A comedy about the past that predicted the future The development of cinema could not prevent even the First World War. In 1915, the first film (albeit rather an animated film) was released, which, contrary to the title, became a comedy about the prehistoric world. It is curious that in almost all scenes of “Dinosaur and the Missing Link” puppet animation is used – one of the first works of Willis O’Brien, which later “revive” various animals in “The Lost World”, “King Kong” and “Black Scorpion”.
If you think that trying to show the distant past with elements of modernity in movies is a favorite technique of directors of the third millennium, then you are very mistaken. How do you think the daughter of the ancient owner of the family should greet guests? Of course, the words about tea , which - that's not a problem! - is not yet open. It’s funny, though, that cavemen clearly live in India, judging by who lives next to them. Who the filmmakers saw Wild Willie - now it is difficult to say, but he looks like a gigantopitecus, which will be opened only twenty years after the release of this tape. Was O’Brien really that smart? Of course, Gigantopithecus is not the missing link and has closer ties to orangutans than humans, but don’t forget that this is a comedy.
As you might expect, there is a dinosaur in the movie. More precisely, there are two of them, because according to cladistics, birds are also dinosaurs. Maniraptors, to put it quite strictly. So, the non-avian dinosaur here is surprisingly similar to one animal that will be discovered as early as 1954 - the Rebbachisaurus. It became the first known long-necked dinosaur (sauropod) with elevated dorsal vertebrae. So O’Brien predicted two paleontological discoveries in the comedy film. My respects!
There’s one very hurtful thing about this film that I can’t say is “excellent”: the battle of prehistoric animals that happens behind the scenes. As soon as a fight begins, we are shown a man watching, and then the outcome of the battle. What exactly happened there is unknown. However, Dinosaur and the Missing Link is worthy of your attention. Isn’t it interesting to know how the prehistoric world was imagined more than a hundred years ago?
9 out of 10