One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing | |
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 One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing film poster |
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| Directed by | Robert Stevenson |
| Produced by | Bill Walsh |
| Written by | David Forrest (novel) Bill Walsh |
| Starring | Peter Ustinov Helen Hayes Clive Revill Derek Nimmo Joan Sims Bernard Bresslaw Natasha Pyne Roy Kinnear Joss Ackland Deryck Guyler Jon Pertwee |
| Music by | Ron Goodwin |
| Cinematography | Paul Beeson |
| Editing by | Peter Boita |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney |
| Release date(s) | 1975 |
| Running time | 100 min. |
| Country | United Kingdom United States |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing is a 1975 British comedy film, which is set in the early 1920s, about the theft of a dinosaur skeleton from the Natural History Museum. The film was produced by Disney. The title is a parody of the film title One of Our Aircraft is Missing. The film was based on the 1970 novel "The Great Dinosaur Robbery" by "David Forrest" (pseudonym of David Eliades & Robert Forrest Webb).
Tagline: A Funky Fossil Frolic! This six-ton bag of bones is the target of a world-wide search.
[edit] Plot
Escaping from China with a microfilm of the formula for the mysterious "Lotus X", Lord Southmere is chased by a group of Chinese spies.
Back in London, Lord Southmere manages to escape from a taxi driver who is trying to kidnap him, and then runs into the Natural History Museum. Chinese spies have followed him into the museum, so he hides the microfilm in the bones of one of the large dinosaur skeletons. Losing his balance, he falls to the floor. Feeling faint, he is relieved to find that his former nanny, Hettie, is also in the museum, and he asks her to retrieve the microfilm before the Chinese spies can find it, commenting that he hid it in the skeleton of a large dinosaur. Lord Southmere then faints, leading to his capture by the Chinese spies, who tell Hettie and Emily (another nanny) that they are taking Lord Southmere to a doctor for medical assistance.
Hettie and Emily enlist other nannies to help them in their search for the microfilm. The nannies hide in the museum, in the mouth of the blue whale, until after closing time, and then begin their search. They are unsuccessful, and most have to return home to care for their children, but Hettie, Emily and their friend Susan (another nanny) remain to continue with the search. Unfortunately they are captured by the Chinese spies, who have been watching them, and they are taken to the spies' London headquarters, underneath a Chinese restaurant in Soho. The nannies are locked up in the 'dungeon', with Lord Southmere. Fortunately, the nannies out-wit their captors and escape, and start planning how they can retrieve the microfilm.
Meanwhile, the Chinese spies have decided to steal the dinosaur, so they can search it properly themselves. That night, they return to the museum in convoy and trick their way in. The three nannies follow on a motorbike and sidecar and at the museum gates watch proceedings from the shadows. When the Chinese have safely loaded the very large dinosaur skeleton on the back of the steam lorry brought along for the purpose, the nannies seize the initiative and drive the lorry away into the thick London fog.
Here begins the memorable chase sequence. The nannies drive through the foggy streets of London, to the stunned disbelief of everyone catching a glimpse of the strange apparition. The spies give chase in their charabanc and a Daimler limousine, and nearly apprehend the nannies. But the steam lorry veers through a fence into a railway goods yard, drives onto a flat wagon at the back of a train, and is immediately carried off to the countryside and safety.
Now having time to search more thoroughly, the nannies still fail to find the microfilm on the skeleton. Hettie decides to return to London to ask Lord Southmere again where he had hidden the microfilm. Meanwhile, back in London, Hettie's two young charges, Lord Castleberry and his younger brother, Truscott, have been captured by the spies. They are taken to the museum and the chief spy retrieves the microfilm from the other large dinosaur. The two boys are allowed home and tell Nanny Hettie the news. Realising that Lord Southmere is now in danger, Hettie organises a rescue. Hettie and her team of nannies invade the Chinese restaurant base and battle with the spies to recover Lord Southmere. Meanwhile, Emily and Susan return with the dinosaur and the lorry and bring the fight sequence to a shattering conclusion. Everything, however, ends well and the secret of the mysterious "Lotus X" is finally revealed.
[edit] Cast
(in order of appearance)
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[edit] External links
- One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing at the Internet Movie Database
- One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing - Time Out Film
- One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing - Movie Poster
