Legend of Loch Ness (1976) User Reviews

Worth a look but seriously flawed in many ways

[BruceCorneil · 5/10 · 7 March 2003]

Documentary which traces the on-going attempts to solve the mysteries of Scotland's famous Loch Ness. Chugs along quite nicely in the early stages but quickly wanders off and starts to talk about lizards in Asia and various other things which have absolutely nothing to do with Nessie.

A long and extremely boring interview with some sort of 'professor type' in L.A about fossilized fish successfully reduces the pace of the whole thing to that of a funeral procession.

At the end, the producers try valiantly to go out on a high note by showing us a 'startling piece of film' which we're expected to believe is THE 'Monster' swimming across the lens of a submerged movie camera. It is, in fact, an eel which is obviously just below the surface of the water. Look closely at the top left hand corner of the screen and you'll see a member of the camera crew standing in a boat.

Still, there are a few interesting bits 'n pieces along the way. Worth a look if you're fond of the legend but seriously flawed in many ways.

Stay away

[CobraMist · 1/10 · 8 December 2019]

This documentary follows the history of the Nessie legend from it's early days in Medieval Scotland to the 1970's. While plenty of fun stories are told (priests trying to excise the monster, a piano player tries to lure it with his music, etc) this movie is very difficult to get through.

There is very little production value behind this flick. Rarely do they ever play any music and their use of art/pictures is pretty minimal. Instead you get to listen to the narrator drone on as helicopter shots of Scotland fly before your eyes. The narration is far below the high quality set by many pseudo-science docs released in the 70's. He is no Orson Welles, Vincent Price, Rod Sterling, William Shatner, or Leonard Nemoy.

The script is pretty abysmal as it has numerous references to some special "diver shot footage" that "may" show the monster. It also meanders into numerous musings as to what kind of creature it could be and cycles through possibilities at almost random.

But the worst parts of this documentary are easily the interviews with the "L.A. professor". The "professor" is supposedly an expert in aquatic animals but he comes off like a stoned friend of the director. In what looks like a museum (this "professor" couldn't find a better location that he had access to?) drones on about the possibilities of the Loch Ness monster. This isn't in the form of a lecture but in the form of a stilted, poorly paced, conversation with the narrator.

If you like pseudo-science documentaries from the 70's because of their kooky ideas or their fun moog music then you have almost no reason to watch this movie. If you want an honest look at the Loch Ness monster, just have a cheap TTS program read the wikipedia entry to you. It'll be not only more informative but more entertaining.