An uncharted island in the South Pacific! Filled with monsters! Dinosaurs! A huge ape! Okay, not an ape...but a giant...sloth! Let's just go with that...it does have fangs. No Fay Wray in this one but the rose among the thorns in this "King Kong" rip-off is the sultry Virginia Grey. She well be beset by all sorts of huge lizard type creatures, T-Rex beasts, and of course the sloth. Really, the sloth really is terrifying. Hunks abound to save her including the fellow from "Creature from the Black Lagoon," Richard Denning. Yep, this one is in color, quite a feat for 1948. Let us look at the dinosaur film "Unknown Island," directed by Jack Bernhard.
At a dive bar in Singapore, Carole (Grey) and her fiancé Ted (Phillip Reed) enter to find a captain to bring them to an uncharted island in the Pacific. During the war Ted, blown off course, saw a small island teeming with dinosaurs. He wants to go there, photograph them, and bring some back. A fortune awaits if he is successful. The sultry Carole is financing the expedition and Captain Tarnowski (Barton MacLane) agrees. Oh, Tarnowski insists that the seemingly insane drunk, Fairbanks (Denning) join them. See, Fairbanks has been on the island but no one believed his stories of big dinosaurs who ate all his mates. Now the happy party set sail, deal with mutineers, but finally get to the uncharted island.
They see dinosaurs right away from the ship and take a launch to it. Fairbanks goes only because he is sweet on Carole. Ted gets obsessed with his pictures and discoveries and does not see his fiancé is being stolen from him. The T-Rex things attack and eat some of the crew members. So do other dinosaurs. Then, through the jungle brush, a hairy beast emerges...the fanged sloth. In peril, Ted, Tarnowski, and Fairbanks agree they need to flee the island...but this won't be easy. Their launch is stolen by scared and soon to be dead crewmen, and their supplies are ruined. Now, Carole wanders away from the men and finds herself in more mortal peril.
Rubber suits and puppets make up our monsters in this one. This thrilled a 1948 audience and will thrill a 2026 audience, too...but for more nostalgic reasons. Exciting and with a lot of dinosaur action, this rip-off of "King King" is much better than any of the "King King" remakes. Also, however sultry Fay Wray is, Virginia Grey is just as much of a babe. For some roaring good fun, see "Unknown Island."
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