The Lost City

A bizarre, demented, utterly berserk multi-chapter hoot that's a pure delight for camp enthusiasts, sci-fi movie freaks, and fans of the demented in any form. Wild, woolly adventures in a lost city in Africa which seems to have only three inhabitants. The story, if one can call it that, concerns an elderly captive scientist who elongates and lobotomizes natives (and can also make black people white), his beautiful daughter, the evil dictator who holds them captive, his assorted flunkies, a fiendish jungle priestess of some sort, a painfully earnest hero and his doltish, bumbling sidekick, and God knows what else. Weirdly acted, scripted by someone who must have been drunk out of his mind (or SOMETHING), and, oddly, has impressive special effects, given the time. Derivative, racist, whacked out, and utterly delightful.

Is there a good 35mm print of this thing? If there is and a negative, there is millions to be made from a camp Rocky Horror type reissue in cinemas or on the late-show cine circuit. Never have I seen such a bizarre serial. Imagine a jungle jumble of RED DUST, UNDERSEA KINGDOM, THE GOLEM, TARZAN AND HIS MATE, and FLASH GORDON, KING KONG, and THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME..I know, I know, just insane...but wound up to almost hysteria level acting and with a reasonable budget of deco indoor FRANKENSTEIN looking ray guns and zzzzy things, on steel rivet sets; submarine-airship bits and pieces...and you get sort of a picture of how berserk this serial truly is. Handsome he man Kane Richmond and some silly old professor and screaming daughter end up in darkest Africa being menaced chased, shot at, tied up and scribbled on (yes, scribbled upon!) by a roster of jungle idiots who include: giant oily Nubians who walk like huge stoned babies, a hunchback in a "prince Valiant style" page boy wig (and speaks in Shakespearian English), a tribal queen who clearly is Spanish, wears huge diamonties and talks like Lupe Velez, a gang of what look like flour covered jockeys in feathers and white fright wigs, and a gang of Hawaiian looking cranky cannibals who yell 'oomba goomba' and throw wobbly spears at whoever they are told to. And last but not least, a gay muscle dude who wears the tightest...and I mean SO tight you can see his religion... tightest spangly one piece girls swimming costume this side of the Hayes censorship code of 1934...he is called Appollon just in case you are not sure what he is there for. Once the scene is set between caves, indoor deco lost city with zappy electrical instruments and the usual all seeing television, and the jungle huts, the whole cast then chase each other between each location, throwing things at each other, looking suspiciously at each other or through windows or around corners - and screaming. Sometimes someone gets tied up or lions appear in old circus stock footage, or Kane gets his chest scribbled on (!) or the jockeys flabbboiiiing arrows at someone or the nubians stagger about, OR they run into a bush or get locked up in a grass hut, or tied to a chair, OR slam a door or just plain hit each other from behind in corridors with lead pipes, the action just basically rattles about in circles with ridiculous comments and overacting. I loved all 236 minutes of it. Made at the same hopeless serial factory by someone called Sherman Krellberg who produced THE BLACK COIN and other terrible serials before Republic Studios married Mascot and stopped (and imitated) the competition, THE LOST CITY needs to be concreted in infamy as the most hysterical loony and out of control piece of kids horror pantomime ever committed to celluloid. The 5000 FINGERS OF DR T has nothing on this. BUT I do believe it was made for adults. Exactly what type of adults I can only guess, but in its camp value and howling general beserkness suggests it was either seriously deranged in every part of its production or made by shrewd schlockmeisters who knew that in 2006 we would be waiting.

In the mid Fifties, Famous Monsters of Filmland published photos and stories about early horror and sci-fi serials. The Lost City serial was reviewed by Forrest Ackerman, FM's publisher, in which he told a story about the serial being run on early television in New York City. This was at a time when the networks were using old movies to fill up daytime schedules. As the story goes, the kids were so frightened at seeing black natives being turned into giant zombies with wide-eyed expressions and menacing grins, that protests were made to the station running the serial. The station discontinued the serial viewings. This story found its way into a couple of movie reference books. A serial historian checked out the story and found no mention anywhere that it either ran or was discontinued due to criticism. The serial has become a classic among fans because of its outdated racism and because it featured George Hayes, who became "Gabby Hayes" in Roy Rogers westerns. It also featured familiar B actors Kane Richmond, Claudia Dell and William "Stage" Boyd. Boyd was a B actor whose infamous claim to fame was that he once arrested for having illegal liquor at a party in his house during Prohibition. When the story was published in the paper, a photo of another William Boyd, whose stardom was on the rise. The studio where Boyd was working released him on the morals clause, even though he was not guilty. It may have been at this time that the William Boyd who was arrested took the name "Stage" to differentiate from the other Boyd. In any case, the innocent Boyd toiled in the B picture sweatshops until he was cast in a A western as Hopalong Cassidy.

The second half of The Lost City serial is pretty much what you would expect if you've seen part 1. Taken for what it is, and considering the time in which it was made, it's entertaining enough in it's own way. Racist by any standard, the continuous flow of villains turning into good guys and back again ( Ya gotta work in as many gimmicks as ya can to keep 'em comin' back week after week for a serial like this one. ), and the lamest natives and fight scenes ever. Bright spot ... The evil Queen was HOT. But then so is the jungle and I don't want to go there either. This flick is what you do at two a.m. Saturday night to kill time without having to think. Its kinda fun in a goofy sort of way.

This is quite a project. There is every conceivable kind of plot development. The bad guys turn good; the good guys turn bad; they turn back again. It's about scientists messing with the realm of electricity; it's about Arab slave traders; it's about zombie black men being made bigger, their brains being canceled out. There's Gabby Hayes. The sidekick. When I was a child I sold enough subscriptions to the St. Paul Pioneer Press to go to the Minnesota State Fair and meet Gabby Hayes, along with several other boys. He was there with the late singer, Johnny Horton, and called us all a bunch of young whippersnappers. It was a high point in my life. Anyway, it was kind of cool to see the old guy, with his scruffy beard, playing a pretty significant role. I'm not going to take this apart. It wouldn't be fair. It had to have been made up from one day to the next. I wondered how long that old scientist would survive being picked up and carted around. Everything is so hammy. Still it's a bit much, even for a serial. By the end you feel like you've been on a roller coaster and need a program to figure the whole thing out. I did enjoy William "Stage" Boyd and his manic throwing orders around. Also, the strong man in the sparkly suit (who was continuously incompetent) was real kick. It certainly was an interesting few hours.