The Land Unknown (1957)

A helicopter carrying a pilot (William Reynolds) and three passengers: a naval commander (Jock Mahoney), a journalist (Shirley Patterson, billed as Shawn Smith) and a machinist (Phil Harvey) is surveying Antarctica when the helicopter is forced down by bad weather. What they discover is a tropical landscape with creatures from the prehistoric era. Directed by Virgil Vogel (THE MOLE PEOPLE), this sci-fi adventure B movie is shot in B&W CinemaScope. It's a pity it was shot in B&W (due to budget constraints) because its production design and art direction are the real stars of the movie and in color, it would have looked spectacular. The acting is usually negligible in movies like this but even so, Mahoney's performance would make an oak tree look like Brando! It's not a terrible movie by any means but it's routine and predictable. Some of the special effects are quite decent but it still has men in dinosaur suits walking around. With Douglas Kennedy and in the film's best performance, Henry Brandon as the lone survivor of a previous expedition who has descended into a neanderthal.