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Youtube keeps giving me ads for Hotels.com, which feature a few seconds of what looks like it must be a scene from an old sci-fi film:

screenshot of fire-breathing monster second screenshot when it's just breathing smoke

There's a giant seal-like monster, on top of a pile of rocks, breathing fire and roaring. It's extremely distinctive and kind of intriguing, even though it's so crappily made, like something from 1970s Doctor Who, before the special effects era.

What film or TV show does this come from? (If any. But surely Hotels.com wouldn't bother to make something like this just for an ad, rather than getting whatever necessary permission to use some old film footage.)

I couldn't find a link to an actual Youtube video of the exact ad I'm getting, but I did find a Danish version which features the same clip.

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    If you're wondering whether this should be on-topic or not: relevant meta.
    – Rand al'Thor
    Jul 25, 2021 at 21:31
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    The clip is available on getty images with the caption: "MS TU TD Monster exhaling fire at top of mountain - stock video". It is credited to "Warner Bros. Studios" so maybe it's from a film or TV show but I'm not sure.
    – TheLethalCarrot
    Jul 25, 2021 at 21:35
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    @TheLethalCarrot - MS = Medium Shot. TD = Tilting Down. TU = Tilting Up
    – Valorum
    Jul 25, 2021 at 22:22
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    @TheLethalCarrot - The video is also tagged "1966 videos"
    – Valorum
    Jul 25, 2021 at 22:24
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    I'm relieved to know that this time it's not some famous thing which you watchers of popular sci-fi films would immediately find obvious :-)
    – Rand al'Thor
    Jul 25, 2021 at 23:00

1 Answer 1

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+500

I believe this clip is from the Warner Bros production of Tarzan, which ran from 1966 to 1968.

The episode in question was Track of the Dinosaur, and I believe it first aired on 6th Jan 1967.

The synopsis on IMDb reads like this:

Tarzan and Jai visit the Katonga people, finding them in fear of a strange creature in the hills. Tarzan finds an old foe Curt and his wife Diana also among the tribe, he seeks to find out the truth about the fire breathing "monster."

Thanks to Clara Diaz Sanchez for this screenshot showing the 'monster' taken directly from the episode:

Episode screenshot

Thanks again to Clara Diaz Sanchez, we can all watch the actual scene in question.

This looks like the same clip of the monster itself, but with a more 'full' foreground than we can see in OPs clip.

I have included a couple of screenshots from this episode I found on scificfanhorrormedia.blogspot, which clearly show the same 'monster' in different parts of the episode.

This looks like it was taken from the same scene as OPs clip, or maybe just after:

This looks like it was taken from the same scene

Another view of the 'monster' from an earlier scene:

another view from an earlier scene

A view of the 'monster' and Tarzan in the same scene:

monster and Tarzan

The date and copyright ownership matches up with the clip found by TheLethalCarrot.

This all leads me to believe that this clip was definitely filmed for the episode in question, but it was either a test clip for effects or was cut from the final release.

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    Hmm. Surprisingly hard to track down, even through (ahem) slightly illicit channels
    – Valorum
    Jul 26, 2021 at 16:31
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    It's so close it can't just be coincidence..
    – fez
    Jul 26, 2021 at 18:10
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    Agreed, this has got to be it. Nice sleuthing!
    – Rand al'Thor
    Jul 26, 2021 at 20:49
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    Yes, this is it. I've put a screen grab from the episode at ibb.co/VBrT7QF Jul 26, 2021 at 23:53
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    For further enjoyment, I've put the entire sequence on YouTube, youtu.be/0WKKgqD5bos I think the video has been letterboxed for the DVD release though, so some of the picture may be missing above the monster. Jul 30, 2021 at 14:22

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