Watch Unknown Island For Free

People are voting emotionally.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

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.

I saw Unknown Island when I was eight years old, packed into a Saturday matinee in a tiny theater in a little California town with a bunch of my buddies. The movie didn't drive us from the theater in fear, but it was scary enough, and fun enough, that its plot devices became themes for a summer of children's pretend games of dinosaur hunts and battles against giant sloths. The sexual undercurrents of the film were lost on us: bring on the prehistoric beasts!I never expected to see it again, but a browse through the Netflix library turned it up, and I couldn't wait to be disappointed! Of course I was, but so what? It was worth the repeat viewing just to be reminded that there was a time when my imagination could overcome cheesy production values, silly dialogue, and incoherent plotting. Movies are magic, especially for the young. Unknown Island made me long again, if only briefly, for a bag of stale popcorn, a Big Hunk candy bar, and a Captain Marvel serial.And for another summer of games in the woods, running after, or away from, those pesky dinosaurs.

Unknown Island is a significant dinosaur movie because it was the first one to be made in colour, despite the very low budget. It was a treat to watch though.An expedition travels to an uncharted island in the South Seas where strange creatures were sited during the Second World War. Once they arrive, they discover T-Rexes (men in suits), Brontosauruses pulled by wires, a plastic Dimetrodon and a giant Sloth played by Ray Corrigan (It! The Terror From Beyond Space). These monsters don't look too bad though. Several members of the party are killed by the beasts, including the captain. One of the best parts of the movie is the fight between the Sloth and a T-Rex. The movie also stars sci-fi movie regular Richard Denning (The Creature From the Black Lagoon). This movie was enjoyable despite the cheap looking monsters. A treat.Rating: 4 stars out of 5.

...a tale of a fateful trip. Only this tale is from a 1948 outrageous B flick about scientists who hire a corrupt skipper for a voyage to a strange Island. Once the passengers and crew arrive they encounter prehistoric beasts of which some are laughable due to poor special effects. Although when I saw this film as a kid I was impressed with it. Surprisingly the tagline says it took a year to produce while the film "King Kong" was made 15 years prior with superior special effects. The inhabitants include lovely Virginia Grey, Philip Reed, Richard Denning and Barton MacLane. Filmed in Cinecolor it is fun to watch and has been shown on AMC. It's also available on VHS and DVD so it can't be all that bad.