The Animal World (1956)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Irwin Allen

Writer:

Irwin Allen (writer)

Release Date:

24 January 1958 (Finland)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

2 Billion Years in the Making!

Plot:

A documentary showcasing the world's many different animal species, both past and present. |

Plot Keywords:

Animal | Museum | Stegosaurus | Nature | Stop Motion

Cast

John Storm	...	Narrator
Theodore von Eltz	...	Narrator

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-12 | West Germany:6

Company:

Irwin Allen Productions

Movie Connections:

Featured in Trog (1970)

The movie that showed us what 1960's "The Lost World" SHOULD have looked like!

Even though this film isn't science fiction, it is a glorious presentation of scientific speculation in the grand tradition of Disney's True Life Adventures (many of which it predated). And for millions of science fiction fans who love movies about dinosaurs, this is the film that demonstrates what 20th Century Fox's 1960 version of `The Lost World' SHOULD have looked like. Ironically, both films were produced and directed by Irwin Allen!

Two years earlier, Allen won an Academy Award for his documentary-style study of ocean life called `The Sea Around Us'. So, Allen decided to do a film about all animal life on planet Earth. Ray Harryhausen and Willis O'Brien provided the brilliant animation for a segment of `Animal World' dealing with prehistoric life. In it, we see dinosaurs walking, eating, fighting, and even laying eggs, including the hatching of a baby brontosaurus -- pink, slick, wet, and cute as a button. The stop-motion animation models in `Animal World' are highly detailed, and their prehistoric environment is beautifully designed (a table-top landscape with painted backdrops showing spectacular mountains in the background).

Dinosaur enthusiasts (and animation fans) can still purchase the excellent ViewMaster set which offers 3-D pictures of the dinosaurs.

Sadly, Ray Harryhausen stated during a 1981 lecture series he did to promote "Clash of the Titans" that there were no existing prints of the `Animal World', because they had all been cut up for the various wildlife scenes. This is very unfortunate, because the film as whole was extremely entertaining. Oh, well . . .