ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

I just discovered this serial today from a website called Flickchart which lists science fiction movies from the 1930's.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it.
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Scientist Bruce Gordon comes to a secluded area in Africa after concluding that a series of electrically induced natural disasters had originated from in the area. There he finds the crazed Zolok, last of the Lemurians, in a secret complex inside a mountain.

Zolok had created the natural disasters as a prelude to his attempt to take over the world, holding a brilliant scientist, Dr. Manyus, there hostage, along with his daughter, Natcha.

He had forced Manyus to create mindless "giant" slaves out of the natives as a private army, and as the serial progresses we learn Manyus also turned another tribe, the spider-worshipping Wangas, into thin, impotent whites.

Gordon helps Manyus and his daughter to escape Zolok, but they encounter Ben Ali, a malignant slave trader. They also meet the sexy native Queen Rama, who tries to help them.

Eventually they survive harrowing jungle adventures before returning to the Lost City and stopping Zolok's plan.
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Boy oh boy, I'd sure like to see this sci-fi jungle adventure!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Well, there's bad news and there's worse news.

The bad news is that the YouTube video of this rare serial has a poor picture.

The worse news is that the serial seems to be even worse than the picture quality.

_______ The Lost City, 1935 (serial) All episodes


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[tmlindsey]

Even worse news: IT STINKS!

I first saw this back in the 80s on Matinee at the Bijou on PBS and it was the cheapest, shoddiest-looking serial I'd seen to that point...and it still is. Just terrible, IMO.
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"Have you never wondered what it would be like to walk between the ticks and tocks of Time?"

[Bud Brewster]

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It still amazes me that Hollywood took so damn long to figure out that to make money on a production they had to put money AND talent into it!

Ironically, the fact that people were willing to go see crap like The Lost City proved just how hungry they were for movies and serials!

Then George Lucas came along in 1977 and gave us a "serial" that was far better than anything we'd seen before.

And the rest is history.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

Back in the early 1970's I checked out a book on movie serials from the library. The book said that "The Lost City" is considered the most racist serial ever made! This from a book written in the 1960's, early 1970"s!

A sad tale. A few years back I went to the local library to make a photocopy. I hadn't been there since they rebuilt it after Hurricane Katrina, and it was different. The Librarian asked me what I thought about the new library. I told him it had everything, DVD's, computers (A LOT of computers), but the only thing it was lacking was BOOKS! It had maybe 6 shelving units of books. None for reference books.

I spent a lot of time there in the 60's & 70's, and I remarked how it seemed so much larger then. I was told that it was. When they rebuilt the library after Katrina, they made it smaller!

WHY?! If it had that pitiful a collection of books when I was a child, I don't know if I would have the love of books I have today.

I treasure the hours I spent wandering the stacks, and the wonderful discoveries I made, the useless things I learned that were actually useful. It inspired me to become a library aid in middle school and high school.

Sorry for the rant, it's been building for years.

David.

[Bud Brewster]

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David, your post is the most moving one I've ever read on All Sci-Fi

The description of your return to that beloved public library after it was destroyed and then rebuilt in the "modern" way is heartbreaking!

While reading your post, I imagined a dramatic scene in a movie which portrayed the experience you had. A young man discovers that the library he visited in his youth was drastically different from his childhood memories.

I tried to find images of the pre-Katrina library interior, but the ones I found seemed to show the "grand opening" after the hurricane. If you find any pictures of the Gretna, LA library prior Katrina, please PM the url's and I'll post them.

Thanks for sharing this priceless memory with the members of All Sci-Fi.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)