Land That Time Forgot (1975)

Great movie!

I hear the complaints about the special effects, but this is coming from our (spoiled) age of hi-tech glamour, where the animals are so spoon-fed real now you practically don't have to use your imagination at all anymore! I'm sure in 30 years people will laugh at the effects in JP #3 and say a kid could do better graphics on their toy PC...........anyway, I'm nostalgic.
I remember seeing this movie as a kid and I thought it was HUGE. What a cool story! A lost unknown island in the Antarctic, where dinosaurs still live and time bends, the people trying to survive and then getting trapped.....losing contact with the outside world, possibly for the rest of their lives. We sure don't see that kind of excitement in Central IL. You wont' find this one at any video store though, it's gone the way of its dinosaurs. Cool addition to any B movie collection.
By the way it has DVD. November 3, 2005

Forget the Time

This was recently on AMC's vibrant movie classics and I had to laugh. I had high hopes for this adventure that follows in the vein of "Voyage to the Earth's Core" and "Mysterious Island". I was sorely disappointed not only in the acting credentials but in the silly story line that reads from a five year old's comic book. Be sure to catch sight of the wires that are holding on to the Pterdactyl's wings when they grasp "Ogar" a half idiot pre-modern man who befriends the lost adventurers. The ending left is open for further rehashing of the same effects in "People that Time Forgot". Don't waste your time.

December 15, 2004

My Favorite When Teamed With Its Sequel!

As one other reviewer put it, I love to pay a visit to Caprona! I loved these movies in the 70's. In the eighties, an artistic producer at an independent station in Miami would show both The Land That Time Forgot and The People That Time Forgot on consecutive Saturday and Sunday late nights! Bring out the Pizza! In addition to the atmospheric qualities of the sets and settings of these two films (much of which is on-location) they have another timeless quality: excellent music. Land Time Forgot has a distinctive moody tone to its score. People Time Forgot has a dynamic opening and closing theme which is used re-currently throughout the film. Doug McClure is perfect as Bowen Tyler, and yes, he is in the sequel, which anchors the two films perfectly. Supporting casts in both films are excellent, and hey! I thought the dinosaurs were great! The submarine special effects are worthy of Derrick Meddings, and the Amphibian Plane effects in the sequel are equally impressive. The "Forgot" part of the titles are eloquently staged in "Land" when the submarine steams upriver; and in "People" when the pilot, Hogan, starts to go stir-crazy back at the Amphibian campsite. BTW, Patrick Wayne and Sarah Douglas shine in the sequel as much as our heroes do in the first flick. I agree with others: It's time for these two to come out in wide-screen DVD--preferrably together! One more note: READ THE BOOKS! They are available separately or together. And surprise! They are actually a trilogy: The Land That Time Forgot, The People That Time Forgot, and Out Of Time's Abyss. Thanks, Mr. Burroughs! June 11, 2004

Brilliant Characters and Wonderful Story

I love this film. I wish they would release it on DVD. Yes the special efects are laughable, but this film has a lasting appeal because the characters are very well developed and well defined, and the story is wonderful and mesmerizing. This film has an intagible quality about it that makes it perfect escapist fare, and whenever I watch it I go back into my childhood "comfort zone" so to speak. If you're ever weary of the world and the pressures of work and life, pop in this film and escape to another world of wondrous imagintation.

It is also very educational for a child. I love it when von Schoenhertz and the English girl (who is very pretty by the way) who is a botanist are discussing the bacteria they found on Caprona. It succinctly presents the difference in perspectives between "German metaphysics" as she says, and "British empiricism" as von Schoenhertz says. Then they get into an argument over conduct of the Great War. She accuses the Germans of brutality, but von Schoenhertz presents his very Germanic, Neitzschean rebuttal by going off on how she is naive and "life is founded upon killing and destruction" and "the sea is teeming with living things that prey upon one another to survive." That's very philosphical stuff for such a movie, and a great way to get kids interested in these things. It's cool too because Dietz represents the brutal German the English girl accuses von Schoenhertz of being, when in fact von Schonehertz is actually more the reflective, scientific German in the vein of Schopenhauer, Freud and Jung and he is in many ways more civilized than anyone else in the film. He is the elder, wise father figure. The British are portryaed as pragamatic, rational and generally compassionate -- the diplomats. But who Burroughs really exalts above all others is Mr. Tyler, the American. He is the brash, young (as America itself is comparitively) man who exudes the physical, masculine side of life -- he is the virile Alpha male who acts and leads, the hero. Despite his basically boorish character, the English girl cannot help but to be very attracted to him even though she has much more in common with von Schoenhertz, the Thinker.

It's an interesting position that Rice Borroughs takes, namely that in his day and age, the value of the alpha male hero and his "animal magnetism" exceeds that of the more introverted, reflective man of von Shcoenhertz. This is understandable given the feeling in Britain at the time that the manliness of the nation was ebbing away and they had better recapture that masculine spirit or fade away. It's also interesting that Burroughs sees the American Tyler and hence America itself as a possible saviour of the Anglo-Saxon "civilization" or "race" or more specifically the old and tired mother of Great Britain which in its perceived malaise was losing ground to and being threatened by the more brutal, energetic and meticulous Germans. It's all very metaphorical. Given what happened in the Great War and then some 25 years later in WWII, he seems to have been very prophetic.

In any event, there is a huge subtext to this seemingly simple film, and a rich thematic exposition. It presents archetypeal themes and perspectives, and this is why I believe the film (and the book) holds up so well and is even a testament to history DESPITE the lame special effects, which, when compared to such heady stuff as the themes presented, are inconsequential to the value of the film.

God Save the Queen! Sorry, my Anglophilia carried me away there:-) May 1, 2003

Doug Mcclure + The Lost World = High Adventure!

I loved this movie as a kid and I still love it now. Despite not having Harryhausen quality dinosaur effects, for the time, the effects are generally pretty good. Definitely better than the effects featured in many other movies of that type of the time and way above those in "At The Earth's Core". The acting is pretty good all around, especially the German captain and his sneering first mate, Dietz. And of course, no film of this type would be complete without the incomparable Doug McClure!

This movie really imparts an excellent sense of adventure as both a war drama and a fight for survival in the lost world of Caprona. They aren't stingy with the dinosaurs either as the sequel, 'The People That Time Forgot' is. All in all, this is a fun movie that really captures the essence of what dinosaur films of the current period like the Jurassic Park sequels are missing - a sense of adventure and a soul. April 13, 2003

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