Main Cast: Peter Ustinov, Helen Hayes, Clive Revill, Derek Nimmo, Joan Sims
Release Year: 1975
Country: UK
Run Time: 93 minutes
Plot
In this comical Disney espionage adventure, a herd of nannies team up with Scotland Yard and set off to find important microfilm that was concealed, by a wicked Chinese spy, within the skeleton of a dinosaur that now sits in the British Natural History Museum ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Review
A tremendously silly piece of fluff, One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing would seem to be one of the cases where an author thought up a catchy title and the struggled to find a plot to build around it. Certainly the plot of Dinosaurs doesn't feel particularly well put together, with plenty of extraneous sequences and with the "real" plot simply too loose. The dialogue is also not exactly on the winning team, although one doesn't really expect brilliant conversation in most children's films. Children will probably like Dinosaurs, as they'll laugh at the pratfalls and the silliness of it all and not worry about its sometimes-incoherence and dull dialogue. The cast is good, at least, which does help quite a bit. Peter Ustinov's performance is grossly over the top (and probably offensive to many), but it's undeniably lively and strange enough to be entertaining. Helen Hayes and Joan Sims are a delight, and Clive Revill adds a special little flavor to the proceedings. Director Robert Stevenson has done far better work elsewhere, but he certainly keeps it all moving along and handles it professionally, if without a great deal of inspiration. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Michael Stringer - Art Director, Anthony Mendleson - Costume Designer, Dickie Bamber - First Assistant Director, Robert Stevenson - Director, Hugh Scaife - Editor, Ron Goodwin - Composer (Music Score), Paul Beeson - Cinematographer, Bill Walsh - Producer, Ken Barker - Sound/Sound Designer, Danny Daniel - Sound/Sound Designer, Vic Armstrong - Stunts, Bill Walsh - Screenwriter, David Forrest - Book Author
Escaping from China with a microfilm of the formula for the mysterious "Lotus X", Lord Southmere, a Queen's Messenger, 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 follow him, so he hides the microfilm in the bones of one of the large dinosaur skeletons. He is relieved to meet his former nanny, Hettie, in the museum, and asks her to retrieve the microfilm. Southmere then faints and is captured by the Chinese, who tell Hettie and Emily (another nanny) that they are taking him to a doctor.
Hettie and Emily enlist other nannies to help them search. They hide in the mouth of the blue whale display until after closing time and then begin looking. They are unsuccessful, and most have to return home to care for their children, but Hettie, Emily and their friend Susan remain to continue with the search. They are captured and 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 are able to outwit their captors and escape.
Meanwhile, the spies have decided to steal the dinosaur, so they can search it properly. That night, they trick their way into the museum. The three nannies follow on a motorbike and sidecar and watch from the shadows. After the Chinese load the very large skeleton on the back of their steam lorry, the nannies steal the vehicle. The spies give chase through the foggy streets of London in their charabanc and a Daimler limousine, but the nannies drive into a railway goods yard, onto a flat wagon at the back of a train, and are carried off to safety.
The nannies fail to find the microfilm on the skeleton. 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 over Lord Southmere. Meanwhile, Emily and Susan return with the dinosaur and the lorry and bring the fight sequence to a shattering conclusion. Everything ends well and the secret of the mysterious "Lotus X" is finally revealed.
The book from which the film was taken, 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 Natural History Museum which is situated alongside Central Park, 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 USA.
Frank Williams and John Laurie, who both made cameo appearances in this film, were regular castmembers of the popular sitcom Dad's Army, which was touring with a live stage-show at the time of the film's release.
The Natural History Museum's Blue Whale model which features (as a prop) in the film was not actually built until 1938, several years after the film is set. Also, the whale depicted has an open mouth full of teeth, unlike the baleen plates of a real Blue Whale.
