AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Sameeha Pugh It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

MARIO GAUCI Little-known 'prehistoric monster' flick whose sole distinction (much more, in fact, than the actual creatures, which are quite shoddy!) is the fact that it was shot in pleasant Cinecolor. Incidentally, the plot is so similar to genre prototypes THE LOST WORLD (1925; the expedition to an uncharted modern-day dinosaur-infested location) and KING KONG (1933; an ape battles a prehistoric beast) that I assume the film-makers of this one were not sued only because it went under everybody's radar! On the other hand, the later THE LAND UNKNOWN (1957) would not only do so once again but it even had a very similar title to the movie under review! Anyway, I had previously watched two noirs from director Bernhard, the bizarre DECOY (1946) and the more ordinary BLONDE ICE (1948). Indeed, here we have one woman contended by a trio of potential suitors (again, creating more tension than the dinosaur footage itself!), with much hard-boiled dialogue and male/female sparring (especially between her and nominal hero Richard Denning, a young man whose experiences while stranded on the island had driven him to drink and is subsequently recruited to act as a guide). The other man in the equation is a photographer, the heroine's fiancé, who had seen the island from a plane during the war and became obsessed with the idea of checking it out and 'capture' the wild-life with his camera (and neglecting his girl in the process). More trouble arises when the crew, comprised of superstitious natives, rebels and/or runs away – especially after they begin to fall prey to the carnivorous monsters.Apart from the afore-mentioned Denning, the more notable cast members are leading lady Virginia Grey and Barton MacLane as the burly steamship captain who fancies himself a lady-killer(!) and also determines to catch one of the creatures (which even sees him arguing with his first-mate, who gets a knife in the back from one of the 'sailors' actually intended for the captain!). Surprisingly, the girl is not coveted by the ape (which looks a bit like the alien from TV's ALF!), nor is she menaced in any particular manner by the other monsters – MacLane and company do get to fight them off with hand-grenades, downing a few dinos in the process. As is to be expected, MacLane is killed, the photographer eventually contents himself with his shots (some of which were destroyed in a fire), while Grey and Denning have settled their differences enough to hook up for the finale.

Space_Mafune No this is no masterpiece, it isn't even all that good really. But it is entertaining enough to occupy 72 minutes of your time if you have some time to waste. The acting is fine and the special FX have a certain surprising charm except for the disappointing giant sloth. I enjoyed the romantic interest undertone of the film centering around Carole Lane(Virginia Grey) and the three men who desire her. All in all, this is a fun time waster.

jim riecken (youroldpaljim) This minor little prehistoric monster flick used to be shown on local TV quite often back in sixties when I was a kid. It was the first monster flick I saw in colour on TV. I enjoyed it back then when I was a kid and I've have seen it on video a couple of time recently. (Several badly transfered copies with faded colour have been around for years, but my favorite video store recently got in a newly restored version with excellent quality colour.) I have to admit I still enjoy watching this lively, island full of prehistoric monsters flick.The monsters, with exception of a pair of what looks stop motion brontasaurus shown briefly, are men in suits, ala Godzilla. I didn't think that they looked all that bad when I was a kid, but seeing them today they look awfully stiff. The creature often called an ape monster, is supposed to be according to the press kit from this film, a giant sloth. Whatever it was supposed to be, I thought it was pretty creepy when I saw this film as a kid. One major complaint I have about the use of men in suits as they are used here, is that unlike stop motion dinosaurs or photographically enlarged lizards, it could be very easy using this method, even in a film of this budget level, to have dinosaurs interact with the actors. The cast never seems directly menaced by the dinosaurs. In fact, with exception of the giant sloth, most of the time they never get near them! In fact I have always felt that the only advantage to using this method (along with full scale models ala THEM!)is that allows easy interaction with the actors with out any expensive split screens, traveling matte etc. that would jack a films budget up.UNKNOWN ISLAND has a decent cast, including Barton MacLane, who is quite entertaining as the lecherous sea captain. Director Jack Bernhard keeps things moving. The film also avoids one of the most often over used plot contrivances that often turn up in these "lost world" type films; the island doesn't suddenly blow up and then sink beneath the waves. Overall, I still find UNKNOWN ISLAND an entertaining, enjoyable monster romp. Perhaps because the film has "quaintness" about it that I still find appealing today, despite the derision voiced in this forum by cheap cynics. Despite its faults, I'll take this over most of todays over produced CGI special effects films any day.See Ya! Youroldpaljim

Teenie-1 The year was 1948 and by this time Willis O'Brien had already had much success with the prehistoric special effects in "King Kong." Wasn't he around during this filming? The dinosaurs in this film look like mechanical toys with licorice for arms. Actually they were men in rubber suits with licorice for arms. Man, what a waste of time and money! And the "sloth man!"(?) When he appeared for the first time I said, "What the hell...?!"Was this Richard Denning's encore film or something? He must've been actually drunk to play this part (he plays a drunken, trauma-stricken sailor who is hired by horny drunk Barton MacLane to sail to this Unknown Island with a reject from the Three Stooges shorts, an air-headed photographer and an equally air-headed female accomplice (couldn't they have chosen a cockatoo instead?).The only sensible characters in the film were the "native" crew, and they all sounded like they had Brooklyn accents. They sail to the island, find these brand-X dinosaurs and this excuse of a cross between the abominable snowman and the Cyclops in "Sinbad," called a "sloth-man." Whatever it was supposed to be, the makeup sucked. I wasn't born at the time, but when I was old enough to see monster flicks at the movies, I certainly wouldn't have wasted my time with this junk. I caught it on American Movie Classics (I thought they showed classics, not crap) because I got tired of the early morning news (all bad); when I saw Richard Denning I thought it would be a pretty good horror flick on the lines of "The Creature from the Black Lagoon." It was worth a few giggles, though. I guess all wasn't wasted. But next time I'll opt for Johnny Bravo on the Cartoon Network.