Jump to content

King Dinosaur

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 67.80.62.61 (talk) at 05:34, 8 February 2016. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

King Dinosaur
File:Kingdinosaurposter.jpg
Theatrical poster
Directed byBert I. Gordon
Written byBert I. Gordon
Tom Gries
Al Zimbalist
Produced byBert I. Gordon
Al Zimbalist (Executive Producer)
StarringWilliam Bryant
Wanda Curtis
Douglas Henderson
Patti Gallagher
Narrated byMarvin Miller
CinematographyGordon Avil
Edited byJack Cornall
Music byLouis Palange
Gene Garf (uncredited)
Distributed byLippert Pictures
Running time
63 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$15,000 (estimated)[1]

King Dinosaur is a 1955 science fiction film starring William Bryant and Wanda Curtis with narration by Marvin Miller. The film was featured on season 2 of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Plot

Four astronauts in 1960 travel to a planet called Nova that has just entered Earth's solar system. The crew begins studying the planet to see if it's suitable for a possible Earth colony. After first discovering normal Earth animals such as a kinkajou and an alligator, they soon encounter and battle giant insects, an enormous snake, prehistoric mammals, dinosaurs, and - on an island - the titular character, King Dinosaur, a putative Tyrannosaurus Rex. Eventually, the scientists blow up the island with an atomic bomb, killing all of its inhabitants, rendering the only dinosaur inhabitants of Nova extinct, for seemingly no reason.

Cast

Production

The film was directed over a seven-day period by Bert I. Gordon and was Gordon's debut. The camera and other pieces of equipment were borrowed and the cast worked for deferred salaries.[1]

The scene of the attacking Mastodon was stock footage recycled from the film One Million BC.

There were only four actors in this film. The rest of the band and soldiers were just military stock footage, as was the footage of the atomic bomb explosions.

Mystery Science Theater 3000

The film was featured in a second season episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 in December 1990.

References

  1. ^ a b Mark McGee, Faster and Furiouser: The Revised and Fattened Fable of American International Pictures, McFarland, 1996 p105