THE
LAST DINOSAUR (1977)Directed by Tsugundubu “Tom” Kotani and Alexander Grasshoff
Warner Archive Collection
THE
LAST DINOSAUR (1977)By 1967, Rankin and Bass Productions became the leading specialists in holiday and Saturday morning television entertainment with such classic offerings as the Christmas favorite RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER (1964), THE KING KONG SHOW (1966-1967), THE WACKY WORLD OF MOTHER GOOSE (1965), THE DAYDREAMER (1966), and the cult favorite, MAD MONSTER PARTY? (1966). In addition, the company branched out into co-productions with various Japanese film companies such as Toei Animation. Perhaps their best known collaboration during this period was with Toho Company Ltd. for a live action theatrical adaptation of their King Kong cartoon which was successfully released by Universal Pictures under the title KING KONG ESCAPES. Legendary special effects creator Eiji Tsuburaya directed trick photography on this film and ten years later, Rankin and Bass Productions once again teamed up with the Tsuburaya Company (creators of ULTRAMAN) for this interesting and fun giant monster/lost world themed epic featuring familiar American faces and a wildly campy appeal. THE LAST DINOSAUR makes its DVD debut as part of the very successful Warner Archive Collection.
A
scientific expedition led by Dr. Chuck Wade (Steven Keats) returns from an unbelievable
journey to a hidden world under the polar glacier. It seems that a dormant underwater
volcano has warmed up the land underneath the glacier and has preserved the
area exactly as it was millions of years ago complete with dinosaurs and prehistoric
cavemen. Millionaire oil tycoon and big game hunter Maston Thrust (Richard Boone)
is intrigued enough by the idea of hunting a real live dinosaur that he funds
the construction of the Polar Borer, a drill-like submarine capable of penetrating
deep into the earth. Consisting of this new expedition other than Thrust and
Wade are reporter Francesca “Frankie” Banks (Joan Van Ark), Thrust’s
bodyguard/servant Bunta (Luther Rackley), and renowned scientist Dr. Kawamoto
(Tetsu Nakamura).
Not
long after their arrival, the group is menaced by such dangers as flying reptiles,
a hostile tribe of cavemen, and the king of all dinosaurs, the Tyrannosaurus
Rex. As the intrepid explorers are picked off one by one by the vengeful dinosaur,
its destruction becomes an obsession for Thrust in the ultimate battle of man
vs. nature with echoes of Moby Dick thrown in for good measure.
The
casting in THE LAST DINOSAUR follows a familiar pattern of hiring American names
for a Japanese-made production in order to make the film more palatable to American
audiences. This practice goes as far back as Nick Adams’ participation
in such films as FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD and MONSTER ZERO in 1965; Russ
Tamblyn in WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS (1966); Rhodes Reason and Linda Miller in KING
KONG ESCAPES (1967); Robert Horton, Luciana Paluzzi, and Richard Jaeckel in
THE GREEN SLIME (1968); and Cesar Romero, Joseph Cotten, and Patricia Medina
in LATTITUDE ZERO (1969). Actually, THE LAST DINOSAUR was intended for theatrical
distribution in the United States as a result of the recent box office popularity
of such AIP/Amicus co-productions like THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT (1975), THE
PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT (1977) and AT THE EARTH’S CORE (1976), but instead
was released as a made-for-TV movie airing in February 1977 on ABC’s Friday
Night at the Movies.
The
special effects photography is actually fairly good and although none of the
miniatures will fool anyone, they are appealing in a campy sort of way. The
dinosaur costumes are also pretty well designed and the battle between Tyrannosaurus
Rex and Triceratops is actually well staged with Maury Laws’ background
music an asset. The acting is also pretty good for a film of this type with
a scene stealing performance by veteran actor Richard Boone as the obsessive
Maston Thrust. Steven Keats is a little irritating as Chuck Wade while Joan
Van Ark is very good as the plucky heroine “Frankie” Banks in the
“Lois Lane” tradition. Fans of Japanese monster movies will immediately
recognize Tetsu Nakamura as Dr. Kawamoto from his appearances in Toho’s
THE MYSTERIANS (1957), THE H-MAN (1959) and MOTHRA (1961) as well as the mad
scientist in the Japanese-American co-production, THE MANSTER (1959).
THE
LAST DINOSAUR has been made available as part of Warner Archive Collection’s
phenomenally successful made-on-demand DVDs. This release represents the complete
106 minute theatrical version as opposed to the 95 minute print originally aired
on ABC. The aspect ratio of 1.78:1 is preserved here and features anamorphic
enhancement for 16x9 televisions. The image is very sharp and clean looking
with excellent colors and nice detail. The sound is also fine. As with the other
releases in the Warner Archive Collection, there is no menu, but chapters can
be moved at ten minute intervals.
Warner
must be commended for releasing yet another hard-to-find title as part of this
made-on-demand series. Although many fans find it reprehensible that so many
genre titles are being released this way from Warner and other companies, these
titles would otherwise be locked in a vault collecting dust somewhere. These
specialized titles can now find homes on the shelves of the serious film collector.
(Joe Cascio)