ALL SCI-FI Forum Index ALL SCI-FI
The place to “find your people”.
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

The Lost World (1960)
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    ALL SCI-FI Forum Index -> Sci-Fi Movies and Serials from 1950 to 1969
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Bogmeister
Galactic Fleet Vice Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 574

PostPosted: Sat Apr 06, 2019 2:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________


As most agree by this point, this version of the famous Sir Arthur Conan Doyle adventure and remake of the silent 1925 film is a series of missed opportunities.

Prominent among the mistakes are the FX involving the so-called dinosaurs: director Irwin Allen chose to skip Harryhausen-type effects and expediently employ real lizards with fins attached.

This film also seems to copy the previous year's Journey to the Center of the Earth, but most of the plot and characters come off as cardboard & juvenile.

~ Claude Rains plays Professor Challenger, intended as the exasperated, colorful scientist, but he's tiresome and derivative.

~ Michael Rennie is 1st-billed as the cool big game hunter.

~ David Hedison, fresh off The Fly '58, is the reporter.

~ Jill St. John is the daughter of the financier of the expedition and Rennie's paramour.

~ Fernando Lamas is the local (meaning he lives near the lost plateau) and the probable monkey wrench in the works.

______
_____________

The film starts off slow — introducing all these characters and unveiling the plan to find the dinosaurs — and never really picks up.

It's filled with all these cute little bits, such as the lady's small dog, aimed at the juvenile market, it seems, and most of the dialog follows suit, never rising above TV family fare.

But it goes beyond simple silliness — Challenger, supposedly one of the smartest scientists around, comes off as a fool with his observations of dinosaurs which are obviously common lizards (obvious even to kids watching the movie). There's also an unfortunate bit of optical FX with a large green tarantula (see pic above).

All that said, this is pretty colorful if you're a kid, with some nice matte paintings (huge trees when they first arrive at the lost plateau). The group helicopters in and things go bad the first night when their transport is smashed. From then on, it's a trip just to escape the locale.



Things do become a bit more serious in tone as some tension surfaces amid the group — Rennie and Hedison get into a brief fistfight and Rennie's seemingly strong alpha male turns out to have feet of clay.

There's also a hidden hostility stemming from the character played by Lamas. But instead of focusing on the giant beasts, the story becomes one about the hostile natives of this plateau; these primitives — who resemble Inca Indians - capture the group and are revealed to be cannibals, though nothing is really shown of their savagery. Predictably for a family flic, the good guys and gal survive while the troublemakers are toast.

BoG's Score: 5 out of 10


____________ Mick Garris on THE LOST WORLD


__________


Lost Trivia: Allen remade this — sort of — as an episode of his Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea series in the 1st season, Turn Back the Clock, by plugging in stock footage from this film into that episode. The series co-starred David Hedison so it worked pretty well.




BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus


Last edited by Bogmeister on Sun May 21, 2023 2:09 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17019
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 2020 6:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

After spending the last few days immersed in several 1960s Irwin Allen movies — Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Five Weeks in a Balloon) — and reevaluating my former less-than-enthusiastic opinions of them, I decided to give The Lost World another viewing today. Very Happy

I don't own the DVD, but years ago I acquired a great download of it which is DVD quality. And that's fortunate, because in spite of its other flaws, it is a visual treat! Cool

While watching it today, I was impressed anew by the cast.

~ David Hedison is perfect as a suave and intelligent newspaper reporter.

~ Richard Haydn is the perfect foil for the bombastic scientists whose claims he strenuously refutes.

~ Fernando Lamas portrays a handsome "mystery man" who has a secret agenda.

~ Michael Rennie shines as a rich adventurer and Big Game hunter.

~ Jill St. John is absolutely delicious as the bold and gorgeous femme fatale who engineers her inclusion on the expedition, against all the male objections.

~ And Claude Rains is the perfect Prof. George Edward Challenger — from his physical appearance to his loud and arrogant character!

As we all know, the deal-killer in this big-budget movie are the atrocious lizard-polluted special effects! Sad

However, I submit that the stellar cast and and the stunning production values definitely qualify this movie for 21st Century make-over!

Modern CGI techniques could strip out all the scenes with the hokey reptiles and flawlessly substitute "Harryhausen-like" scenes which would transform this movie into the "lost world" epic we all wanted in 1960!

After all, the non-dinosaur scenes look great!












And so, guys, with a great cast that is now sadly old or dead — and with our own youth fading into the dim past — shouldn't we support the idea of having this movie receive a "new lease on life" by having its flaws surgically removed and replaced by the kind of awesome special effects which Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen would have done? Confused

Please don't say no, folks! Because this time next year there might be fewer of us to support the idea. Shocked

After all, time waits for no man . . . and we all have to go sometime. Smile

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


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sat Nov 19, 2022 6:50 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Pow
Galactic Ambassador


Joined: 27 Sep 2014
Posts: 3400
Location: New York

PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 2020 9:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some nice added touches right out of the Arthur Conan Doyle novel for a brand new version of TLW would be fantastic.

An attack by Pterodactyls; ape-man tribe battles natives; a live pterodactyl that is brought back to London by Professor Challenger.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17019
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 2020 4:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Mike, you're right!

The time has come for a big-budget version of the classic novel — done as well as the first Indian Jones movies, with a reverent and accurate depiction of the period in which the story takes place.

Naturally this remake should treat us to fascinating characters which we come to love during the exciting story.

One thing the 1960 Irwin Allen version did (in spite of all it's flaws) was present us with fine characters, played by beloved actors like Michael Rennie, David Hedison, and Claude Rains.

So, I agree that a remake with a worthy cast and state-of-the-art special effects is something we'd all like to see, I can't help hoping that Hollywood will recreate Irwin Allen's star-studded, lizard-laden epic by converting it into a CGi version which thrills all of us aging "Baby Boomers" by finally showing want what we wanted to see back in 1960!

With the pandemic destined to restrict the nation to home video well into next year, the "new normal" seems to be movies that are created and sold on DVD/Blu-ray.

That said, a digital conversion of The Lost World would seem to be a "cash cow" for a desperately "cash strapped" Hollywood.

Think about it; when the Coronavirus prevents Tinsel Town from making NEW movies, why not contract with computer nerds around the world who are just sitting around at home, and ask them to juice up OLD movies with jazzy new special effects — and then release them on video?

Movies like The Lost World — which both inspired-and-resembled hit films like Jurassic Park and all it's sequels — have a built-in public appeal.

New-and-enhanced versions of movies like The Lost World would be delightful "family friendly" features during these difficult times — movies that would thrill the kids, the parents, and the grandparents!
Crying or Very sad
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sat Nov 19, 2022 6:51 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
17 Oaks
Planetary Explorer


Joined: 17 Aug 2017
Posts: 27

PostPosted: Sun Nov 07, 2021 3:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Lost World

Certainly another classic and it brings up in my mind another similar movie titled: Valley of the Dragons. It's a good movie, got some hot babes in it. It's based upon the Jules Verne "Career Of A Comet".

Good plot, fun watch a bit O skin from Joan Staley and Danielle De Metz.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
17 Oaks
Planetary Explorer


Joined: 17 Aug 2017
Posts: 27

PostPosted: Sun Nov 07, 2021 3:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
Some nice added touches right out of the Arthur Conan Doyle novel for a brand new version of TLW would be fantastic.

An attack by Pterodactyls; ape-man tribe battles natives; a live pterodactyl that is brought back to London by Professor Challenger.

I have found over the years that remakes of HG Wells, Conan Doyle, Jules Vern, etc are not so easy to remake and replace. In fact, I would say FEW could hold a candle to past oldies. Sure we point a finger at a poor background and phony lizard dino's vs today, but maybe that is what made them so good.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17019
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2021 11:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Sir, we agree on this! Cool

One of the problems with all modern remakes of classics is that they are being produced for a whole new generation who have different expectations and different preferences.

In order to remake an older movie, Hollywood basically has to build it from scratch — not just "fix" the things can now be done better with modern technology.

The sad fact is that almost everything has to be different; the cinematography (a constantly moving camera, rather than shots from a fixed position), the acting style (rapid-fire dialog, rather than careful enunciated words like a stage play), and special effects that have to look so realistic the audience can't even tell the CGI from the real thing!

And, God forbid, no more of those beautiful matte paintings . . . Sad

So, 17 Oaks, you're right when you say that it's "not so easy to remake and replace" the oldies. Whenever Hollywood tries to do this they make no attempt to keep what's good about the original and improve the things that were the film's weaknesses when it was first released.

Instead, they tend to throw out the baby with the bath water.

The truth of the matter is that you can't make a "new OLD movie" for new audiences, because that's just not what they want.

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


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sat Nov 19, 2022 6:52 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Pow
Galactic Ambassador


Joined: 27 Sep 2014
Posts: 3400
Location: New York

PostPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2021 2:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You nailed it perfectly, Bud!

The filmmakers today want to appeal to an audience that was brought up on video games. That unfortunately translates into their films emphasizing visual effects over strong plot & character development, which fall by the wayside.

Scenes come at you rat-a-tat-tat constantly throughout these films because many of today's audiences have the attention span of an infant. They would find such classic science fiction movies such as The War of the Worlds or Journey to the Center of the Earth slow moving and dull.

God knows how they'd react to The Day the Earth Stood Still? It's a film that has some action & visuals but is mostly a movie about intelligence & dialogue.

So, whenever I see that some new sci-fi film is coming out — especially a remake — I am skeptical until I check out reviews and talk to family & friends who have gone to see the film in question.

That's because I am always wondering if a well conceived story and fine dialogue and acting have been substituted for a poor plot, breakneck pace for the entire movie, routine dialogue, and an overall lack of intelligence.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17019
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Fri Dec 03, 2021 4:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
You nailed it perfectly, Bud!

The filmmakers today want to appeal to an audience that was brought up on video games. That unfortunately translates into their films emphasizing visual effects over strong plot & character development, which fall by the wayside.

Scenes come at you rat-a-tat-tat constantly throughout these films because many of today's audiences have the attention span of an infant. They would find such classic science fiction movies such as The War of the Worlds or Journey to the Center of the Earth slow moving and dull..

Mike, I could not have written a more accurate description of the current problems with Hollywood movies because of the tragic change in the mentality of young people! Shocked

I don't hold any hope that this problem will change in the next few generation . . . or EVER, for that matter. Sad

The death of the printed word, and the loss of people's habit to actually reading books — both as a leisure activity and as an important part of their education — has diminished the nation's ability to expand their minds, learn new information, and exercise their imagines.

This tragic change in our personal behavior has damaged our nation's collective intelligence as badly as the Coronavirus as damaged our health!

Who could have guessed that the technological innovations of the 21st century would gradually turn mankind into the frivolous Eloi we see in The Time Machine?




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


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sat Nov 19, 2022 6:53 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Pow
Galactic Ambassador


Joined: 27 Sep 2014
Posts: 3400
Location: New York

PostPosted: Fri Dec 03, 2021 4:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So since we got the new & improved remastered visual effects for Star Trek: TOS (1966~1969), is it technically possible to remaster some science fiction motion pictures FX?

What if a team went in and remastered the creatures in The Lost World with superior CGI?

Irwin Allen's Lost World will never be a sci-fi masterpiece, but upgrading its dinos & the gigantic green spider could make it more entertaining.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17019
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Fri Dec 03, 2021 5:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I'd love to have that done, Mike! Very Happy

This movie has some enjoyably moments, and if the lizard/dinosaurs could be improve, it would be even more fun!

_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17019
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Sat Nov 19, 2022 10:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________________________

This is an enjoyable video in which an actual palenontologiest examines the dinosaurs in many Hollywood productions.

I'm going to post this in other movies which feature dinosaurs. Very Happy


___ Paleontologist Reviews Dinosaur Movie Scenes


___________

_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    ALL SCI-FI Forum Index -> Sci-Fi Movies and Serials from 1950 to 1969 All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3
Page 3 of 3

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group