The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy

With the 2021 blockbuster of "Godzilla vs. Kong," it doesn't seem the art form has matured much in the 100-plus years since this stop-motion animated split-reeler, with a title that almost takes as long to read as it does to see the film, "The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy." Despite its title, this is a quasi-comedic experimental piece of stop-motion animation from Willis O'Brien, the same guy behind the effects in "King Kong" (1933), as well as "The Lost World" (1925) and "Mighty Joe Young" (1949), among other things. How appropriate then that the brief narrative climaxes with a dinosaur making quick work of killing the ape-looking so-called "missing link." The joke, then, being that mankind, or cave men in this case, pretends afterwards that they had anything to do with this prehistoric battle of monsters.

I'm also now wondering whether the origins of Godzilla and King Kong rest on a phallic metaphor--what with this title card setting up the fight: "Wild Willie decides to go down to the stream and catch a few snakes for his dinner." Unfortunately for the gorilla-like Willie, he bites off more than he can chew in the long-necked dinosaur.

Dinosaur and the Missing Link, The (1915)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Edison short running five minutes from Willis O'Brien who would later go onto create The Lost World and King Kong. In this film, three cavemen are trying to win the affections of a woman but she will pick the winner from whoever kills a missing link that is terrorizing them. The winner eventually gets the girl but in fact he had some help from a dinosaur. This is a very entertaining and fun short even though it really can't compare to D.W. Griffith's two prehistoric films, Man's Genesis and Brute Force. The claymation effects here are very well done and I really loved the look of the missing link and the cavemen. The highlight of the film is a scene where the missing link is eating the guts out of a dead animal and this is a scene you have to see for yourself just to believe. The dinosaur is actually the weakest thing in the movie but it doesn't take away from any of the fun.

Way before Willis H. O'Brien put the king in Kong, this marble sculptor created with the help of a local news cameraman his first film, "The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy," in April 1915. He used claymation with stop-motion to tell the story of a caveman, in love with a cave woman, and his attempt to prove his worth to her in a dishonest way by claiming to kill the missing link.

O'Brien, who had run away from home at 11 to take a variety of jobs, including a ranch hand, a cowboy, and a professional boxer, gravitated towards the arts by taking up marble sculpturing while serving as an assistant to the head architect to 1915's San Francisco's World's Fair. Fascinated by dinosaurs, he tinkered around with clay models at that time. He created, with the assistance of a cameraman, a six-minute claymation film, complete with human and animal movements.

His creativeness he displayed in the clip was unique in that, while claymation animation was seen in movies in the past, O'Brien's film was entirely composited of clay figures and typography.

He followed up his "Missing Link" film a year later with 1916's "Prehistoric Poultry." Although half the length as his debut experimental movie, "Pountry" shows a deeper sophistication in movement of his characters. Both of O'Brien's movies were shown to friends and other animated lovers in private settings.

Thomas Edison was shown O'Brien's clips and was impressed by his technological advancements on screen. He had his company hire him to produce a series of dinosaur animated films for young viewers. The Edison Company released his two movies in 1917, which were followed up by several other originals. O'Brien's work in the next decades would both amaze and scare audences worldwide, including his work on 1933's "King Kong," his most famous film.

This film is a 1910s version of what would today be called Claymation. It features dinosaurs, apes, and caveman. It is worthy of mention as it was one of the first films made by the legendary Willis O'Brien, who would later do the special effects for "The Lost World" and "King Kong". O'Brien's clay animation in "Missing Link" is certainly not as good as his work in later films(which featured far more advanced models). However, as this was one of the first films with stop-motion animation, it was a pioneering work for O'Brien, and for the film industry in general. It was probably not the first film to use stop motion animation, but it may well be the first dinosaur movie to have done so. These historical notes will make it worth seeing for some people, in particular those interested in film history.

Its amazing to see what O'Brien was able to create so early on in the history of film. The motion picture camera was barely new and he made such a groundbreaking piece of work with it. Every stop-motion lover or animator should see this film, its truly fantastic for its time. I had just seen a preview of this on the King Kong DVD and to actually see it is a joy. Its a shame that no video documentation on his techniques could have been made, I guess we just have to figure things out for ourselves. Its kind of surreal to watch with technology today what was shot on such crude and primitive equipment in the early 1900's, but hopefully this means we will be able to enjoy pioneers in stop motion like O'Brien's work for years to come.