I saw this film years nearly 40 years ago both as a serial and a feature - and loved it both times. In the interim, I studied paleontology and did some work at the American Museum of Natural History. And in this age of digital dinos, it still manages to hold your attention. Quaint and sometimes corny, the fact that there are no adults involved in the film - and no caveman - keeps the endeavor from looking too campy.
Let me tell you what strikes me about this film:
I cannot, for the life of me, figure out whose idea this was. Was it Clayton's? The Museum's? Zeman's?
The animated creatures in the film are very well designed (animated crudely but that was the state of the art). The detail of the animals as well as the detail of the backgrounds (most notably in the plant life) shows that someone very knowledgeable in geology was involved. I could say it was the Czechs, and that the American Museum tacked on its footage as an afterthought, but the prehistoric animals in the film are, for the most part, uniquely North American - most notably the Uintatherium which is named for a mountain range in Wyoming and the saber-toothed cat (not "tiger" mind you, because it's not related to tigers).
Adding to the mystery is the fact that Edwin Colbert is credited with overseeing the film. In addition to being (at the time) the chairman of the geology and paleontology departments at the AMNH, Dr. Colbert was a very prominent name in paleontology in his own right, having put out some very well-written books on the subject. Though the movie is clearly a Czech film, he must have been involved from the very beginning, because the end result hints at input that could only have come from the model-makers and the curating staff of a major museum (the mammoth tusks and the Irish elk antlers which the boys find are clearly real specimens - no museum would lend out such material to a two-bit film outfit).
To top it all off, the actor playing "Doc" in the 60s inserts looks like it's the same actor who played the role in 1955, only the kid is older as would be expected.
Any ideas???
Let me tell you what strikes me about this film:
I cannot, for the life of me, figure out whose idea this was. Was it Clayton's? The Museum's? Zeman's?
The animated creatures in the film are very well designed (animated crudely but that was the state of the art). The detail of the animals as well as the detail of the backgrounds (most notably in the plant life) shows that someone very knowledgeable in geology was involved. I could say it was the Czechs, and that the American Museum tacked on its footage as an afterthought, but the prehistoric animals in the film are, for the most part, uniquely North American - most notably the Uintatherium which is named for a mountain range in Wyoming and the saber-toothed cat (not "tiger" mind you, because it's not related to tigers).
Adding to the mystery is the fact that Edwin Colbert is credited with overseeing the film. In addition to being (at the time) the chairman of the geology and paleontology departments at the AMNH, Dr. Colbert was a very prominent name in paleontology in his own right, having put out some very well-written books on the subject. Though the movie is clearly a Czech film, he must have been involved from the very beginning, because the end result hints at input that could only have come from the model-makers and the curating staff of a major museum (the mammoth tusks and the Irish elk antlers which the boys find are clearly real specimens - no museum would lend out such material to a two-bit film outfit).
To top it all off, the actor playing "Doc" in the 60s inserts looks like it's the same actor who played the role in 1955, only the kid is older as would be expected.
Any ideas???
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