less stiff than the one used in the similarly-titled The Land Unknown. Ray "Crash" Corrigan also has an uncredited supporting role playing a monster that someone calls a "giant sloth" but which looks more like a saber-tooth orangutan. There's not much on-screen interaction between humans and dinosaurs, as all their scenes together are accomplished with rear projection and forced-perspective close-ups.
This movie would be more enjoyable, in spite of the cheap effects, if the director had made an effort to make at least a few of the characters likable. Osborne, Fairbanks and Tarnowski all rapidly succumb to their worst character traits (monomania, narcissism and the need to dominate, respectively). Carole puts up a brave front as a tough city girl who can handle anything, but crumbles into a whiny debutante ready to dump the man she was planning to marry the minute he starts focusing on something other than her. Tarnowski's crew are called "Lascars", but show none of the discipline or courage of the famous sailors from the Indian subcontinent. The only character who seems relatable is Sanderson, Tarnowski's pragmatic First Mate. Spoiler Warning: don't get too attached him.
This isn't the worst dinosaur movie I've ever seen, but it's a lot closer to the bottom of the barrel than the top. The King Kong references are rampant, with the lost island, the filmmaker-blonde beauty-sailor character dynamic, and a climactic battle between the sloth-ape and a dinosaur. But unlike the similar scene in King Kong, the human observers have no role in the action and are merely relieved that the island's two biggest threats basically eliminated each other. The 1940's depiction of extinct reptiles is mildly humorous in light of the fresh interpretations of today. If you are a dinosaur movie completist, this movie is worth a view and might provide a few laughs. For anyone else, give it a pass.
Almost from the start, the viewer can see the problems brewing. Captain Tarnowski is a hard-drinking, violent bully. Any sane person can see he can't be trusted. Both he and Fairbanks spend a lot of time sniffing around Carole like two dogs in heat, sometimes right in front of her fiancee. Tarnowski's crew is made up mostly of indigenous South Sea Islanders who consider the island "taboo" and try to mutiny barely a half-hour into the movie. Once the expedition reaches the island, Osborne becomes obsessed with getting pictures of the dinosaurs, to the exclusion of all other concerns, including Carole's growing distaste with this sweaty tropical paradise. Then Captain Tarnowski comes down with a sudden case of insanity apparently provoked by malaria.
But I know what you're thinking: what about the dinosaurs? Well, they're about as cheap as they come. The best thing that can be said about the dinosaurs is that the filmmakers opted not to use caimans and monitor lizards pimped out with rubber horns and force to fight.
There's some sauropods that look like models being pulled through swamp water like toy boats, and some Dimetrodons that are nearly-immobile rubber puppets. The primary threat is large therapods called Tyrannosauruses, but they look more like Ceratosaurs with horns on their noses. They are played by men in suits only slightly less stiff than the one used in the similarly-titled The Land Unknown. Ray "Crash" Corrigan also has an uncredited supporting role playing a monster that someone calls a "giant sloth" but which looks more like a saber-tooth orangutan. There's not much on-screen interaction between humans and dinosaurs, as all their scenes together are accomplished with rear projection and forced-perspective close-ups.
This movie would be more enjoyable, in spite of the cheap effects, if the director had made an effort to make at least a few of the characters likable. Osborne, Fairbanks and Tarnowski all rapidly succumb to their worst character traits (monomania, narcissism and the need to dominate, respectively). Carole puts up a brave front as a tough city girl who can handle anything, but crumbles into a whiny debutante ready to dump the man she was planning to marry the minute he starts focusing on something other than her. Tarnowski's crew are called "Lascars", but show none of the discipline or courage of the famous sailors from the Indian subcontinent. The only character who seems relatable is Sanderson, Tarnowski's pragmatic First Mate. Spoiler Warning: don't get too attached him.
This isn't the worst dinosaur movie I've ever seen, but it's a lot closer to the bottom of the barrel than the top. The King Kong references are rampant, with the lost island, the filmmaker-blonde beauty-sailor character dynamic, and a climactic battle between the sloth-ape and a dinosaur. But unlike the similar scene in King Kong, the human observers have no role in the action and are merely relieved that the island's two biggest threats basically eliminated each other. The 1940's depiction of extinct reptiles is mildly humorous in light of the fresh interpretations of today. If you are a dinosaur movie completist, this movie is worth a view and might provide a few laughs. For anyone else, give it a pass.