''The Great Dinosaur Robbery'' is a 1970 novel by David Forrest (pseudonym of David Eliades and Robert Forrest Webb). This book was the basis for the

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

film ''

One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing ''One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing'' is a 1975 comedy film set in the early 1920s, about the theft of a dinosaur skeleton from the Natural History Museum. The film was produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution C ...

''.

Plot

The book is set in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in the 1970s, and follows attempts by a group of five British nannies who discover that a

microdot A microdot is text or an image substantially reduced in size to prevent detection by unintended recipients. Microdots are normally circular and around in diameter but can be made into different shapes and sizes and made from various materials su ...

containing Chinese military secrets believed to be vital to the survival of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

has been hidden in a dinosaur skeleton in the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...

. However, since they cannot find the message, they contrive to steal the entire skeleton and mail it to the Queen. Furthermore, in the story, the Chinese agents who hope to retrieve the message, and also the Americans searching for the missing dinosaur skeleton, play important roles.

Film adaptation

The film differed greatly from the book in the sense that it was aimed for children rather than adults, with violence and sexual references toned down considerably to suit the target audience. The setting of the plot was also changed from

to England, principally

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, along with the time period, set to the 1920s in the movie. Another point of note is that, in the book, the villains were agents of communist

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, while the film's agents were from post-

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, with

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

undertones practically non-existent.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Dinosaur Robbery, The 1970 British novels British novels adapted into films Novels about dinosaurs Novels about museums Novels set in New York City Works published under a pseudonym British spy novels Hodder & Stoughton books