The Lost World

1925 silent adventure story

Rating: 16/20

Plot: Based on a novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, this tale of adventurer Professor Challenger and his claims that dinosaurs inhabit an area near the Amazon. It all makes perfect sense when you think about it. The media has a field day as Challenger becomes the laughingstock of London. He assembles a team to travel back to the area and hopefully rescue somebody's father. When they get there, they find a monkey man, a Porkosaurus, a Dinklesaurus, a Tyrannosaurus Rex, a Chunkysaurus Rex, a Borbotamagus, a monkey, crocodiles or alligators, a person, trees, a Brontosaurus, and a Gizmosaurus. They're amazed.

The special effects in this mid-20's adventure yarn are extraordinary for their time, excellent stop- animation stuff recalling later Harryhausen. Indeed, this is the first movie to use stop-animation to make monsters come to life. Detailed sets add a certain realism to the proceedings although the camera is often too detached from the far-off dinosaur-on-dinosaur action for the viewer to really feel any real fear or get any kind of boner whatsoever. The whole thing lacks the iconic imagery of King Kong, but it's safe to say King Kong wouldn't have even existed without The Lost World. The acting and story are pretty much what you'd expect from a silent adventure story; there's a superfluous romantic side-plot and some really dippy character development. However, for an 85 year old special effects extravaganza/adventure story, this one amazingly still works and manages to be entertaining beyond the historical importance of being the first loose-monster-causing-mischief-on-the-streets movie. And you've got to love that monkey man!