All I'd like to say about Universal-International's The Land Unknown is that three navy men and a woman reporter land accidentally in a warm spot in Antartica with their helicopter stuck for 30 days during which time they encounter some dinosaurs and another man who had survived there for 10 years from another expedition after his three crew members died there. Jock Mahoney is the commanding officer Harold (though I could have sworn he was called "Alan" here) who tries to keep everything together. I recognized him from the TV western "Range Rider" on America One a few years ago. Shirley Patterson (credited here as Shawn Smith) is the reporter, Maggie, he falls for. Henry Brandon (best known as Silas Barnaby in Laurel and Hardy's Babes in Toyland where he was then known as Harry Kleinbach) is 10-year survivor Dr. Carl Hunter who initially tries to make a deal for the 3 men to escape in exchange for the woman to stay with him. Great conflict results. The dinosaur scenes are a combination of actual footage of close-up lizards and a man wearing a tyrannosaurus outfit. The outfit makes this movie a little cheesy but they worked with what they had at the time on whatever budget was allowed. Otherwise, a mostly compelling entertainment for anyone interested in '50 sci-fi movies especially of the Universal-International kind. Wonderful atmospheric score by Joseph Gershenson. P.S. Jock Mahoney was Sally Field's stepfather.
Review of The Land Unknown
