The Beast of Hollow Mountain

The Beast of Hollow Mountain
Directed by Edward Nassour
Ismael Rodríguez
Written by Willis O'Brien (as El Toro Estrella)
Robert Hill
Jack DeWitt (dialogue)
Release date(s) 1956
Running time 81 min.
Country USA
Language English

The Beast of Hollow Mountain is a 1956 scifi/horror western about an American cowboy living in Mexico who discovers his missing cattle are being preyed upon by an Allosaurus. The Allosaurus would later attack local villagers in a town.

The first film to show dinosaurs and cowboys in the same picture it is notable for being based on a story idea by special effects innovator Willis O'Brien. It used a form of stop motion called replacement animation to bring the dinosaur to life. O'Brien co wrote the script under the pseudonym El Toro Estrella, O'Brien was also to have originally done the special effects for this movie but this did not happen for reasons unknown.

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Production

The Willis O'Brien story idea that inspired the basis for his script for this film also inspired his earlier unmade script "The Valley of the Mist" which would later be made as The Valley of Gwangi by O'Brien's protégé Ray Harryhausen.

While the bulk of the stop motion work was done with replacement animation the close ups of the dinosaur were filmed using an articulated puppet.

This was the first film with stop motion effects shot in Wide Screen and color.

See also

References

DVD Savant Review by Glenn Erickson, The Lost World (1925) March 31, 2001[1]

External links