You ever go down a rabbit hole of 1970s live-action Disney and end up genuinely confused? That’s basically the vibe of One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing. Released in 1975, it’s this weird, frantic, and honestly problematic slapstick caper that feels like it was beamed in from a different dimension.
If you try to find it on Disney+ today, you’ll notice a big, dinosaur-sized hole in the library. It isn't there.
There’s a reason for that. Or several, actually.
The One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing film is a relic of an era when the studio was scrambling to find its identity after Walt Disney passed away. It’s based on a book called The Great Dinosaur Robbery by David Forrest, though the authors—David Eliades and Robert Forrest Webb—kinda hated what Disney did to their story. They wrote a gritty, adult-oriented thriller set in New York. Disney? They turned it into a foggy London comedy about nannies and microchips.
The Plot: Microdots and Museum Heists
The setup is classic 70s spy-fi. Lord Southmere (played by Derek Nimmo) escapes from China with a secret formula called "Lotus X." He’s being chased by a group of spies who want that microdot back. Desperate, Southmere ducks into the Natural History Museum in London and hides the dot on the skeleton of a Diplodocus.
Then he bumps into his old nanny, Hettie.
Helen Hayes plays Hettie, and she is basically the glue holding this chaotic mess together. She rounds up a literal army of "crimped nannies" to help retrieve the microfilm. What follows is a slow-motion heist where a group of elderly women steal a massive dinosaur skeleton, load it onto a steam lorry, and lead a chase through the streets of London.
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It’s absurd. It’s goofy.
But it’s also the source of some of the most uncomfortable "yellowface" performances in cinematic history. Peter Ustinov and Clive Revill—both white actors—portray the Chinese antagonists in heavy makeup and exaggerated accents. It’s the kind of thing that makes you wince today, and it's the primary reason the film has been largely scrubbed from modern streaming rotations.
Why the One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing Film Actually Matters to History
Despite the cringe-worthy casting choices, the movie has some wild connections to much bigger franchises.
Did you know the dinosaur skeleton used in the film actually ended up in Star Wars: A New Hope?
It's true. After Disney finished filming at Elstree and Pinewood Studios, the props were sold off or repurposed. That same Diplodocus model was shipped to the Tunisian desert. If you watch the scene where C-3PO is wandering through the dunes of Tatooine, you’ll see the bleached "Krayt Dragon" skeleton in the background. That’s the Disney dinosaur.
The Production Grind
Robert Stevenson directed this one. He was Disney’s heavy hitter—the guy behind Mary Poppins and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. You can see his fingerprints in the smoky, atmospheric visuals of London. He had a way of making studio sets feel lived-in, even if the "China" backdrops in the opening scenes look like they were painted by someone who had only ever seen a postcard of a mountain.
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- Filming Locations: The crew shot at the real Natural History Museum in London, London Zoo, and around Windsor.
- The Steam Lorry: That massive truck carrying the bones? It was a mockup, not a real functioning steam engine, though the special effects team (led by John Stears of James Bond fame) made it look convincing enough for a 75-minute chase.
- The Cast: Aside from Hayes and Ustinov, you’ve got British comedy legends like Joan Sims (from the Carry On films), Jon Pertwee (the Third Doctor himself!), and Roy Kinnear.
The Controversy vs. The Nostalgia
There’s a weird tension with this movie. If you grew up in the UK or the US in the late 70s and 80s, you probably saw this on a rainy Saturday afternoon on TV. For a lot of people, the image of nannies fighting martial artists with umbrellas is a core childhood memory.
But the "Lotus X" plot and the caricatures are impossible to ignore now.
Critics at the time were mixed. Variety and Time Out praised the "Ealing-style" comedy and the veteran cast, but even then, some felt the story was spread too thin. It made about $5.5 million in North American rentals—a decent hit for Disney at the time, but not a blockbuster.
The authors of the original book were particularly vocal about their dislike. They felt Disney "dummied down" the material and stripped away the stakes. In the book, the nannies were much more formidable and the tone was far less "slapstick."
Can You Still Watch It?
Since it’s not on Disney+, your options are limited.
- DVD/VHS: You can still find old physical copies on eBay or at second-hand shops. The last major DVD release was around 2004 in the UK.
- Digital Purchase: Occasionally it pops up on platforms like Amazon or Apple TV for rent or purchase, but its availability fluctuates depending on regional licensing and Disney’s current "vault" status.
- The "Star Wars" Connection: If you just want to see the dinosaur, fire up A New Hope on Disney+ and skip to the 8-minute mark.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Collectors
If you're looking to dive deeper into this specific era of Disney history, don't just stop at the movie.
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Look for the source material. Reading The Great Dinosaur Robbery gives you a fascinating look at what could have been. It’s a much more "adult" take on the caper genre and helps you understand why the authors felt so burned by the film adaptation.
Check out the "Disney Byways." There’s a whole subculture of film historians who track these "missing" Disney films from the 70s—movies like The Island at the Top of the World or The Unidentified Flying Oddball. They represent a weird, experimental transition period for the studio.
Track the props. For the true nerds, researching John Stears' work on this film alongside his work on Star Wars and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang reveals how much of the "look" of 70s cinema was created by a very small, tightly-knit group of British practical effects artists.
The One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing film is a complicated piece of history. It’s a mix of genuine British comedy charm, impressive practical effects, and deeply dated social attitudes. It remains a "missing" piece of the Disney puzzle for a reason, but its legacy—literally—lives on in the sands of Tatooine.
To get the full picture of Disney's 1970s output, you should compare this film to Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). Both were directed by Robert Stevenson and feature "elderly" protagonists using unconventional methods to defeat "foreign" invaders in England, showing a clear pattern in how the studio viewed its British market during that decade.