The Lost World

Starring: Wallace Beery, Bessie Love, Lloyd Hughes, Lewis Stone, Alma Bennett, Arthur Hoyt, Margaret McWade, Bull Montana
Directed by: Harry O. Hoyt
Rating: Passed
Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure, Fantasy
1925

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A party of explorers travel deep into the South American jungle to follow up on claims of a lost world where dinosaurs still roam.

Review:

Tim: It's interesting to me that The Lost World doesn't get nearly the notoriety of a movie like King Kong. Sure, that 1933 film is better, but this movie was a forerunner to that film. It pioneered stop motion visual effects. It tells a thrilling story that pushed the boundaries of what movies could do. This is a great film, an influential and classic movie.

The movie benefits from its source material, written by Arthur Conan Doyle. That makes a big difference. The film starts out in London and we learn about the intrepid future explorers. It's not just about the lost world. Our protagonist, Mr. Malone joins up to prove his courage for love. I liked the attempt to make this big adventure personal and character-centered. Another is on the voyage to rescue her father, who was lost on the previous expedition. This is all 1920s drama, but it's rooted in the characters. Yes, the movie prominently features dinosaurs, but it's about more than that. While the visual effects were astounding for the time, it's the connection back to human drama that really makes a difference here. I generally liked the characters and I was interested in their plight.

Now, despite what I just said, the stop motion dinosaurs are what really separate this film. This movie was a landmark in many ways. It's likely the first movie in the world to so prominently feature stop motion animation. At the release, it was called "extraordinarily lifelike". I can't imagine what audiences thought when they first saw this. The 1920s had featured many great films as cinema started to build momentum. But, nothing like this had ever been shown before. It might not have the most impressive pedigree- "monster" movies don't get a lot of respect. But, The Lost World pushed cinema into a place that I love- the ability to show things that no longer exist, or could never exist. Cinema wasn't limited to what we could film with a camera. Humanity could create a film that captured something beyond the real. You could make dreams into reality. That's extraordinary. I mean, think about that- for the first time in human history, people could watch dinosaurs move. What we see here may not be very biologically accurate, but this is a first. The Lost World is the first dinosaur movie... ever. That's incredible and I love that this film has survived. When you think about the influence this film had- how dinosaurs look, how they move, how they're all aggressive- it may not be true, but it has influenced decades of films. How can you not marvel at what this film means?

The story itself covers quite a bit of ground in 1 hour, 50 minutes. The beginning of the film is definitely focused on character development, but fairly soon, the adventure begins. These scenes are so exciting, so engrossing. We see as our small band of explorers arrive at the plateau that holds the lost world. The visuals here are impressive. I'm not sure about the geological accuracy of this plateau, but it's memorable and formidable. Our heroes have to climb up on side of a steep cliff and then cross a chasm on a tree. This precarious step is quite thrilling because of the incredible visuals. Once they've crossed this chasm, they are isolated from the rest of the world and enter the lost one.

Here, our heroes encounter many obstacles. The dinosaurs get all the acclaim, but the ape men are quite frightening to behold. We see pteranadons circling in the air. A clumsy brontosaurus cuts off their means of escape. We see the deadly allosaurus, a trachodon, and my favorite dinosaur, the triceratops. Eventually, we get the king of the dinosaurs, the Tyrannosaurus. Each of these creatures is brought to life in painstaking detail for the time. The stop motion is beautiful to look at, as each creature moves and "feels" alive. The use of split screens is incredible, where we can see the explorers and the dinosaurs in the same frame. This gives the film a believable quality, it must have seemed lifelike to audiences in 1925.

I really enjoyed The Lost World. It's a highly influential film, but it's first and foremost an adventure movie. It may not be viewed as "high cinema" as some other films that were released this year, but I believe it makes the most lasting impression. I've always been a huge fan of blockbusters- of films that transport us to places we could never visit, go on adventures we'll never have in real life. Cinema has many uses- sometimes it's to reflect humanity back to us. But, I do love a good blockbuster adventure movie. This is one of the original films in this genre. It's a truly great motion picture.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 8



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: King Kong, Jurassic Park