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One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing | |
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Directed by | Robert Stevenson |
Written by | Bill Walsh |
Based on | The Great Dinosaur Robbery by David Forrest |
Produced by | Bill Walsh |
Starring | Peter Ustinov Helen Hayes Clive Revill Derek Nimmo |
Cinematography | Paul Beeson |
Edited by | Peter Boita |
Music by | Ron Goodwin |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Buena Vista Distribution |
Release date |
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Running time | 100 minutes |
Countries | United Kingdom United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $5.5 million (North American rentals) [1] |
One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing is a 1975 comedy film set in the early 1920s, about the theft of a dinosaur skeleton from the Natural History Museum. The film was produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution Company. The title is a parody of the film title One of Our Aircraft Is Missing , in which both Peter Ustinov and Hugh Burden also appeared. The film was based on the 1970 novel The Great Dinosaur Robbery by David Forrest (pseudonym of David Eliades and Robert Forrest Webb). It was the last work of producer and screenwriter Bill Walsh before his death on January 27, 1975, almost six months before the film's release. [2]
Escaping from China with a microfilm of the formula for the mysterious "Lotus X", Lord Edward Southmere, a King's Messenger, is chased by a group of Chinese spies.
Back in London, Lord Southmere manages to escape from a chauffeur who is trying to kidnap him, and then runs into the Natural History Museum. Chinese spies, led by Hnup Wan, follow him, so he hides the microfilm in the bones of one of the large dinosaur skeletons. He is relieved to meet his former nanny, Hettie, in the museum, and asks her to retrieve the microfilm. Southmere then faints and is captured by the Chinese, who tell Hettie and Emily (another nanny) that they are taking him to a doctor.
Hettie and Emily enlist other nannies to help them search. They hide in the mouth of the blue whale display until after closing time, and then begin looking over the skeleton of a Brontosaurus . They are unsuccessful and most of them have to return home to care for their children, but Hettie, Emily, and their friend Susan remain to continue with the search. They are captured and taken to the spies' London headquarters, underneath a Chinese restaurant in Soho. The nannies are locked up in the "dungeon", with Lord Southmere, but are able to outwit their captors and escape.
Meanwhile, the spies have decided to steal the dinosaur, so they can search it properly. That night, they trick their way into the museum. The three nannies follow on a motorbike and sidecar and watch from the shadows. After the Chinese load the Brontosaurus skeleton on the back of their steam lorry, the nannies steal the vehicle. The spies give chase through the foggy streets of London in their charabanc and a Daimler limousine, but the nannies drive into a railway-goods yard, onto a flat wagon at the back of a train, and are carried off to safety.
The nannies fail to find the microfilm on the skeleton. Meanwhile, back in London, Hettie's two young charges, Lord Castlebury and his younger brother, Truscott, have been captured by the spies. They inform the spies about the possibility that what they are looking for is on another dinosaur skeleton. The spies go to the museum and the Wan finds the microfilm from the other large dinosaur, a Diplodocus skeleton. Wan promptly pays the boys off and lets them go. They tell Hettie the news.
Realising that Lord Southmere is now in danger, Hettie organises a rescue. Hettie and her team of nannies invade the Chinese restaurant base and battle with the spies over Lord Southmere. Meanwhile, Emily and Susan return with the Brontosaurus skeleton by crashing the lorry into the restaurant. Southmere is given the microfilm and he shows Wan what is in the microfilm, a simple recipe of wonton soup. Southmere explains that he tried explaining he was a mere businessman and that the microfilm was a recipe. Realising the error of his ways, Wan advertises the soup in the microfilm recipe and makes peace with the nannies.
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The book on which the film was based, The Great Dinosaur Robbery, was aimed at an adult audience by its authors, Robert Forrest Webb and David Eliades, and was set in New York. The authors, both very experienced UK national journalists and best-selling authors, extensively researched material in New York and were greatly assisted by the American Museum of Natural History, and by the New York Police Department responsible for that area. The authors were disappointed that the humour of the film was aimed at a very much younger audience than that in the book, which had been published, in several languages, extremely successfully throughout Europe and also in Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S.
The film was shot on location in England at Elstree Studios and Pinewood Studios. Additional filming took place at London Zoo, the Natural History Museum, and around Windsor and Holyport Green, Maidenhead. [3] While One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing was in production, Bresslaw and Sims also appeared in Carry On Behind , another film being made concurrently at Pinewood Studios.
Ustinov, Revill, and Bresslaw—all white actors—performed in yellowface makeup to portray Chinese characters in the film. [4] [5]
The special photographic effects for One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing were handled by British special effects artist John Stears. The steam lorry used in the film was a mockup, with the mocked up boiler smaller than that on a real steam lorry. [6] The Diplodocus skeleton model featured in the film was later used in Star Wars (1977), in the opening scenes in the Tunisian desert. [7]
Apatosaurus is a genus of herbivorous sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic period. Othniel Charles Marsh described and named the first-known species, A. ajax, in 1877, and a second species, A. louisae, was discovered and named by William H. Holland in 1916. Apatosaurus lived about 152 to 151 million years ago (mya), during the late Kimmeridgian to early Tithonian age, and are now known from fossils in the Morrison Formation of modern-day Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Utah in the United States. Apatosaurus had an average length of 21–23 m (69–75 ft), and an average mass of 16.4–22.4 t. A few specimens indicate a maximum length of 11–30% greater than average and a mass of approximately 33 t.
Medicine Bow is a town in Carbon County, Wyoming, United States. Its population was 284 at the 2010 census.
Bernard Bresslaw was a British actor and comedian. He was best known as a member of the Carry On film franchise. Bresslaw also worked on television and stage, performed recordings and wrote a series of poetry.
Stegosaurus is a genus of herbivorous, four-legged, armored dinosaur from the Late Jurassic, characterized by the distinctive kite-shaped upright plates along their backs and spikes on their tails. Fossils of the genus have been found in the western United States and in Portugal, where they are found in Kimmeridgian- to Tithonian-aged strata, dating to between 155 and 145 million years ago. Of the species that have been classified in the upper Morrison Formation of the western US, only three are universally recognized: S. stenops, S. ungulatus and S. sulcatus. The remains of over 80 individual animals of this genus have been found. Stegosaurus would have lived alongside dinosaurs such as Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, Camarasaurus and Allosaurus, the latter of which may have preyed on it.
Derek Robert Nimmo was an English character actor, producer and author. He is best remembered for his comedic upper class "silly ass" and clerical roles including Revd Mervyn Noote in the BBC1 sitcom All Gas and Gaiters (1966–71).
The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Natural History Museum's main frontage, however, is on Cromwell Road.
Carry On Behind is a 1975 British comedy film, the 27th release in the series of 31 Carry On films (1958–1992). It was the first entry in the series not to be scripted by Talbot Rothwell since Carry On Cruising 13 years previously. Also missing was series stalwart Sid James. James was busy touring in a play, while Rothwell's health prevented him from writing. The regular actors present are Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor, Jack Douglas, Joan Sims and Peter Butterworth, Bernard Bresslaw and Patsy Rowlands. Carry On Behind was the final picture in the series for Bresslaw, Liz Fraser and Rowlands as well as Carol Hawkins. It saw the only appearances of Elke Sommer, Adrienne Posta, Sherrie Hewson and Ian Lavender in a Carry On film, and was the first of two entries in the series for Windsor Davies. The film was followed by Carry On England 1976.
The Naturmuseum Senckenberg (SMF) is a museum of natural history, located in Frankfurt am Main. It is the second-largest of its kind in Germany. In 2010, almost 517,000 people visited the museum, which is owned by the Senckenberg Nature Research Society. Senckenberg's slogan is "world of biodiversity". As of 2019, the museum exhibits 18 reconstructed dinosaurs.
Cetiosauriscus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived between 166 and 164 million years ago during the Callovian in what is now England. A herbivore, Cetiosauriscus had – by sauropod standards – a moderately long tail, and longer forelimbs, making them as long as its hindlimbs. It has been estimated as about 15 m (49 ft) long and between 4 and 10 t in weight.
Brontosaurus is a genus of herbivorous sauropod dinosaur that lived in present-day United States during the Late Jurassic period. It was described by American paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh in 1879, the type species being dubbed B. excelsus, based on a partial skeleton lacking a skull found in Como Bluff, Wyoming. In subsequent years, two more species of Brontosaurus were named: B. parvus in 1902 and B. yahnahpin in 1994. Brontosaurus lived about 156 to 146 million years ago (mya) during the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian ages in the Morrison Formation of what is now Utah and Wyoming. For decades, the animal was thought to have been a taxonomic synonym of its close relative Apatosaurus, but a 2015 study by Emmanuel Tschopp and colleagues found it to be distinct. It has seen widespread representation in popular culture, being the archetypal "long-necked" dinosaur in general media.
Tyrannosaurus rex is unique among dinosaurs in its place in modern culture; paleontologist Robert Bakker has called it "the most popular dinosaur among people of all ages, all cultures, and all nationalities". Paleontologists Mark Norell and Lowell Dingus have likewise called it "the most famous dinosaur of all times." Paleoartist Gregory S. Paul has called it "the theropod. [...] This is the public's favorite dinosaur [...] Even the formations it is found in have fantastic names like Hell Creek and Lance." Other paleontologists agree with that and note that whenever a museum erects a new skeleton or bring in an animatronic model, visitor numbers go up. "Jurassic Park and King Kong would not have been the same without it." In the public mind, T. rex sets the standard of what a dinosaur should be. Science writer Riley Black similarly states, "In all of prehistory, there is no animal that commands our attention quite like Tyrannosaurus rex, the king of the tyrant lizards. Since the time this dinosaur was officially named in 1905, the enormous carnivore has stood as the ultimate dinosaur."
Charles Robert Knight was an American wildlife and paleoartist best known for his detailed paintings of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. His works have been reproduced in many books and are currently on display at several major museums in the United States. One of his most famous works is a mural of Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops, which helped establish the two dinosaurs as "mortal enemies" in popular culture. Working at a time when many fossil discoveries were fragmentary and dinosaur anatomy was not well understood, many of his illustrations have later been shown to be incorrect representations. Nevertheless, he has been hailed as "one of the great popularizers of the prehistoric past".
Neosauropoda is a clade within Dinosauria, coined in 1986 by Argentine paleontologist José Bonaparte and currently described as Saltasaurus loricatus, Diplodocus longus, and all animals directly descended from their most recent common ancestor. The group is composed of two subgroups: Diplodocoidea and Macronaria. Arising in the early Jurassic and persisting until the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, Neosauropoda contains the majority of sauropod genera, including genera such as Apatosaurus, Brachiosaurus, and Diplodocus. It also includes giants such as Argentinosaurus, Patagotitan and Sauroposeidon, and its members remain the largest land animals ever to have lived.
Apatosaurinae is a subfamily of diplodocid sauropods, an extinct group of large, quadrupedal dinosaurs, the other subfamily in Diplodocidae being Diplodocinae. Apatosaurines are distinguished by their more robust, stocky builds and shorter necks proportionally to the rest of their bodies. Several fairly complete specimens are known, giving a comprehensive view of apatosaurine anatomy.
The Great Dinosaur Robbery is a 1970 novel by David Forrest. This book was the basis for the 1975 film One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing.
Diplodocus is an extinct genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaurs known from the Late Jurassic of North America. The first fossils of Diplodocus were discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, is a Neo-Latin term derived from Greek διπλός (diplos) "double" and δοκός (dokos) "beam", in reference to the double-beamed chevron bones located in the underside of the tail, which were then considered unique.
Brachiosaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic, about 154 to 150 million years ago. It was first described by American paleontologist Elmer S. Riggs in 1903 from fossils found in the Colorado River valley in western Colorado, United States. Riggs named the dinosaur Brachiosaurus altithorax; the generic name is Greek for "arm lizard", in reference to its proportionately long arms, and the specific name means "deep chest". Brachiosaurus is estimated to have been between 18 and 22 meters long; body mass estimates of the subadult holotype specimen range from 28.3 to 46.9 metric tons. It had a disproportionately long neck, small skull, and large overall size, all of which are typical for sauropods. Atypically, Brachiosaurus had longer forelimbs than hindlimbs, which resulted in a steeply inclined trunk, and a proportionally shorter tail.
Buddy's Lost World is a 1935 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon, directed by Jack King. The short was released on May 18, 1935, and stars Buddy, the second star of the series.
The London cast of Dippy is a plaster cast replica of the fossilised bones of a Diplodocus carnegii skeleton, the original of which – also known as Dippy – is on display at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural History. The 26-metre (85 ft) long cast was displayed between 1905 and 2017 in the Natural History Museum in London, becoming an iconic representation of the museum. It began a national tour of British museums in February 2018. Dippy returned to London in June 2022, and then moved to Coventry as a long-term loan to the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in 2023.
Dippy is a composite Diplodocus skeleton in Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and the holotype of the species Diplodocus carnegii. It is considered the most famous single dinosaur skeleton in the world, due to the numerous plaster casts donated by Andrew Carnegie to several major museums around the world at the beginning of the 20th century.
The third film, produced by Disney's BuenaVista, One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing (1975), retained the practice of using white males in racist cosmetics in order to portray Asian males, particularly on the major role level. In addition, the Asian characters, in this case Chinese, were depicted as vicious and unscrupulous persons not above murder to achieve their demonic goals.