The Land Unknown
The Land Unknown is a 1957 science fiction CinemaScope adventure film about a naval expedition trapped in an Antarctic jungle. The story was allegedly inspired by the discovery of unusually warm water in Antarctica in 1947. It starred Jock Mahoney and Shirley Patterson and was directed by Virgil W. Vogel. The film is notable for its low-budget special effects, which include men in dinosaur suits, puppets and monitor lizards standing in for dinosaurs. William Reynolds recalled the studio spent so much money on their mechanical dinosaur that they could not afford to shoot the film in  color as they first planned. Plot. A small crew led by Commander Harold Roberts and reporter Maggie Hathaway are on an expedition into Antarctica for the United States Navy. During a helicopter flight, they are called back to their ship via radio because of an unexpected storm approaching. At first they try to fly around the storm, but low on fuel, they fly into the storm, where they almost collide in mid-air with a man-sized pterosaur. Their rotor control rod is bent. Unable to stay in the air, they start to descend and are surprised when they end  up landing well below sea-level in a warm volcanic crater. Inside, they discover a steamy tropical jungle with living dinosaurs, giant flesh-eating plants, and fresh human footprints. They cannot contact the ship by radio. When they try to straighten the bent rod, it breaks. They are trapped. The crew encounter many dangers and perils in the jungle in a fight for survival. The crew meet Hunter, the lone survivor of a plane crash from the 1947 expedition. He has learned to survive in this land with the aid of a conch that drives off the animals and  by raiding the dinosaurs' nests. He offers the remains of his airplane to repair the helicopter, but only if the crew agree to leave Maggie with him. The crew refuses, but they also know that after 25 days their ship will have to leave before the Antarctic winter sets in. Unsuccessful in finding the remains of the plane, hidden by Hunter, the crew debate leaving Maggie, or forcing the information out of Hunter by torture. Commander Roberts refuses to sink to either low. Maggie is later attacked by an Elasmosaurus, but Hunter rescues her. After a fight and learning that  the crew refuse to torture him for the location of his plane, Hunter gives them the map to its location. After repairing the helicopter, the crew take off in a hurry as a Tyrannosaurus rex attacks their base. They fly to pick up Maggie, who is with Hunter at the time. Hunter is ambushed by the Elasmosaurus, and the crew come to his rescue. They fly out of the lost world with him. Once clear of the crater, the crew are able to communicate again by radio with their ship; however, the helicopter runs out of fuel and crashes into  the ocean before it reaches the vessel. The crew are rescued, and once safely on the ship Harold and Maggie declare their love for one another. The animals featured in this film include a Tyrannosaurus, Elasmosaurus, Stegosaurus, live acted by monitor lizards (which would make them megalania), a pair of Pterosaurs and a giant flesh-consuming plant. The mammal found by the crew then later eaten by the carnivorous plant is referred to as a tarsier but is actually a loris. Release. "The Land Unknown" was given a wide release on October 30, 1957. Some sources (including Bill Warren) list  its initial release as August, 1957. The film was released on LaserDisc in the 1990s. Universal Studios Home Entertainment released it on DVD in 2007 as part of a boxed set called "The Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection Vol. 2", along with "Dr. Cyclops", "The Leech Woman", "The Deadly Mantis" and "Cult of the Cobra". Kino Lorber's 2019 Blu-ray release featured a fact-filled audio commentary by Tom Weaver and David Schecter. Reception. Matt Brunson of "Film Frenzy" gave it 2 out of 4 and called it "A lesser entry in Universal's robust run of 50s sci -fi flicks."