Valley of the Dragons * (1961, Cesare Danova, Sean McClory, Joan Staley) – Classic Movie Review 6597

Spacemen versus prehistoric monsters – that should be good then, but no! Writer-director Edward Bernds’s 1961 sci-fi fantasy adventure thriller Valley of the Dragons is a silly, cheap and unconvincing version of Jules Verne’s novel Off on a Comet.

It has a new screen story by Donald Zimbalist, in which the comet takes on duelling 19th-century blokes Hector Servadac and Michael Denning (played by Cesare Danova and Sean McClory), transports them to the moon and dumps them in a prehistoric jungle landscape where tiny lizards with cardboard fins stand in for special-effect giant dragons. During the comet’s approach to Algeria in 1881, you can see the string it is suspended from!

Despite the dangers they face on the moon jungle, the men find young women (Joan Staley as Deena and Danielle De Metz as Nateeta) to pass the time with, awaiting a passing comet to take them home. ‘It’s amazing how a Frenchman always finds a woman,’ complains Denning.

‘Mastodons! Dinosaurs! Flying reptiles! Humankind makes its last stand!’ It sounds great, doesn’t it? But don’t be fooled by the adverts. Valley of the Dragons is generally pathetic and risibly useless, though it certainly might be good for lots of late-night laughs at its expense.

Also in the cast are Gregg Martell as Od-Loo, Gil Perkins, I Stanford Jolley, Mike Lane, Roger Til, Mark Dempsey, Jerry Sunshine, Dolly Grey and Chester Hayes.

Valley of the Dragons is shot in black and white by Brydon Baker, produced for Columbia Pictures by Al Zimbalist and Byron Roberts, scored by Rudy Raksin and designed by Don Ament.

It re-uses stock footage from One Million BC (1940) and Rodan (1956).

The misleading advert says it is filmed in Monstascope but, though the film is wider than usual, it is not quite a CinemaScope format.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6597

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