pigletbunny
Today's young people may be surprised to learn that, in the 1970s, it was still considered fine to cast pale people of European descent or origin as Asians! Then again, they may not be surprised, given the whitewashing that is still occurring on TV shows and in movies in 2017! (Whitewashing is the current term for the changing of people-of-colour characters into pale-skinned characters of European origin or descent.)I loved this movie as a young child back in the 70's, when I was ignorant as to what Chinese people looked and sounded like. (Where I lived as a young child, there were people of Eastern European descent, Indian descent, Japanese descent, Thai descent, and Western European descent; I didn't encounter anyone of Chinese descent or origin, until later in my childhood.)I saw this movie with my mother. She's quite racist, and so did not explain to me that those were not actual Chinese /of Chinese descent people in the main "Chinese" roles.A number of the user reviews for this movie, here on IMDb, do a great job of demonstrating inherent bigotry. Their ingrained prejudice causes them to deny the reality of this movie, which is that OF COURSE the casting of Peter Ustinov and Bernard Bresslaw as Chinese characters is racist! (Contrary to what one particular reviewer wrote, it is NOT the same as a Chinese actor putting on a Texan accent! There ARE Texans of Chinese origin or descent, in real life.)This movie is arguably even more racist than the patently racist Charlie Chan movies, as One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing's "Chinese" characters are caricatures written and portrayed for "comedic" effect.(BTW, in the summary of this review, I said "another movie", because, sadly, there's a lot of them :-( For example, I saw Disney's Song of the South, when it was given a theatrical re- release, when I was a young child. When I watched the movie, I had no idea that many of the characters were slaves! I thought that they were paid workers. No-one, especially not my racist mother, had ever told me about the despicable history of U.S. slavery, and early- to- mid 1970's dramatic TV shows, which I watched at FAR too young of an age, tended to have "white slavery" plots, featuring, of course, evil "foreigners", if they ever mentioned slavery at all. It wasn't until the 1977 original broadcast of the amazing miniseries Roots, again watched by me at far too young of an age, that I knew anything about slavery having existed in the United States.)
Spikeopath
Lord Southmere has a ring of Chinese spies chasing him because he has in his possession a secret microfilm, the contents of this microfilm reveals the formula for mysterious Lotus X. After being chased into the Natural History Museum, Southmere hides the film in the bones of a Brontosaurus skeleton. After Southmere's capture, it's up to his old nanny and her hardy band of friends to find the film and keep it from the clutches of the evil Hnup Wan..........and so is the plot for Disney's charmingly silly live action venture. It's not masquerading as anything other than a fun family film, it's got bags of energy, and it boasts a quite delightful premise. Obviously taking its lead from Ealing's brilliant The Ladykillers, One Of Our Dinosaur's Is Missing's strength is that a couple of English old dears are taking on {and defying} a gang of Chinese nasties. Some mirthful gags {both visual and oral} light up the film, including a great sequence as the ladies steal the skeleton and whisk thru London with it on the back of a coal fuelled truck!It's good old harmless fun that doesn't deserve the charge of stereotyping the Chinese, it's 1975 and the cast are having fun, and honestly, so should the family. 7/10
SanDiego
English slapstick comedy spy caper definitely a must for fans of that genre. Director Robert Stevenson (Mary Poppins, The Love Bug) dresses up the scenery with nice old British cars, trucks and storefronts (watch for one called THE RELUCTANT DRAGON a tip of the hat to an old Disney animated classic) and his usual trademark special effects which includes a neat little stunt where a group of men stand on each other's shoulders to see above a fog filled street. Fans of Agatha Christie movies will note Peter Ustinov (who played Hercule Poirot) and Helen Hayes and Joan Hickson (who both played Miss Marple). A final note regarding some ill-placed, ill-thought out comments about Peter Ustinov's performance that was meant to be broad comedy. Ustinov (an Englishman) also portrayed a Belgium (Hercule Poirot), a Russian, and a Frenchman in other films without any comments about their appropriateness. From Peter Sellers who played a wickedly unflattering portrayal of a Frenchman in the Pink Panther series to Ben Kingsley's stately performance as Ghandai to Jews playing Christians (sometimes unflattering) what the heck...it's called acting. If you don't like the performance that's one thing, but to call it racist then all these performances should be called racist and ALL performances that require an actor to play someone not himself would be on some level bigoted. Don't you think? To those who would call Ustinov's performance racist you are wrong and you should sue your parents and teachers for raising an idiot. By the way. I am Chinese. If I do a good Texan accent no one would think me a racist. If I do a bad Texan accent all it means is that I do a bad Texan accent. Yee Haw!
Palicot
Helen Hayes and Joan Sims are British Nannies that get involved in espionage trying to find Lotus X. A brilliant comedy, with great performances all round. There are also a lot of familiar faces in small roles. A memorable plot line and a great fight near the end of the film between the Chinese and the Nannies.
