Dinosaurs; Books for Young Explorers, 1972 by Kathryn Jackson
Photo Credit: Paul Cianfaglione
https://avianmusing.blogspot.com/
|
What set this
book apart from the other dinosaur books at the time was the true-to-life artwork,
in particular, the Tyrannosaurus Rex-Triceratops bloody clash (also featured on cover art) in an open
savannah landscape.
Artist Jay H. Matternes captures the moment beautifully, combining detailed paleoart with accurate landscape interpretations.
This had me
yearning to rediscover other long forgotten artforms; the type I prefer which mixes
both prehistoric realism and moving scenery.
I found just
that in the 1969 movie, The Valley of Gwangi.
![]() |
The Valley of Gwangi 1969 Movie
Photo Credit: Paul Cianfaglione
https://avianmusing.blogspot.com/
|
The plot is best
summarized here at the website “TV Tropes”.
Cowboys versus
dinosaurs!
The Valley of
Gwangi is a 1969 American film about cowboys fighting an Allosaur (not a Tyrannosaur,
though it is often mistaken for one). The film is known for its Stop Motion
Animation creature effects provided by Ray Harryhausen.
The idea had
already been done years earlier in the movie The Beast of Hollow Mountain but
"Gwangi" is the better known of the two. 'Gwangi' was originally
conceived by Willis O'Brien, the man who did the special effects for King Kong
(1933).
Sometime near
the turn of the century, a cowgirl named T.J. hosts a traveling rodeo show,
currently parked near a desert town. Her former fiancé, cowboy "Tuck"
Kirby, wants to buy her out, but T.J. has hopes that her latest discovery -a
tiny horse- will boost attendance to the show. A British paleontologist named
Bromley declares the creature to be an Eohippus, a prehistoric horse.
The horse came
from an area known as "The Forbidden Valley". A gypsy woman claims
that it should be returned or they will all suffer the wrath of a being she
calls "Gwangi". Later Bromley helps a group of gypsies steal the
horse, (he hopes to follow it to its home). Tuck, T. J. and several of their
cowboy helpers set out to recover it, and follow them into the valley.
It turns out the
valley is a Lost World that has a variety of prehistoric creatures including a
Pteranodon that attacks them, but the cowboys kill it. They are then attacked
by the titular Allosaur. Gwangi battles a styracosaur and wins. The cowboys try
to capture the monster by lassoing it around the neck and pulling it down with
several horses. However, they only succeed when Gwangi knocks itself out while
pursuing them.
The cowboys take
it back to the town where it is to be put on display in T.J.'s show. However,
on the opening night one of the Gypsies sneaks in and begins to unlock Gwangi's
cage in an effort to free it. He gets killed for his troubles, and Gwangi
escapes, killing Bromley and a circus elephant in the process.
Eventually
Gwangi, Tuck, T.J and a Mexican boy named Lope end up in a cathedral which
catches on fire. They (the humans, that is) manage to escape and lock the door
behind them, trapping Gwangi in the burning building which then crumbles around
it. The movie ends as everyone watches Gwangi die (end of TV Tropes summary).
Yes, the story
is a bit silly, but you have to respect the writer William Bast for “Gwangi’s”
original narrative! I still love watching this movie!
The Valley of
Gwangi is a cinematic work of art, well ahead of its day in realistic
dinosaurian depiction.
We can thank Raymond
Harryhausen (June 29, 1920 – May 7, 2013) for creating these visual effects,
the form of stop-motion model animation known as "Dynamation".
The 1969 release
of the movie also included an accompanying comic book published by the Dell Company.
With its movie poster cover, and illustrations by Jack Sparling, the comic is a
must-have for any dinosaur enthusiast.
The Valley of Gwangi Comic Book; 1969
Photo Credit: Paul Cianfaglione
https://avianmusing.blogspot.com/
|
In a well-known
scene from the movie, a group of cowboys on horseback chase after a small
theropod called Ornithomimus, hoping to lasso and capture it for their western
show.
![]() |
The Valley of Gwangi Ornithomimus from 1969 movie
https://avianmusing.blogspot.com/
|
A close
examination of the supposed Ornithomimus reveals what appears to be a tuft of feathers
on the animal’s head. How could that be? In 1969? I thought to myself; this
must be an innocent mistake, a slip of the artists brush.
The Valley of Gwangi 1969 comic Ornithomimus depiction
Photo Credit: Paul Cianfaglione
https://avianmusing.blogspot.com/
|
The Valley of Gwangi 1969 comic Ornithomimus depiction
Photo Credit: Paul Cianfaglione
https://avianmusing.blogspot.com/
|
Yet, on the next
page we see the same Ornithomimus, again with a feather tuft and now teeth (Ornithomimus
was toothless), meeting its sudden demise at the hands of an angry Gwangi.
Did Jack
Sparling accidentally
replace the movie Ornithomimus with another
theropod dinosaur? Or was this mistake intentional?
The Valley of Gwangi 1969 comic Ornithomimus depiction
Photo Credit: Paul Cianfaglione
https://avianmusing.blogspot.com/
|
The Valley of Gwangi 1969 comic Ornithomimus depiction
Photo Credit: Paul Cianfaglione
https://avianmusing.blogspot.com/
|
Could Sparling be
the first person (intentional or not) to ever illustrate a non-avialan dinosaur
with feathers? It’s a strong possibility.
To confirm this,
we need to visit Matthew Martyniuk’s excellent blog, and his article; “The
First Feathered Dinosaurs (In Art)”, May, 2016.
It is here where
Martyniuk offers a number of earlier images of feathered dinosaurs, including
an eerily similar 1975 restoration of “Syntarsus” by Sarah B. Landry. Was the
1969 Gwangi comic Ornithomimus the inspiration behind Landry’s Syntarsus artwork??
![]() |
Syntarsus by Sarah B. Landry, 1975
Image Credit: dinogoss blogspot
https://avianmusing.blogspot.com/
|
[In 1975, a
famous feathered dinosaur illustration of a well-known species was provided by
Sarah B. Landry, drawn under the direction of Bob Bakker for his seminal
article in Scientific American, "The Dinosaur Renaissance." Landry
and Bakker depicted the small theropod "Syntarsus" (=Coelophysis)
covered in overlapping feather-like scales or scale-like feathers, similar to
Heilmann's "proavis", and a long tuft of feathers on the head. The
choice of species was not a coincidence. Michael Raath, who had described
Syntarsus in 1969 (the same year as Deinonychus), was quick to tout how
bird-like it was in popular books and articles, and he suggested several times
that it may have been feathered.
To understand
the impact of this "first" feathered dinosaur, just look at the rest
of the 1970s and early 1980s. It was Syntarsus, not Deinonychus, which was
consistently drawn with feathers from then on. Many of these later
reconstructions even directly copied Bakker and Landry's style of feather crest
(or slightly modified it), making "Syntarsus with feather crest" a
bona fide paleoart meme.]
One of Martyniuk’s
favorite derivatives of Landry's Syntarsus illustration is one made in 1976 by
William Stout and reproduced in Don Glut's 1982 edition of The New Dinosaur
Dictionary.
![]() |
Syntarsus by William Stout, 1976
Image Credit: dinogoss blogspot
https://avianmusing.blogspot.com/
|
Or, did Sparling
pick up on Michael Raath’s description of Syntarsus in 1969, creating a controversial,
cutting-edge depiction?
After seeing
Landry and Stouts Syntarsus artwork, I find it unbelievable that no one has ever
acknowledged Sparling’s mysterious “tufted and toothed” theropod six-years
earlier.
One thing is
absolutely clear here, the 1969 Gwangi comic did not illustrate the movie
version of Ornithomimus.
No comments :
Post a Comment