Each Sunday evening Frank and I choose a DVD or videotape to watch. This Sunday it was a movie from 1957 called "The Land Unknown." On an expedition to Antarctica, three men and a woman are stranded in a large volcanic crater -- strangely hot and tropical -- cut off from the rest of the world for millions of years and populated by prehistoric creatures. Well, naturally we invited the dinosaurs to watch with us.
Everyone was a little disappointed when the first "dinosaurs" seen battling each other were clearly played by two monitor lizards. The T-Rex was similarly unconvincing -- laughably unreal looking. It was obviously played by a person in a costume. The best and most convincing dinosaur came at the end with the Elasmosaurus rising out of the water. The Mosasaurus and Plesiosaurus were, of course, the ones most pleased with the appearance of the Elasmosaurus, being natural water dwellers and (in the case of the Plesiosaurus) a relative of the Elasmosaurus.
The dinosaurs and Neanderthal Man behaved themselves for once, and a good time was had by all. They begged me to photograph them watching the movie; I tried, but it didn't work out while we were actually viewing the film. You couldn't see much of anything of the movie. After it was over, I scooched them up close, raised them higher, and turned off some of the lights; we settled for this largely silhouetted picture. I purposely wound it back to the scene with the Elasmosaurus.
