''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 Distributi ...

''.

Plot

The book is set in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

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 s ...

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

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

has been hidden in a dinosaur skeleton in the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

. 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 city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, 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. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, while the film's agents were from post-

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, with

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

undertones practically non-existent.

References

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