Hot Blooded Dinosaur Movies

[H-Man]

I started reading Hot Blooded Dinosaur Movies yesterday. It's basically a collection of dinosaur movie essays/articles, mainly written by James Van Hise (although some articles feature other authors or co-authors). The first article is a essentially a history of the genre from Willis O'Brien's silent shorts until 1993, with Jurassic Park and Carnosaur on the verge of being released. There are articles on both adaptations of The Lost World, King Kong, Godzilla and company, Unmade Willis O'Brien films (you feel sorry for the guy just reading that one), Ray Harryhausen movies, animated dinosaur films, Jurassic Park, Carnosaur, and stop-motion animation.

A few observations:

- Van Hise doesn't like the 70s Edgar Rice Burroughs films because of the low quality of the special FX.

- Van Hise doesn't really care for kaiju films, either. It's pretty clear that he hadn't watched the movies before writing about them, or was depending on unsubstantiated memories, especially when he says that Son of Godzilla was full of child protagonists. Varan the Unbelievable doesn't even get mentioned at all. Anguirus is referred to as "Anzilla" in his remarks about Godzilla vs. Gigan (Ian Thorne did the same thing in his Godzilla book). Van Hise writes that Gamera movies were made by Toho, and neglects to mention that Jiger and Barugon were dinosaurian monsters. The worst offense he commits against the kaiju genre is say that The Beast of 20,000 Fathoms is a film adults can enjoy while Godzilla, King of the Monsters is strictly for the kiddies.

- The article focusing mainly on Godzilla movies was written by another author, who clearly respects the material more than Van Hise, but who commits all sorts of spelling errors with regards to the names. The more fascinating part of his article is where he says that Godzilla isn't so much a metaphor for the A-bomb as he is a metaphor for the hardships Japan endured because of American military occupation and Japan's previous military government.

- Van Hise gives a surprising amount of attention to The Beast from Hollow Mountain, but completely passes up The Land Unknown (it gets mentioned by name only once during his remarks on The Unknown Island).

- This book made me want to see Carnosaur again.

[20th Century Boy]

This book is pretty old, isn't it? If it's the one I'm thinking of, I was flipping through it at a used bookstore a few weeks ago. It contains pretty much all the errors you were talking about, but I found them amusing. The pictures weren't too bad, though.

[UltramanGoji]

Ah, this book. Riddled with errors yet it has a certain charm that makes me want to own it.

Plus, that name...

[Starsteam]

I just got this book in the mail today. Planning on reading it tonight. Can't say I like everything being said.

[H-Man]

I found it fascinating that an entire chapter was dedicated to the 1960 adaptation of the Lost World, and yet Land Unknown is all but passed up. I still want to see that movie (i.e. The Lost World), even though I know I won't like it.

[H-Man]

Big bump, huh? I just got this book on Sunday for $1.25. Total score! So far the book is pretty entertaining despite its multiple errors.

Lucky son of a --. I paid almost R$ 40.00 for this bad boy.

[Starsteam]

I paid 40 cents plus $3.99 shipping. Minor-used condition.

[H-Man]

I paid 40 cents plus $3.99 shipping. Minor-used condition.

...I hate Brazilian vendors.

[H-Man]

Question: the author of the essay/chapter about Godzilla movies is a fellow named Bob Hearn. Is/was Hearn anybody particularly special in the early days of the Godzilla fandom?