NON-TERRIBLE LIZARDS

 

The Animal World is a 1956 documentary directed by 'the Master of Disaster', director and producer Irwin Allen. After a brief look at amoebas and protozoa, there's a ten minute stop-motion sequence about dinosaurs put together by King Kong man Willis O'Brien and all-round special effects genius Ray Harryhausen. 

This kind of animation can look a bit quaint now, but I'm still able to connect to how thrilling it would have been to watch back when I was less jaded and CGI was the stuff of science fiction. The dinosaurs here are menacing, violent,  rheumy eyed and slobbery: they look tired, desperate, hungry and under pressure. 

I'm 57 years old, but I still have a favourite dinosaur, the Triceratops. I really love those guys.

UP THERE, UPTOWN

It apparently took Francis Thompson twenty years to perfect the lenses needed to realise his kaleidoscopic vision of Manhattan, but the result, N.Y, N.Y (1956), shows it was time well spent. I was in New York in April, I can't wait to get back there.