The People That Time Forgot

American International made four low budget films starring Doug McClure based on books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author of the Tarzan books. THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT and it's sequel THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT borrowed heavily from Arthur Conan Doyle's THE LOST WORLD but added it's own twists and turns. THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT is a non-stop adventure in the Indiana Jones mode with Major Ben McBride (Patrick Wayne, son of the Duke) out to rescue shipwrecked Bowen Tyler (Doug McClure from the first film). Among those along for the adventure is Lady Charlotte Cunningham played by a beautiful Sarah Douglas (SUPERMAN II). Despite Amelia Earhart attire she is definately hot. She reminded me of Francesca Hunt in THE SECRET ADVENTURES OF JULES VERNE on the Sci-Fi Network. Along the way they meet Ajor (Dana Gillespie) friend of Bowen Tyler, who looks and dresses like Xena, Warrior Princess (so this is where Xena got that look). Dana Gillespie is stunning and like Xena and Sheena makes a great Jungle Girl (strong, smart, gorgeous, sexy...hey what else could one ask for?) Lady Charlotte and Major Ben create a romantic tension but when Ajor enters the scene Major Ben has eyes for Ajor and Lady Charlotte just goes with the flow chumming up with Ajor as well. I found that refreshing and glad to see the women in this film be more than just damsels in distress (there is a little of that toward the end but it all evens out with everyone being able to do something heroic). Jungle Girl films have been around for a long time (check out the serials!) and I truly love them because they show women to have strength, beauty, and brains. This film is a worthy member of that genre. Like the rest of the series the special effects are uneven but always entertaining (the vehicles and sets are always stunning but these guys never did know how to make a monster). The violence is very very low key, the frights are made funny by rubber puppets, and there is no swearing. Appropriate for the entire family for those into Xena and The Lost World.

I remembered horrible performances, cheap sets, and a contrived storyline. It's amazing I bothered with this one again, but I'm glad I did. While this is no masterpiece, it is actually much better than I remembered. Continuing forward from the original installment, "The Land That Time Forgot," picks up the Bowen Tyler (Doug McClure) character after having been left behind by the crew of his original mission, and discovers what has happened in his life since his isolation began.

While this IS horribly dated, Patrick Wayne is actually quite good. You may remember Patrick Wayne from Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger. He is also John Wayne's son, who was offered the role as Superman in the original movie, but turned it down due to his father's accelerating cancer.

The sets were not as bad as I thought I remembered, either, but the dialog delivery is still pretty false and unnatural.

All in all? As a "B" flick, this isn't bad for a rainy day diversion. It's still not a masterpiece and is RIPE for a remake, but there is some entertainment to be derived from this work.

It rates a 4.7/10 from...

the Fiend :.

The Land That Time Forgot was a surprisingly decent entry into the lost world of cavemen / dinosaurs adventure genre of the 70s, but this paint- by-numbers follow-up is nothing special. Block of wood celebrity offspring Patrick Wayne leads a band of rescuers in search of first movie survivor Doug McClure. The resulting chases, fights, narrow escapes etc. are the usual stuff of adventure movies, but the stunt choreography comes off as ordinary and uninspired. Oh-so-British Sarah Douglas is along as one of Wayne's crew but she has little to do here other than stand around looking uncomfortable. And the Lost Land itself, an important and colorful presence in the first film, is less imaginatively conceived this time around. Not a bad time waster when you have nothing better to do for a couple of hours, but try not to expect too much in the way of visionary fantasy. It isn't here.

I saw this film on a drive in double bill with THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT - and had read the books when I was 11 years old (Ace Paperbacks). LAND has hand puppet dinosaurs that don't move and look silly, PEOPLE has men in rubber suits as dinosaurs that look silly. Both films change the Burroughs stories (probably for budget reasons), but PEOPLE does something interesting - it combines the 2nd and 3rd book in Burroughs' series, using Act 1 of PEOPLE and Act 2&3 of OUT OF TIME'S ABYSS. The Weiros from ABYSS have been changed into Nagaas - a volcano cult dressed in Japanese Armor. (The Weiros were humanoids evolved from Pterodactyls - hard to do on a $1.98 budget.) This way they could take the old prisoner from ABYSS and turn him into Doug McClure's character.

PEOPLE is much better than LAND for a couple of reasons. LAND not only had crappy FX, it looked like it was shot on an indoor stage! So even when there isn't some bad process shot of a hand puppet T-Rex growling, the movie looks fake. PEOPLE was shot on location in Spain, and has some nice big panoramic shots - one amazing shot of the team crossing the crest of a mountain looks like something out of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. The other reason why PEOPLE is better - cavegirls! If you read the books (with Frazetta covers) there were always half-naked cavegirls. As an 11 year-old boy, reading these was like discovering your Uncle's Playboy collection. Half naked girls! LAND has no cavegirls at all, PEOPLE has the Ajor character from the novel in a laced leather outfit that fits the drive in AIP scenario to a T.

I love the books, and would love to do a modern adaptation (with today's FX).

• Bill

THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT was supposed to have a happy ending. It wasn't happy but then again, it wasn't altogether sad either. It was an agonizing wait for this, the sequel, THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT.

Patrick Wayne is a big name and worthy as the brother of the Doug McClure character; however, they gave him the whole show. It was 40-45 minutes before we see Doug, then 10 minutes later he's gone. He gets to make a last statement and I hope to understand its actual meaning someday, if there is one, but right now I'm just trying to get over the shock. Yeah, we waited for the sequel why? Hoped for a better outcome the first movie and expected what outcome now? Why can't the ending of at least one dinosaur movie be pithy and predictable? The rest of it was fun, but you don't leave the theater with that feeling- it's ruined by the ending. Again.