One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing

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{{Infobox film

| name = One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing

| image = one_of_our_dinosaurs_is_missing_movie_poster.jpg

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = Robert Stevenson

| writer = Bill Walsh

| based_on = The Great Dinosaur Robbery by {{nowrap|David Forrest}}

| producer = Bill Walsh

| starring = Peter Ustinov
Helen Hayes
Clive Revill
Derek Nimmo

| cinematography = Paul Beeson

| editing = Peter Boita

| music = Ron Goodwin

| studio = Walt Disney Productions

| distributor = Buena Vista Distribution

| released = {{Film date|1975|7|9}}

| runtime = 100 minutes

| country = United Kingdom
United States

| language = English

| budget =

| gross = $5.5 million (North American rentals)"All-time Film Rental Champs", Variety, 7 January 1976 p 46

}}

One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing is a 1975 comedy film set in the early 1920s, about the theft of a dinosaur skeleton from the Natural History Museum. The film was produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution Company. The title is a parody of the film title One of Our Aircraft Is Missing, in which both Peter Ustinov and Hugh Burden also appeared. The film was based on the 1970 novel The Great Dinosaur Robbery by David Forrest (pseudonym of David Eliades and Robert Forrest Webb). It was the last work of producer and screenwriter Bill Walsh before his death on January 27, 1975, almost six months before the film's release.Bill Walsh, 61, Movie Writer, Producer, Dies

Los Angeles Times 28 Jan 1975: a19.

Plot

Escaping from China with a microfilm of the formula for the mysterious "Lotus X", Lord Edward Southmere, a King's Messenger, is chased by a group of Chinese spies.

Back in London, Lord Southmere runs into the Natural History Museum and hides the microfilm in the bones of a large dinosaur skeleton. The spies decide to steal the dinosaur, so they can search it properly, and load the Brontosaurus skeleton on the back of their steam lorry. Some nannies steal the vehicle, which they drive through the foggy streets of London before being carried off to safety on a flat wagon at the back of a train.

The spies eventually find the microfilm at the museum inside the bones of another large dinosaur skeleton, and all misunderstanding is set aside, with good results for all.

Cast

Derek Nimmo as Lord Southmere
Hugh Burden as Haines
Bernard Bresslaw as Fan Choy
Helen Hayes as Hettie
Joan Sims as Emily
Deryck Guyler as Harris
Peter Ustinov as Hnup Wan
Clive Revill as Quon
Molly Weir as Scots nanny
Andrew Dove as Lord Castleberry
Max Harris as Truscott
Max Wall as Juggler
Natasha Pyne as Susan
Joss Ackland as B.J. Spence
Arthur Howard as Thumley
Roy Kinnear as Superintendent Grubbs
Leonard Trolley as Inspector Eppers
Joe Ritchie as Cabbie

Percy Herbert as Mr. Gibbons
Joan Hickson as Mrs. Gibbons
John Laurie as Jock
Angus Lennie as Hamish
Jon Pertwee as Colonel
Kathleen Byron as Colonel's wife
Lucy Griffiths as Amelia
Aimée Delamain as Millicent
John Bardon as Bookmaker
Jane Lapotaire as Miss Prescott
Richard Pearson as Sir Geoffrey
Michael Elwyn as Haycock
Anthony Sharp as Home Secretary
Wensley Pithey as Bromley
Frank Williams as Dr. Freemo
Peter Madden as Sanders
Erik Chitty as Museum guard
Amanda Barrie as Mrs. B.J. Spence

Source material

The book on which the film was based, The Great Dinosaur Robbery, was aimed at an adult audience by its authors, Robert Forrest Webb and David Eliades, and was set in New York. The authors, both very experienced UK national journalists and best-selling authors, extensively researched material in New York and were greatly assisted by the American Museum of Natural History, and by the New York Police Department responsible for that area. The authors were disappointed that the humour of the film was aimed at a very much younger audience than that in the book, which had been published, in several languages, extremely successfully throughout Europe and also in Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S.

Production

=Filming=

The film was shot on location in England at Elstree Studios and Pinewood Studios. Additional filming took place at London Zoo, the Natural History Museum, and around Windsor and Holyport Green, Maidenhead.[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075016/locations One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing - Filming Locations www.imdb.com] While One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing was in production, Bresslaw and Sims also appeared in Carry On Behind, another film being made concurrently at Pinewood Studios.

Ustinov, Revill, and Bresslaw—all white actors—performed in yellowface makeup to portray Chinese characters in the film.{{cite book|last=Wong|first=Eugene Franklin|year=1990|title=On Visual Media Racism: Asians in the American Motion Pictures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d1WGAAAAIAAJ|publisher=University of Denver|page=206|quote=The third film, produced by Disney's BuenaVista, One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing (1975), retained the practice of using white males in racist cosmetics in order to portray Asian males, particularly on the major role level. In addition, the Asian characters, in this case Chinese, were depicted as vicious and unscrupulous persons not above murder to achieve their demonic goals.}}{{cite book|last1=Ono|first1=Kent A.|last2=Pham|first2=Vincent N.|year=2008|title=Asian Americans and the Media: Media and Minorities|publisher=Polity|isbn=978-0745642741}}

=Special effects=

The special photographic effects for One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing were handled by British special effects artist John Stears. The steam lorry used in the film was a mockup, with the mocked up boiler smaller than that on a real steam lorry.{{cite book |last=Coulls|first=Anthony|date=2020|title=Steam Lorries|publisher=Amberley|page=58|isbn=9781445698502}} The Diplodocus skeleton model featured in the film was later used in Star Wars (1977), in the opening scenes in the Tunisian desert.{{Cite web |last=Bell |first=Chris |date=2015-12-07 |title=Unions, eccentrics and alcohol: the Brits who built Star Wars |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/star-wars-the-force-awakens/george-lucas-elstree-making-of-original-trilogy/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151207214415/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/star-wars-the-force-awakens/george-lucas-elstree-making-of-original-trilogy/ |archive-date=2015-12-07 |access-date=2022-07-10 |website=The Telegraph}}

= Home media =

One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing has been released on VHS and DVD. The DVD last physical format release was in the UK on April 12th, 2004https://www.blu-ray.com/One-of-Our-Dinosaurs-Is-Missing/153201/#Releases

The film is absent from streaming on Disney+.

References

External links

{{Official website|http://movies.disney.com/one-of-our-dinosaurs-is-missing}}
{{IMDb title|0075016}}
{{TCMDb title|85733|One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing}}
[http://www.timeout.com/film/66089.html One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing] - Time Out Film

Category:1970s comedy mystery films

Category:1975 films

Category:1975 children's films

Category:American comedy mystery films

Category:British comedy mystery films

Category:Films about dinosaurs

Category:1970s English-language films

Category:Films based on British novels

Category:Films directed by Robert Stevenson

Category:Films produced by Bill Walsh (producer)

Category:Films scored by Ron Goodwin

Category:Films set in England