Die verlorene Welt

This first, silent version of The Lost World is the best one for dinosaur fans as it has more dinosaurs in it than any other. I have two VHS copies of this, an hour long version and the restored copy, which lasts for about 100 minutes.

Professor Challenger leads a party into an uncharted part of the Amazon where prehistoric monsters still live. When there, they explore the land and see the many dinosaurs that roam it. They then decide to try and capture one of these alive and bring it back to London! They manage this and bring back a Brontosaurus, but it escapes and goes on the rampage through London, brings down Tower Bridge and then escapes down the Thames.

The stop-motion dinosaurs are done excellently by Willis O'Brien and also include Allosaurus, Tricertops and Pteranodon.

The cast includes Wallace Beery as Chellenger, Bessie Love and Lewis Stone.

This movie is a must see, especially if you are a fan of dinosaur movies like myself. Excellent.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5.

I'm so glad that this film has been fully reconstructed to its almost original length - we can finally see The Lost World the way its filmmakers meant it to be seen. We can also see the problems and strengths more clearly as well. First, let's get the weaknesses out of the way: it takes its precious time a bit too much, the ape man looks so hilariously awful that it betrays the film's earnestness, a poorly written minor character is regrettably in blackface, and the film has several clumsily edited montages that do nothing but pad the movie's running time. I also didn't believe in the love triangle nor in the romantic leads' attraction for each other, but then that's because I'm almost never impressed by love triangles in general.

Now that we've gotten all the negative aspects out of the way, let's talk about the film's overwhelmingly positive assets. The stop-motion dinosaurs are rightfully the film's highlight; Willis O'Brien poured his heart and soul into animating these creatures. Even better, he gives each one of the animals their own unique personality: viciousness, tenderness, even grumpiness. I secretly wish that the dinosaurs took up more screen time - maybe bring all of them to London so they can wreak havoc on Professor Challenger's naysayers; but that's the little monstrous child in me desiring that.

Another delightful positive belongs to the energetic cast - most of them were up to the challenge and deserve to be mentioned right alongside their claymation attractions. Bessie Love gives a heartbreaking performance in an admittedly stock character as all she wants is her dear father to be alive and well. Meanwhile, Wallace Beery makes for an entertaining Professor Challenge that one can see why his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was more proud of him than with his most famous character, Sherlock Holmes.

A major revelation for those watching Flicker Alley's new Blu-Ray is that the film is visually sumptuous. After decades of existing in inferior black-and-white prints, The Lost World finally can be seen in its original tints that add a true artistry to it. It makes the film have the timeless feel of a Romantic etching or painting. This further proves how sophisticated silent movies were as an art form back in their heyday, as actual effort was spent to make the filmmaking experience an intensely moving one. No wonder why this film sparked the dinosaur craze that is still present today; it's really a well-done crowd pleaser!

Willis O'Brien made some early shorts utilizing his unique concept of special effects, but it was this film, The Lost World, that made his vision first come to life so to speak. O'Brien makes the lost world full of dinosaurs that seemingly do everything. They eat, fight, move, and generally live on screen. The film is a fairly good adaption of Doyle's book, with Doyle even having a cameo in the film. A raging professor named Professor Challenger, played with gusto by Wallace Beery, says that dinosaurs live on a plateau somewhere off in the Amazon. He is disbelieved by all concerned, and he, with the help and support of a rich adventurer, a cynical zoologist, a newsman, and a daughter of a lost professor on a previous journey, sets out to prove that dinosaurs do indeed exist on Earth still. The film has a nice, quick pace and is very entertaining. Beery, Lewis Stone, and Bessie Love all do fine jobs acting. The film has a new marvelous score to go with its silent action. Best of all...the film boasts the special effects of O'Brien's genius. A fine, fine film.

This was the first movie I ever taped when I got my first VCR back in the 1980's. I saw it was going to be on at 3:00 a.m., so I decided to try the programming to see it it worked. It did. I was so excited. The movie is so much fun. It has Wallace Beery as a borderline madman scientist leading an expedition to a far off island to find dinosaurs. There is a subplot of a reporter who is trying to talk him into letting him go along. There are scenes where Professor Challenger (Beery) chases and assaults this man because he hates reporters. Of course, we all know the story. They do bring back a dinosaur and it gets loose (ala King Kong) and leaves a path of destruction. The special effects are like Claymation, but one could only wonder how exciting and impressive these things were in their time. As a period piece, I urge people to see this. There are full length prints of it, not just the one some have commented on, which only shows the dinosaur scenes. If you have an open mind, you will have a lot of fun.

Although the existing versions all have missing portions, and although the film is obviously old-fashioned in several respects, the original "The Lost World" is still a fine film and very entertaining. It has an exciting and interesting story with some good characters and acting, and the dinosaur action, terrific for its time, is still quite watchable.

Besides the adventure story about dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures, there is also some decent human drama with a few interesting characters. The earnest young journalist out to prove himself, the bad-tempered but brilliant scientist, the devoted daughter searching for her missing father, and the rest, are all slightly exaggerated, but most also contain some real substance. There is a good cast to bring these characters to life.

Naturally, the animals are the big stars, and although the special effects do not compare with what is done today, the dinosaur action is still creative, entertaining and worth watching. There are also some good shots of live animals living in the Amazon area where the expedition takes place.

This is certainly recommended for those who enjoy silent films. It would also be interesting viewing for those who are more used to modern films of the genre - you'll see a lot of the ideas that were later used in films that are more familiar today.