I searched for a thread in the 50’s, Foreign Horror and 60’s folders, but couldn’t find one, so if there is one and I missed it, I’m sorry. I saw this last night with my son for the 1st time in about 35 years when I was about 8. I had only a slight remembrance of it, so it was actually like watching it for the first time. Not much of a story but still a great film! The first thing that struck me was how ambitious the film was especially for a kids flick; the sheer volume of special effects shots in the film seems to me to surpasses most of what was put out by Hollywood in 50’s. I don’t know what kind of budget the film had or how much time they had to put it together, but there is a lot to see. Although not on par with Harryhausen or O’brien, the animation was really good and some of the mechanical puppets, especially the duck billed dinosaur, were fantastic. It was also beautifully shot. I wish there was a remastered DVD where you could really get the full effect. As it was, I watched it on a used VHS tape I got from a flea market and it still looked good. I really want to see the original Czech film. I don’t know if the story, which is boorishly educational, differs significantly, but I suspect that it does. Why they had to Americanize it and add the prologue which really doesn’t fit in well is beyond me. If fact, the prologue pretty much makes the rest of the story fairly silly. Still I liked it and would really like to see more of Karel Zeman’s work. Anyway does any one else have any thought on this film????
