The Lost World (1960)

The incredibly cranky Professor Challenger (Claude Rains) thinks that there is an oasis of primordial creatures living in the Amazonian basin. But a lot of folks think he's nuts...so he works on an expedition to prove he is right. Ultimately, the do come upon such an oasis...a land filled with both dinosaurs AND unfriendly natives. Can they make it out alive AND with proof that the professor isn't a complete crackpot?The film uses alligators and lizards all painted up and given prosthetics to make them look 'dinosaury'. It's not at all convincing and was VERY troubling when the crew had two of these critters tear each other apart for the amusement of the audiences! Believe it or not, the silent version of this movie had better dinosaurs!!Jill St. John was one of the most beautiful actresses of her time...there's no doubt about that. But, sadly, she is totally wasted in this film due to some very bad writing when it comes to her part. Jenny is supposed to be a very strong-minded who forces her way into a dangerous expedition. She is a very emancipated woman...yet, when danger rears its ugly head, Jenny spends most of her time crying and screaming! Not a great feminist sort of character, that's for sure! Fortunately, Costa (Jay Novello) is even more pusillanimous than she is...and both characters are really annoying. If these two characters sound annoying and poorly written, pretty much the same can be said for most of the others. Their actions and motivations OFTEN make no sense...as if the script was the least important part of this movie!Overall, you have a silly adventure film...not completely terrible but one that should have been better.

Those poor monitor lizards forced to fight with attachments glued on them. With god knows what type of paint used I fear they did not fare well when the shooting was complete. If you can sit through this long enough to see the "dinosaur" fights you'll see what I mean.This movie is hysterically bad.Along with the obvious misuse lizards is the stereotyping of the natives and their simple speech and that make this movie the cultural milestone it is not. Unless you are high and want a chuckle at bad effects and rubber dialog do not waste your time with this one.

I went back and read my review of the original 1925 silent film "The Lost World" and was somewhat surprised that virtually all of the character names were used here in this picture. I guess I shouldn't have been since both were based on the Arthur Conan Doyle story featuring Professor Challenger and his discovery of an Amazon land filled with prehistoric beasts. Considering the march of time and technology, I felt the execution of the stop motion photography in the earlier picture was superior to the use of tricked out lizards in this one. Apparently budget considerations prevented a project of larger scale, a shame because Ray Harryhausen's stop motion monsters in "One Million Year B.C." were quite impressive in a movie made six years later.The biggest surprise here for this viewer was the casting of Claude Rains in the role of Professor Challenger. Virtually unrecognizable behind the red beard and spectacles, I kept making a mental comparison of him here to his role of Captain Renault in "Casablanca". Somehow it didn't seem like the same actor, especially when he was making those flamboyant flourishes at the Zoological Society or railing against Miss Holmes (Jill St. John) from going on the expedition.Speaking of which, did it seem all that necessary for the elegant wardrobe Jennifer Holmes took along for the trip? The same could be said for Lord Roxton (Michael Rennie), looking quite dashing in his jacket and tie, but with no regard for the steamy heat and humidity that must have been prevalent in the South American jungle. It's disconnects like that that take away some of the credibility in pictures like this, not to mention the flawless use of eye shadow and make-up on characters like the Native Girl (Vitina Marcus), who looked absolutely knock out, nothing at all like a throw back to pre-Jurassic cave types.Well perhaps the movie going public of 1960 didn't care much for realism as long as they got their fill of faux dinosaurs battling to the death and high adventure featuring exploding volcanoes and plenty of molten lava. Today's sophisticated viewers brought up on a diet of Jurassic World CGI will undoubtedly cast a jaundiced eye at pictures like this one, but for it's time they served a purpose to thrill and entertain. I'm still wondering about that fluorescent green spider though.

Dinosaurs, diamonds, cannibals, Jill St. John! Having had big success the year before with "Journey to the Center of the Earth", 20th Century-Fox repeated the expedition-into-the-unknown formula with this school kid's fantasy adapted from the original tale by Arthur Conan Doyle (previously filmed in 1925). Claude Rains is an ill-tempered, impatient professor who boasts to the British press that he has found Jurassic monsters on an island plateau in the Amazon; with funding from a wealthy newspaperman, Rains returns to the creatures along with a reporter and a natty adventurer (the newspaperman's feisty daughter, along with her dog and younger brother, join the troupe later). Producer-director Irwin Allen co-wrote the script as well, and his cartoony, tongue-in-cheek style is all over this colorful saga. The special effects aren't bad for 1960, and there's enough amusingly dopey dialogue and disparate characterizations to make the film a minor treat. Rains steals the acting honors, while St. John (who boasts about being able to shoot better than any man, but who never gets the opportunity to prove it) carries around her pup in a wicker basket! Non-think entertainment benefits from excellent art direction and design, though Allen's pacing is a bit lax. **1/2 from ****