[.ca] Lost World (1925)

From Amazon.com:
Every larger-than-life creature feature, from King Kong to Godzilla to Jurassic Park, owes a debt to the original Lost World, the granddaddy of giant monster movies. Based on an adventure fantasy by Arthur Conan Doyle, it's the story of a maverick scientist (Wallace Beery, under a bushy beard) who finds a land that time forgot on a plateau deep within the South American jungles and comes back to London with a captured brontosaur to prove it. His expedition includes Bessie Love, the daughter of an explorer who disappeared on the previous expedition, and big-game hunter Lewis Stone. The ostensible stars of the picture are all upstaged by Willis O'Brien's dinosaurs, simple models brought to life with primitive stop-motion animation. Hardly realistic by any measure, these pioneering special effects are still a sight to behold, especially the lumbering brontosaur (which receives the most care from O'Brien, both foraging in his jungle and rampaging through the streets of London). The Lost World was truncated for rerelease in the 1930s and the original negative was subsequently lost. David Shepard meticulously "rebuilt" the film using material from eight different surviving prints from all over the world, cleaning and restoring along the way. The result, which is 50 percent longer than previously extant prints, is still not complete but closer than any version since its 1925 debut. The difference is not merely in restored scenes but in a rediscovered sense of grace in scenes filled out to their original detail and pace. The film moves and breathes once again like a silent film. The disc features the choice of an original, modern score by the Alloy Orchestra and a classic orchestral score compiled and conducted by Robert Israel (both enjoyable and effective), 13 minutes of O'Brien's animation outtakes (including a couple of isolated frames that capture O'Brien manipulating his models), and rudimentary commentary by Arthur Conan Doyle historian Roy Pilot. --Sean Axmaker

Original standard-8 version in the vaults!:
I was unaware that The Lost World (1925) had been subject to so much trimming. Stored in my attic somewhere I have what must be a pretty complete print of the film, since it consists of 5 or 6 reels, running time as far as I recall was indeed 80 or 90 mins. And at least some of the 'missing scenes' mentioned by people are definitely included in the print I have (case in point - the head through the window scene is definitely in there). Wow. Must get the Image DVD and run them side by side, something new might turn up. Have to oil the projector up!! I'm not sure when my the print I have same out, but the packaging is very old, and 8mm goes back to the turn of the '30s, which is only shortly after the original revisited the splicing room. Will share my findings.

don't get too excited:
Understand that I'm a stickler for old-school animation, and have long been a fan of the revolution set by Willis O'Brian (the animator of this film). That said, The Lost World isn't that great. It's a choppy, silent film, for one, which doesn't make it easy to watch AT ALL. It moves really slow, too. You can watch it in double-speed and still get the gist of the movie. The animation is scarce, but what is present is actually pretty cool, considering the time it was made. But that's not enough to say this movie is worth buying. There are far better classic animated monster fliks out there. The Lost World is not one of them.

Wild in the streets (never trust a vegetarian):
The eyes of the civilized world have never seen adventure and romance like this. A silent film with sound effects. Professor Challenger (Wallace Beery) comes in to the possession of Professor Whites lost diary. It was brought to him by the surviving daughter Miss Paula (Bessie Love). When he is not mangling newspaper reporters he intends to prove the story of a plateau in Brazil still harbors the descendents of dinosaurs. We see all the members of the expedition to both prove the existence of dinosaurs but also to save Paula's father. The adventure allows us to see fallen trees and dinosaur fights eight years before King Kong repeats the performance. A friendly brontosaurus nibbles at the fallen tree that was to be their escape rout. So it looks like Paula will have to learn to love Edward (Lloyd Hughes) a news paper man that endeared himself to the curmudgeon Challenger. And what is to become of Sir John Roxton (Lewis Stone) who made no secret that he also is in love with Paula? Always lurking in the background is the evil minded Ape-man (no not Tarzan) Bull Montana.

The Ultimate Vacation Spot!:
I love monster movies! I love dinosaurs running rampant! THE LOST WORLD is a very early (1925) example of both. Professor Challenger (Wallace Beery) puts together an expedition party to return with him to the amazon jungles, in order to prove his claims of living dinosaurs. Once there, we are treated to some ultra-cool dino-battles and high adventure! First, we see a pterodactyl flying around. Then, we get to watch an allosaurus fight triceratops! Our human heroes become a sideline to the spectacle before us. Willis O'Brien handled the stop-motion with care and detail (the dinos "breathe" and check out the stringy saliva / gore in the allosaurus' gaping maw). Soon, a brontosaurus thunders along, eating plants and minding it's own business, when -BAM!- Another unprovoked allosaurus attack! During it's fight for survival, brontosaurus falls over a cliff, landing in a mud-pool, stuck but still alive. Challenger and company decide to cage the beast and take it back to London. Upon their return, the mega-ton monster gets loose, running amuck through city streets, becoming the world's most dangerous vegetarian. Chaos ensues, with many classic moments of dino-destruction and fun. I highly recommend this movie to all film-freaks, and dinosaur / creature addicts like me...

The First Giant Monster Film:
We have to thank Doyle because not only is this a good film, but without it, there would be no Jurrasic Park. There would be no King Kong or The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, and if they never existed, Toho would never have the idea to make Godzilla or Rodan! An expedition and rescue goes to an old uncharted island where they see the most unbelievable thing, a land of dinosaurs and a carnivorice apeman with a chimp that lures pray to him! At the time, these special effects were amazing and so realistic. I gave it 4 stars because of the terrible DVD quality.