| King Dinosaur | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Bert I. Gordon |
| Written by | Bert I. Gordon Tom Gries Al Zimbalist |
| Produced by | Bert I. Gordon Al Zimbalist (Executive Producer) |
| Starring | William Bryant Wanda Curtis Douglas Henderson Patti Gallagher |
| Narrated by | Marvin Miller |
| Cinematography | Gordon Avil |
| Edited by | Jack Cornall |
| Music by | Louis Palange Gene Garf (uncredited) |
| Distributed by | Lippert Pictures |
Release date | June 17, 1955 |
Running time | 63 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15,000 (estimated)[1] |
| Box office | $55,000[2] |
King Dinosaur is a 1955 science fiction film starring William Bryant and Wanda Curtis with narration by Marvin Miller. It was co-written, produced, and directed by Bert I. Gordon, in his directorial debut. The film was featured on season 2 of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Five years in the future (1960), four scientists (zoologist Dr. Richard Gordon, geologist Dr. Nora Pierce, medical specialist Dr. Ralph Martin, and chemist Dr. Patrica Bennett) are selected as astronauts to travel to an ancient planet called Nova that has just entered Earth's Solar System. The crew begins studying the planet to see if it is suitable for a possible Earth colony. After first discovering normal Earth animals such as a kinkajou which they refer to as a lemur, crows which they call vultures, and an alligator (A Prehistoric species called Diplocynodon), they soon encounter and battle giant insects, an enormous snake known as Gigantophis, and prehistoric mammals like a Cave Bear, a Mastodon, and a Glyptodont.
Richard and Nora paddle a raft out to an island and are trapped in a cave by Prehistoric Reptiles, even a Tyrannosaurus rex (portrayed by a green iguana). They fire off a signal flare. Back on the mainland near their spaceship, Ralph and Patricia see the distress signal, grab the auxiliary nuclear power supply and paddle their raft out to the island to rescue Richard and Nora. Before they leave the island, they set the power supply to "unharness" in 30 minutes and leave it on the island. After encountering more prehistoric creatures, they reach their spaceship. The power supply blows up the island in a nuclear mushroom cloud, rendering King Dinosaur and the other dinosaurs of Nova extinct.
Filming started in September 1954.[3]
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 mammoth was stock footage recycled from the film One Million B.C..
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.
The film was featured in a second-season episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 in December 1990.
TV Guide gave the movie one out of five stars, stating that the quickness of the movie shooting shows.[4] Film historian Leonard Maltin rated the movie 0 of 4 stars, describing it as "First and worst of director Gordon's many 1950s sci-fi films .... Boring, silly, and awesomely cheap ...."[5]
