Why this did not win the Oscar for Best Film in 1934 I'll never know. Actually, I do know, it's a pretty poor film technically. But in terms of Nessie films, it is a classic.
Cashing in on the Loch Ness Monster craze that started the year before, it began a line of Nessie films which persists to this day and still draw in cinema goers.
I got this film on DVD some years back and enjoyed it purely from a Nessie-phile point of view. The monster at the end seems to very much take its cue from the theories of Rupert T. Gould which is probably no surprise. The London Zoological Society are credited as advisors. As arch-Nessie skeptics, one can only wonder what they said to the film producers.
Anyway, I just found the whole film available on YouTube, so enjoy this piece of Loch Ness Lore and look out for David Lean as the film editor who went on to greater fame with "Lawrence of Arabia".
UPDATE: The link has been removed from YouTube, oh well. It may turn up again!
Cashing in on the Loch Ness Monster craze that started the year before, it began a line of Nessie films which persists to this day and still draw in cinema goers.
I got this film on DVD some years back and enjoyed it purely from a Nessie-phile point of view. The monster at the end seems to very much take its cue from the theories of Rupert T. Gould which is probably no surprise. The London Zoological Society are credited as advisors. As arch-Nessie skeptics, one can only wonder what they said to the film producers.
Anyway, I just found the whole film available on YouTube, so enjoy this piece of Loch Ness Lore and look out for David Lean as the film editor who went on to greater fame with "Lawrence of Arabia".
UPDATE: The link has been removed from YouTube, oh well. It may turn up again!
Thank you so much for posting this! I've wanted to watch this for a long time but was under the clearly mistaken impression that it had been lost! Quite fascinating!
ReplyDeleteAll we need now is "What a Whopper..."(Joke! Joke!!)
You can find the occassional DVD copy of "What a Whopper!" on eBay (as I did). But "Secret of the Loch" is better IMO.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more! Thanks again!
ReplyDelete