Sometime in the 1920s, Lord Edward Southmere (Derek Nimmo) had gone to great efforts to smuggle a microfilm containing Lotus X out of China, wearing ludicrous disguises and resorting to dangerous routes. When back in England, he allowed his guard to drop only to find himself hotly pursued by members of the Chinese embassy. He avoided capture long enough to hide Lotus X at the Natural History Museum. While at the museum, he had a chance encounter with his one-time nanny, Hettie (Helen Hayes). So it was that Hettie took up the task of recovering the Lotus X before Hnup Wan (Peter Ustinov) could. While Hettie and her band of nannies sought to find the microfilm in the dinosaur skeleton, the Chinese opted to steal the entire skeleton. Would the Chinese recover Lotus X or was that secret to be revealed to the English?
The movie is a goofball Disney comedy that pits hapless Chinese agents against a platoon of British nannies. Of course, craziness ensues. The highlight of the film is the dinosaur skeleton on a lorry being driven through the foggy streets of London as the Chinese give chase. A British big game hunter (Jon Pertwee) sees the dinosaur and instantly joins the chase to bag the biggest game of his life.
The movie has not aged well. The Chinese are played by British actors with cringeworthy makeup. Bernard Bresslaw, who was six feet seven inches tall, is embarrassing as a Fan Choy. Clive Revill also has a terrible makeup job as Quon. Peter Ustinov may have parlayed this role into Charlie Chan some years later.
I saw this in the theater as a kid and remember being disappointed how the hero - Lord Edward - kept getting sidelined. Heck, he was hardly in the movie after the first 5 or 10 minutes. Nonetheless, I had warm feelings about it until recently rewatching it. It does have a surprising number of surprise stars. Joss Ackland plays a Texan visiting England. Roy Kinnear is the baffled police superintendent who must respond to reports of a dinosaur traipsing through London.
Skip.
