Caprona - Das vergessene Land

Fantastic and amusing adventures full of monsters in lost continent by Kevin Connor and based on a novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs . At the beginning of the film , during World War I , a German submarine sinks a Brit boat and takes the survivors on board. The submarine takes them to the unknown land of Antartica called Caprona . At the sub are reunited the U-boat German captain (John McEnery) piloting his ship along with Owen Tyler (Doug McClure) and Lisa (Susan Penhaligon) , among others . The group takes a wrong turn and descend over a barren land and meet some primitive men , Neardentals and prehistoric animals . They have to deal with numerous risks, dangers, endure torrential landslide, shakesands, volcano, cavemen warriors, dinosaurs and discover a lost tribe .

This engaging adaptation is a special version of the Edgar Rice Burroughs adventure yarn . There are rip-roaring action, spirit of adventure, derring-do, thrills, and results to be quite entertaining. It's a brief fun with average special effects , passable set decoration , functional art direction and none use of computer generator. This fantasy picture packs thrills, action, weird monsters, lively pace and fantastic scenarios . The monsters are the real stars of this production and its chief attribute. The tale is silly and laughable but the effects and action are quite well. Among the most spectacular of its visuals there are a Pterodactilus roaring menacingly towards the camera, a little tableau comprising attack of a giant monsters and the colorful backgrounds of the lost land . Some monsters are clumsily made but movie is OK . Highlights of the adventure includes a roller-coaster trip towards unknown land in South America , and appearance of prehistoric reptile such as Pterodactilus, Stegosaurius, and Tiranosaurious . In addition the final scenes where appears breathtaking volcanic eruptions and thunderous explosions . Some illogical parts in the argument are more than compensated for the excitement provided by Roger Dicken's monsters, though sometimes are a little bit cheesy. Filmed in glimmer cinematography by Alan Hume on location in Santa Cruz De La Palma , Tenerife(Canary Islands) and Shepperton studios , Surrey England . Adequate and stirring musical score by Douglas Gamley. This one turns out to be an acceptable collaboration between producers Milton Subotsky , Max Rosemberg and director Kevin Connor who also made in similar style : ¨All the Earth's core(76)¨, ¨Warlord of Atlantis(1978)¨, mostly starred by Doug McClure and with Dicken as the monster-maker. It's followed by ¨People that time forgot¨ in which an expedition undergoing a trip in search for Tyler (Doug McClure) who has been missing in that region for many years . The film will appeal to kids who swallow whole and sit convulsed in their armchair.

I loved this movie as a kid. Can't recall how many times I watched it on the late show in my early teens, but it was more than a few. I hadn't seen it since about 1982 and was pleased TCM ran it recently, so I recorded it and watched it last night.

The scenes came back to me by rote though I definitely needed the refresher after all these years. Seeing it now at 40, it of course has become a little more quaint in the wake of the Jurassic Park series, but it still held my interest as it WAS a very good effort in 1975 with limited resources at bringing to the screen an intelligent Sci/fi adventure with old fashioned heroics reminiscent of King Kong etc.

The script, though certainly not as good as it could have been, stays true to itself, and even though the SFX at times look primitive (they still kick the snot out of the FX in Logan's Run}, the story is poorly paced after the U-Boat reaches Caprona, and the Neanderthals and the obligatory volcanic eruption are more than forced, the film never becomes kitschy or laughable, or outright uninteresting like dozens of other films like this made on the cheap. My only wish is it would have been a bit longer and included more thoughtful dialogue about nature and evolution and survival to give the story and characters more depth. And Ray Harryhausen could have done much more with the dinosaurs in the technical department.

As far as leading men go, Doug McClure is good in this and will always get my sympathy as that likable, two fisted action star who had the misfortune of looking too much like Lee Marvin and sounding too much like Glenn Ford to ever get the kind of roles he deserved in bigger pictures. He was good in these Kevin Connor adventure flicks in the 70's, and is eternally one of my favorite actors as a result.

Lots of details about the U-Boat and what not are probably inaccurate, and the story itself is more than too similar to Verne's Mysterious Island with shades of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but overall, while I wouldn't call it great or even good, it is definitely worth a look and still a nifty little piece of entertainment for the budget it had. Surprising a remake hasn't appeared in this age of CGI. Could be a dandy. Are you listening, Peter Jackson?

I first saw this film when I was a child, it had always stuck out in my mind and I was lucky enough to see it again recently.

Although the effects are not spectacular, they aren't terrible. In fact they are pretty good considering the era.

The characters are well written and likable, the dialogue is not over-complicated with technical terms but remains clever and enjoyable to follow.

A real empathy is established for the characters who find themselves in a seemingly fantastic but dangerous situation.

All in all I find the film enjoyable for anyone to watch and recommend it highly.

I love this movie! It proves that it is not special effects that carry a movie, but a good believable story. That is proved because most of the effects used in the film are not good. However the acting is and so is the story! None of the characters appear "cartoonish" with maybe the exception of the pre historic man. But heck, we don't know what pre historic men were like so it doesn't hamper the story. Doug McClure is a very solid lead with the submarine captain in a superb supporting role. The other German officer makes a great villain. This is one of my favorites of all time! Even it's sequel, "The People Time Forgot" wasn't bad. **** out of 5.

When I was a young boy of eight years old I saw this at my my local cinema . In those days it cost 15 pence ( A fair amount of money for an eight year old child ) to get in . I actually saw it two or three times which eat up my pocket money bit I certainly thought it was money well spent since in those days I enjoyed war films and monster films . Yesterday morning Channel 4 broadcast it at 6 am which seems a ridiculous time to broadcast anything never mind a fondly remembered fantasy adventure movie but I looked forward to seeing it again if only to see how well it stands up as entertainment today . Would my cherished memories be hurt ? Do I have nice memories about THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT simply down to nostalgia ?

To be honest I think the answer is a resounding no . Right from the opening title sequence where Douglas Gamley's score sums up the downbeat feature of the story we the audience are treated to a fantasy adventure that is a little bit different . You could point out the first half of the movie is somewhat repetitive as the Germans and Brits get one over on one another but in amongst all this is some serious debate on wartime morality , allied civilian ships carrying weapons of war for example which shows no one has a monopoly on self righteousness when the battle lines are drawn and the theories of Nietzsche are also touched upon . What'd you mean this is a childish film ?

No doubt the people who watched this at the cinema on its release where more interested in prehistoric monsters than 19th century philosophy and it's not till half way through that the U-boat reaches the ancient island of Caprona which is inhabited by rubber dinosaurs and troglodytes . Yeah okay the monsters especially the pterodactyls are not very convincing but I've seen worse . It's also interesting to that this part of the movie replaces Nietzsche with Darwinisnm and I don't know if it's deliberate but this concept fits in perfectly well with the sequel THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT . How many times have you seen a sequel that almost contradicts the original movie ? This makes THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT something of a stand out movie alongside the very pessimistic final act

I fail to see how anyone can actively dislike this movie . I agree that the special effects are far from brilliant but look beyond the FX and you'll see a very intelligent piece of fantasy adventure . The very fact that it has a sense of wonder and a truly haunting ending sets it apart from many other movies of its ilk like WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS and AT THE EARTHS CORE and nostalgia or not I certainly enjoyed seeing it again