The Lost City

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.

As I saw it as it was intended to be seen at the Delta Cinema,in my home town of Hamilton.They showed a lot of older films as the Gentleman who ran the Cinema was money challenged. So they showed Serials Chapter by Chapter and the Lost City ws one that I saw Three or Four Times when I was young. This is a Serial that throws in everything but the Kitchen Sink,with Africans being turned into Giants,Slave Traders and a Tribe Of Spider Men. There are interesting people like Gabby Hayes,and Gino Corrado who was the Singer in the Three Stooges Microphonies.And Billy Bletcher as Gorzo,who was the voice of the Big Bad Wolf in the Three Little Pigs. And a young Kane Richmond,later on Spy Smasher. The acting is so over the top its enjoyable. I recommend this to anyone who loves that sort of off the wall lunacy in their films.

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 The serial has become a classic among fans because of its outdated racism and because it featured George Hayes, who became "Gabby Hayes" in Roy Rogers westerns.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.

This supremely silly (but still kinda fun), 12-chapter serial/adventure tale (from 1935) had just about everything in it, but the kitchen sink.

Set in the fictitious region of Central Africa called the Magnetic Mountains, our dashing, young, American hero & researcher, Buck Gordon, travels to the Dark Continent in hopes of tracking down the brilliant yet decidedly crazed mad scientist Dr. Zolok who's definitely up to no good in a really big way.

As the story goes - It seems that somewhere within a hidden city (situated below Magnetic Mountain) Zolok has built a truly remarkable machine which can, in fact, be programed to create serious electrical disturbances at great distances.

And, as expected, Zolok plans to use this wondrous invention in his diabolical plans to (guess what?) take over the world. (Oh! My!)

Can our courageous hero and his trusty comrades save the day and stop zany Zolok before he carries things too far?

Well, you'll just have to check out The Lost City for yourself to find out the answer to that and much-much more, too!

All the other comments are really right on the mark about THE LOST CITY. For some of us it is a guilty pleasure, mainly because it is so outlandish. Trying to rate it is difficult, because on the one hand the acting is so atrocious and the racial attitudes are beyond belief, and the other hand, it is never boring, and has imaginative sets and Kenneth Strickfadden's electrical devices. Recently Jerry Frank's, nephew wrote about this film. Frank and Sam Baker, who played the 7 foot zombie Hugo became best of friends. It was heartwarming to read how in those days, the two actors, one Black and the other Jewish bonded. Baker referred to the film as "That old dog" but neither would disavow the film.