One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing is a 1975 British comedy film, which is set in the early 1920s, about the theft of a
dinosaurDinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
skeletonThe skeleton is the body part that forms the supporting structure of an organism. There are two different skeletal types: the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, and the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside the body.In a figurative sense, skeleton can...
from the
Natural History MuseumThe Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
. 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 MissingOne of Our Aircraft is Missing is a 1942 British war film, the fourth collaboration between the British writer-director-producer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger and the first film they made under the banner of The Archers...
. The film was based on the 1970 novel
The Great Dinosaur RobberyThe Great Dinosaur Robbery is a now out-of-print book released in 1970 and written by David Eliades and Robert Forrest Webb under the pseudonym of David Forrest...
by David Forrest (
pseudonymA pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of David Eliades and Robert Forrest Webb).
Plot
Escaping from China with a microfilm of the formula for the mysterious "Lotus X", Lord Southmere, a
Queen's MessengerThe Corps of Queen's Messengers are couriers employed by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. They hand-carry secret and important documents to British embassies and consulates around the world. Many Queen's Messengers are retired Army personnel...
, 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 MuseumThe Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
. 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 whaleThe blue whale is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales . At in length and or more in weight, it is the largest known animal to have ever existed....
display until after closing time and then begin looking over the skeleton of an
ApatosaurusApatosaurus , also known by the popular but scientifically deprecated synonym Brontosaurus, is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived from about 154 to 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period . It was one of the largest land animals that ever existed, with an average length of and a...
. 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
Apatosaurus 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
charabancA charabanc or "char-à-banc" is a type of horse-drawn vehicle or early motor coach, usually open-topped, common in Britain during the early part of the 20th century. It was especially popular for sight-seeing or "works outings" to the country or the seaside, organised by businesses once a year...
and a
DaimlerThe Daimler Motor Company Limited was an independent British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in London by H J Lawson in 1896, which set up its manufacturing base in Coventry. The right to the use of the name Daimler had been purchased simultaneously from Gottlieb Daimler and Daimler Motoren...
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 Castlebury 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, a
DiplodocusDiplodocus , or )is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur whose fossils were first discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, is a Neo-Latin term derived from Greek "double" and "beam", in reference to its double-beamed chevron bones...
skeleton. 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
Apatosaurus 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.
Cast
- Derek Nimmo
Derek Robert Nimmo was an English character actor. He was particularly associated with upper-class "silly-ass" roles, and clerical roles.-Career:...
as Lord Southmere
- Hugh Burden
Hugh Burden was an English actor and playwright.He was the son of a colonial official and was educated at Beaumont College and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and RADA...
as Haines
- Bernard Bresslaw
Bernard Bresslaw was an English actor. He is best remembered for his comedy work, especially as a member of the Carry On team.-Biography:...
as Fan Choy
- Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes Brown was an American actress whose career spanned almost 70 years. She eventually garnered the nickname "First Lady of the American Theatre" and was one of twelve people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award...
as Hettie
- Joan Sims
Joan Sims was an English actress best remembered for her roles in the Carry On films, and latterly for playing Madge Hardcastle in As Time Goes By.-Early life:...
as Emily
- Deryck Guyler
Deryck Guyler was an English actor, best known for his portrayal of officious, short-tempered middle-aged men in sitcoms such as Please Sir! and Sykes.-Early life:...
as Harris
- Peter Ustinov
Peter Alexander Ustinov CBE was an English actor, writer and dramatist. He was also renowned as a filmmaker, theatre and opera director, stage designer, author, screenwriter, comedian, humourist, newspaper and magazine columnist, radio broadcaster and television presenter...
as Hnup Wan
- Clive Revill
Clive Selsby Revill is a New Zealand-born British character actor best known for his performances in musical theatre and on the London stage.-Early life and stage career:...
as Quon
- Molly Weir
Mary Weir, better known as Molly Weir, was a Scottish stage actress, most notable for her role as the long-running character Hazel the McWitch in the BBC TV series Rentaghost. She was the sister of naturalist and broadcaster Tom Weir.Born in Glasgow and brought up in the Springburn area of the...
as Scots nanny
- Andrew Dove as Lord Castleberry
- Max Harris as Truscott
- Max Wall
Max Wall , was an English comedian and actor, whose performing career covered music hall, theatre, films and television.-Early years:...
as Juggler
- Natasha Pyne
Natasha Pyne , is an English actress.Pyne started her career at the Royal Court in a production of John Osbourne's Inadmissible Evidence and followed it in productions at the Lyric and Royal Shakespeare Company. She is best known for her role in the British television sitcom series Father, Dear...
as Susan
- Joss Ackland
Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland CBE , known as Joss Ackland, is an English actor who has appeared in more than 130 films and numerous television roles.-Early life:...
as B.J. Spence
- Arthur Howard
For other people with this name, see Arthur Howard Arthur Howard was an English film and television actor.-Life and career:...
as Thumley
- Roy Kinnear
Roy Mitchell Kinnear was an English character actor. He is best remembered for playing Veruca Salt's father, Mr. Salt, in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.-Early life:...
as Superintendent Grubbs
- Leonard Trolley as Inspector Eppers
- Joe Ritchie as Cabbie
- Percy Herbert
Percy Herbert was an English character actor who often played soldiers, most notably in The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Wild Geese and Tunes of Glory. However, he was equally at home in comedies and science fiction...
as Mr. Gibbons
- Joan Hickson
Joan Hickson OBE was an English actress of theatre, film and television, famed for playing Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series Miss Marple.- Wivenhoe :...
as Mrs. Gibbons
- John Laurie
John Paton Laurie was a British actor born in Dumfries, Scotland. Although he is now probably most recognised for his role as Private James Frazer in the sitcom Dad's Army , he appeared in hundreds of feature films, including films by Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Powell and Laurence Olivier...
as Jock
- Angus Lennie
Angus Lennie is a Scottish actor best known for his film appearance as Steve McQueen's friend Archibald Ives in the 1963 film The Great Escape. He was also known for being in the television soap opera Crossroads....
as Hamish
- Jon Pertwee
John Devon Roland Pertwee , was an English actor. Pertwee is best known for his role in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, in which he played the third incarnation of the Doctor from 1970 to 1974, and as the title character in the series Worzel Gummidge...
as Colonel
- Kathleen Byron
Kathleen Byron was a British actress of stage, screen and television.-Early life:Byron was born Kathleen Elizabeth Fell in West Ham – now in the London Borough of Newham...
as Colonel's wife
- Lucy Griffiths
Lucy Griffiths was a British character actress whose work spanned from the early 1950s through to the early 1980s....
as Amelia
- Aimée Delamain as Millicent
- John Bardon
John Bardon, is an English stage and screen actor. He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award in 1988 as 'Best Actor in a Musical' for Kiss Me, Kate, sharing the award with co-star Emil Wolk.-Acting career:Bardon is best known for playing Jim Branning in the popular British soap opera EastEnders...
as Bookmaker
- Jane Lapotaire
Jane Lapotaire is a British actress.She studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the 1960s. Her role in the title role of Marie Curie first brought her to wide attention...
as Miss Prescott
- Richard Pearson
Richard de Pearsall Pearson was a Welsh actor. Notable films of his career included Brian Desmond Hurst's Scrooge as well as a brief appearance in John Schlesinger's Sunday Bloody Sunday and cameo roles in three films by Roman Polanski: Macbeth , Tess and Pirates...
as Sir Geoffrey
- Michael Elwyn as Haycock
- Anthony Sharp
Anthony Sharp was an English actor cast for roles on television and film principally from the 1950s onwards....
as Home Secretary
- Wensley Pithey
Wensley Pithey was a South African character actor who had a long stage career.Pithey was born in Cape Town, South Africa. A graduate of the University of Cape Town where he studied music and drama, he travelled to England in 1947...
as Bromley
- Frank Williams
Frank Williams is an English actor.Williams was educated at Ardingly College. He starred in The Army Game and as the Vicar in Dad's Army. In 1970, he starred in the short-lived sitcom As Good Cooks Go...
as Dr. Freemo
- Peter Madden
Peter Madden was a British actor who was born in Kuala Lumpur in Malaya.Madden was a character actor who made several notable appearances in Hammer films...
as Sanders
- Erik Chitty
Erik Chitty , was an English film and television actor.-Early life:Chitty was the son of a flour miller. He attended Dover College and Jesus College, Cambridge where he was one of the founders of the Cambridge University Mummers, before training at RADA and becoming a professional actor...
as Museum guard
- Amanda Barrie
Amanda Barrie is an English actress.-Career:Born as Shirley Anne Broadbent, Barrie attended St Anne's College, St Anne's on Sea. She then trained at the Arts Educational School in London and later at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School...
as Mrs. B.J. Spence
About the book
The book from which the film was taken,
The Great Dinosaur RobberyThe Great Dinosaur Robbery is a now out-of-print book released in 1970 and written by David Eliades and Robert Forrest Webb under the pseudonym of David Forrest...
, 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.
Production
- This film was made entirely on location in England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
at Elstree Studios"Elstree Studios" refers to any of several film studios that were based in the towns of Borehamwood and Elstree in Hertfordshire, England, since film production begun in 1927.-Name:...
and Pinewood StudiosPinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately west of central London. The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows to commercials to pop promos.The purchase of Shepperton...
, along with some location shoots around Windsor, BerkshireWindsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....
.
- The Diplodocus skeleton model was later used in Star Wars: A New Hope, in the opening scenes in the Tunisian desert.
External links