The People That Time Forgot (1977)

So at the end of the last movie Doug McClure put a message in a bottle and threw it in the water. What were the chances it could even make it through the cavern they sailed through to get to this place? Well pretty good it seems because it managed to float thousands of miles north and be found in England. So of course his friend decides he has to go find him and has no trouble doing so. Sadly this time they tried to add an element of comedy and it's extremely unfunny. So they crash land their crazy sea plane in this lost world and the plane is unmovable. So they tie their 500 foot rope to a dinosaur and have him drag it out. They brought a 500 foot rope? Of course.They even brought everything they would need to repair the plane, a tent, food I suppose(we never see them eat), some paint and even an extra coat. The first person they meet on the island is a cave woman with perfect hair wearing lipstick and eye shadow. And you see where this is going. The most interesting thing about this movie is all the similarities to Star Wars. They have a girl with her hair in two buns, a villain that is very similar to Jabba and that villain even has a weird tiny side kick like Jabba did. Plus there's dinosaur snake-like things that pop out of holes. A lot of coincidences considering this was released the same year as Star Wars. Weirdly, At The Earth's Core(another McClure mess) had a scene that was amazingly like the Rancor scene. But for the most part this movie is just a mess. It's worth seeing once if you saw the first one but have low expectations.

A few years after the events of "The Land that Time Forgot", adventurer Ben McBride (John Waynes' hunky son Patrick Wayne) is launching an expedition to find and rescue his good friend Bowen Tyler (Doug McClure). Fortunately, he finds the isolated island, where cavemen still exist and dinosaurs still roam, without much trouble. He learns that he will have to battle with a rather advanced, villainous prehistoric people who are holding Bowen prisoner.Admittedly, this sequel to "Land", based on the writings of Edgar Rice Burroughs, is pretty juvenile, dopey, and lightweight. There's not much in it that will really scare younger viewers. The monsters are fairly plentiful, but not that threatening. The special effects may not be terribly convincing, but this viewer will still take these sorts of effects over most CGI any day. Good visuals, reasonable excitement, and a mild sense of wonder help to keep things entertaining. Alan Hume is the cinematographer who gives us the colorful lighting, Maurice Carter the production designer who supplies the amusing sets (this was shot both on location in Spain and at Pinewood Studios), and John Scott contributes the appealing, rousing music score.Wayne is a decent hero, while Sarah Douglas (as Charly the photographer) and well endowed Dana Gillespie (as the cavegirl Ajor) supply highly appreciated eye candy. Douglas is best known for playing the villainous Ursa in "Superman" 1 and 2, so it's interesting to see her in this leading lady role, before she really hit it big. Thorley Walters is delightful, as usual, as a professor tagging along, and Canadian actor Shane Rimmer supplies some comedy relief in the role of Hogan. Among other things, Hogan talks to himself in order to deal with loneliness, and keeps a running tally of the pterodactyls that he's shot down. There's a few familiar actors in smaller roles, too: John Hallam, David "Darth Vader" Prowse, Richard LeParmentier, Milton Reid. It is nice to see McClure reprise his role of Tyler from the first film.It's not great cinema, but it's not trying to be. It's just good, simple, likable escapism.Seven out of 10.

The People That Time Forgot is directed by Kevin Connor and adapted to screenplay by Patrick Tilley from the novel of the same name written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. it stars Patrick Wayne, Sarah Douglas, Dana Gillespie, Thorley Walters, Shane Rimmer and Doug McClure. Music is scored by John Scott and cinematography by Alan Hume.A sequel to The Land That Time Forgot, plot finds Wayne as Major Ben McBride who arranges a mission to go and search for his missing friend Bowen Tyler (McClure). As the party go beyond the Antartic wastes they find themselves in a world populated by prehistoric creatures and primitive tribes.There are a group of film fans of a certain age that were exposed wilfully to the joys of Kevin Connor and Doug McClure Creature Features, the four pictures made with low budgets (see also The Land That Time Forgot 1975, At the Earth's Core 1976 & Warlords of Atlantis 1978) were simply put together with a standard structure of humans discovering an unknown land, who then encounter beasties and savage races and then try to escape said world of wonder. Back then in the 70s with youthful eyes these films were magnificent things, we didn't care about clunky animatronics and miniatures, staid dialogue and poorly constructed scenes of men grappling with a man in rubber make up. Nor did us boys pay any attention to the considerable heaving bosom factor, which is here supplied with a different kind of wonder by Dana Gillespie! But they are a group of films that once loved, is a love that lasts forever, yes, it's true love.As it is, The People That Time Forgot is often thought of as the weakest of the four, yet it's every inch the equal of "Land", primarily because the cast attack the material with great spirit (Douglas is rather splendid and not just a posh girl with a pretty face), the film stock it's shot on is of better quality and John Scott's score is bursting with vitality. There's also a ripper of a finale here, with the pyrotechnics department creating merry hell. Explosives aplenty. While the Santa Cruz de la Palma location used for the world of Caprona is perfectly bereft of civilised leanings. As with the other's in the series, the ideas at the heart aren't fully realised because of the budget restrictions, so we basically get some talk between characters, then a fight with a beast, some more talk, another fight with a beast, a meeting with a uncivilised tribe, a fight with a beast, and on it goes until the derring-do escape. There will be peril and actually this one has a very noteworthy turn of events that might surprise a few of the uninitiated.1977 of course was the year of Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which changed things considerably in the creature feature/sci-fi fantasy stakes. Thus the Connor/McClure movies were relegated to being antique relics of monster malarkey cinema. Yet still they retain a quaint uniqueness, they are able to continually imbue many of us with waves of nostalgia, taking us back to a time when the likes of Connor made fantasy films with love and basic tools. The Land That Time Forgot was badly adapted to film in 2009 (C. Thomas Howell directing and starring), which begs the question on why Burroughs' Caspak trilogy has not been taken on by a big studio? As yet the third part of the trilogy, Out of Time's Abyss, has not received a filmic adaptation, can you imagine what someone like Spileberg could do with Burroughs' wonderful source ideas?Ah well, we can but dream, in the meantime we will happily make do with our cheesy antiquities. 7/10

I watched this for free on Hulu.com and had to look it up here to find who did the special effects. They are similar to Ray Harryhausen's work, but he is not listed in the credits. I have to write the rest of this because they require that I fill in with 10 lines of text. Why is there such a rule? The producers do use stop action for the animation of a seaplane flying out of the arctic and if you like that type of animation then this is a good movie to watch. This movie uses a lot of exploding flares and it must have been hard on the actors "flying" through exploding clouds and simulated rocks. Yes, the acting was kinda bad, and the attacking tribe was rather weak, but what do you want for a 70's B movie??