The Lost World (1960 film)

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The Lost World
TheLostWorld1960Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Irwin Allen
Screenplay by
Based on The Lost World
1912 novel
by Arthur Conan Doyle
Produced by
  • Irwin Allen
  • Cliff Reid
Starring
Cinematography Winton C. Hoch
Edited by Hugh S. Fowler
Music by
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
  • July 13, 1960 (1960-07-13)(U.S.)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,515,000 [1]
Box office$2,500,000 (US/ Canada) [2]

The Lost World is a 1960 American fantasy adventure film directed by Irwin Allen, loosely based on the 1912 novel of the same name by Arthur Conan Doyle. Shot in De Luxe Color and CinemaScope, the film's plot revolves around the exploration of a plateau in Venezuela inhabited by cannibals, dinosaurs, carnivorous plants, and giant spiders. The cast includes Claude Rains, David Hedison, Fernando Lamas, Jill St. John, and Michael Rennie.

Contents

Plot

Professor Challenger, a celebrated biologist and anthropologist, reports to the London Zoological Society that he has discovered living specimens of supposedly extinct animals, including dinosaurs, on an expedition to the Amazon Basin and up a barely known plateau. He challenges the Society to sponsor a second expedition to the plateau.

Much to Challenger's dismay, he attracts a few very unscientific people to join him on his second journey to the Amazon. This expedition group includes big-game hunter Lord John Roxton, and newsman Ed Malone whose publisher advances $100,000 to pay for the expedition. The journey from London is depicted via aerial views of Rio de Janeiro, and Angel Falls. The publisher's adventurous daughter Jennifer and son David join the group at the head of the Amazon. Also in the group is Zoological Society bigwig Professor Summerlee, helicopter pilot Manuel Gomez, and his sidekick Jose Costa.

During the first night on the plateau, a dinosaur wrecks the helicopter. As the expedition proceeds, whilst encountering an Iguanostyracus , Malone chases a primitive jungle girl through cobwebs to a giant spider, killing it and bringing her back to camp. The native girl later falls for David. Roxton argues with the others, and jealousies over Jennifer lead to a fistfight between Malone and Roxton.

They discover the diary of a previous explorer, Burton White, who was lost on the plateau. Roxton is mentioned several times in the diary. Roxton reveals that he had visited the plateau three years before, and claims the plateau holds a bounty of diamonds. This motivates Jose to stay with the party instead of striking out on his own to escape from the plateau.

At one point, Malone and Jennifer are separated from the others and have a near-death encounter with a battling Protostegosaurus and Ceratopspinus . Cannibals capture the party, but before they can become dinner the jungle girl leads them to an underground passage that leads down off the plateau. Along the way, they encounter Burton White, now living as a blind hermit. (The cannibals have a taboo against killing the blind.)

They encounter more obstacles — pursuit by the cannibals, spider plants, the "Graveyard of the Damned", and a Centrotyrannus in a lava pit guarding the diamonds, which kills Costa. Gomez sacrifices himself while breaking a rock dam, killing the dinosaur.

During a volcanic eruption, the survivors of the Challenger party escape from the plateau, Challenger carrying the egg of a Tyrannosaurus rex . The financial security of the party is secure because Lord Roxton filled a couple of the bellows pockets of his hunting jacket with diamonds, and shares them with everyone. The dinosaur egg hatches when it is dropped by accident, and Professor Challenger decides to take the infant T. Rex back to London with them.

Cast

Production

In 1959, Allen purchased the rights to Doyle's novel for $100,000. He wanted to make the film with Trevor Howard and Peter Ustinov in support of Rains, [3] as well as Victor Mature and Gilbert Roland (who had been in the 1925 film). None of these plans came to fruition. He hired Charles Bennett to help him adapt the book into a script and commissioned Willis O'Brien, who worked on the 1925 [4] film, to do the models. He said he wanted to start filming on 15 October 1959. [3]

Allen eventually received financing to make the film from Buddy Adler, head of production at 20th Century Fox. [5]

Special effects for the film were rather basic and involved monitor lizards, iguanas, and young crocodiles affixed with miniature horns, and fins. Director Allen later stated that though he wanted stop motion models, he could only work with live animals in accordance with the studio's budget.[ citation needed ]

Critical Appraisal

Film critic Dana M. Reemes registered this assessment of the film in 1988:

It is a regrettable fact that an awful modern sound and color version of The Lost World has been made. Indeed, many people have never heard of the silent version (much less Arthur Conan Doyle’s book), and the negative qualities of this later film have done much to obscure the importance of the classic story…Irwin Allen’s version of The Lost World is an abominable travesty in every respect…” [6]

Reemes added this caveat: “On the positive side, one might regard this film’s mere existence as a powerful incentive to create a new and definitive version of Conan Doyle’s original story.” [6]

Legacy

Irwin Allen utilized stock footage from this film for episodes of his various TV series, including Land of the Giants , Lost in Space , The Time Tunnel , and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea . In 1966, Irwin Allen even tried to sell a TV series based on the film, as he had done with Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea , but was unsuccessful. [7] Stock footage was also used in the movie When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970). [8]

Comic book adaptation

See also

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References

  1. Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN   978-0-8108-4244-1. p252
  2. "Rental Potentials of 1960", Variety, 4 January 1961 p 47. Please note figures are rentals as opposed to total gross.
  3. 1 2 A. H. WEILER (June 28, 1959). "LOCAL FILM VIEWS: Return to 'The Lost World' Planned -- New Indian Drama -- Other Items". New York Times. p. X7.
  4. "Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 199". ISBN   978-1936168-68-2.
  5. "Entertainment Films Stage Music: Adler Signs Allen for 'Lost World'". Los Angeles Times. Oct 1, 1959. p. B12.
  6. 1 2 Reemes, 1988 p. 169
  7. James Van Hise, Hot Blooded Dinosaur Movies, Pioneer Books Inc. 1993 Pg.157
  8. Reemes, 1988 p. 169: “Producer Allen later recycled footage of Hedison battling the giant spider in his early juvenile Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea television series.”
  9. "Dell Four Color #1145". Grand Comics Database.
  10. Dell Four Color #1145 at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original )

Sources