L'île sur le toit du monde

Largely forgotten amid the many other fantasy adventures from around this time, this one is a gem. A slow start, and the antiquated attitudes of the explorers are cringeworthy, but it gets going! Donald Sinden's aristocratic Englishman leads a search party for his missing son, they travel by airship towards the Arctic circle and discover a hidden land beyond the ice.

For me - this was one of the best depictions of Norse people I've ever seen in cinema. From the get - go, no horned helmets or fake snow, these people spoke old Norse throughout the movie, correct clothes and appearance, and their villages and buildings were beautiful. Great to see normal life for Norse people, and not raiding and pillaging! The special effects get a little ropey towards the end but we can forgive that, and the aforementioned Sinden is on top eye rolling ham form.

A great Sunday afternoon movie!

As with several other reviewers, I also have fond memories of the theatrical release of this film from my youth, and this fantastic Jules Vernesque tale of a airship journey into the unknown arctic still holds up pretty well after all this time. There is some decent acting, a great score, a zeppelin,vikings in real viking longboats, real Scandinavian dialog, exploding volcanoes and vicious killer whales, what more do you want?

Some things are dated, such as the Eskimo vs. Inuit thing, the portrayal of Orca as man-eaters, etc. and the special effects have seen better days..but there are some surprisingly good sets with amazing matte paintings that are as good as anything you see on modern films (note the amazing viking hall on a hill top), great aerial footage, and a pretty decent story with good pace.

Break out the popcorn and enjoy it with your kids.

My dad took me to see this one in the theater back in 1974 when I was 7 years old. It blew me away and helped fuel a lifelong love for adventure/fantasy. Hey, who doesn't like a cool adventure? The story is set in the early 1900's and concerns a rich Englishman who leads a rescue party deep into the Arctic in search of his missing explorer son. They track him to a mysterious lost colony of Vikings that has been cut off from the outside world for centuries. The plot is a fairly typical "Lost World" format: 1/3rd of the movie is spent searching for the lost world, 1/3rd is spent exploring the lost world, 1/3rd is spent being chased around/from the lost world. It's all fairly exciting, but not deep enough to impress an adult viewer. (However, with some deft tweaking this could be GREAT remake material for Disney.) I bought the DVD recently to take a trip down memory lane and I wasn't disappointed. It held up well to my memory. Yes, the effects are dated and some of them are downright terrible, but others are surprisingly good, and overall the film has a wonderful pre-CGI charm. You'll also get vibrant outdoor shots and some of the best matte work you'll find in ANY movie. It's not a bad choice for adventure/fantasy fans looking for family-friendly fare. Probably your only chance to see this film anymore is on DVD. Be sure to get the 30th anniversary edition as it has the extras.

This film has lots of flaws. It has inferior Disney production values to be sure. An inferior cast. But for me it is still magic as I remember seeing it as a small boy in a theater when it came out. I remember the big zepplin careening through a dusty red night on its way to the Artic. I can still picture the whales in my mind and for some reason thought the movie was about finding the place where whales go to die. That is part of it, but it really tells the story of an English aristocrat employing the aid of a French airship captain and an American scientist to go to the Artic to find his lost son. There is a large part of the film devoted to the viking civilization on the Island at the Top of theWorld. Funny, but I didn't seem to remember any of that. After seeing the film again almost thirty years later, I can see why. It is ludicrous. But the rest of the film still holds up for me. The production values, special effects, and acting are not what you would normally expect from Disney. This must have been one of their rush productions. Come on, David Hartman as a hero. I have seen baloney sandwhiches with more charisma! Nonetheless, he is adequate, and Donald Sinden is okay too. the real acting standout is Jacques Marin as the airship captain. He has a lot of fun with his role. The musical score by Maurice Jarre is breathtaking.

In 1907, a wealthy Englishman recruits an American archaeologist and a French dirigible pilot to help him find a mysterious island in the Arctic where he believes he will find his missing son. When they locate the island, they find its inhabited by a lost Viking civilization that aren't too happy to see the outsiders.

Enjoyable Disney adventure film that's a throwback of sorts to similar films of the 1950s and early 1960s. It immediately brings to mind movies based on the works of Jules Verne, although it's actually an adaptation of the Ian Cameron novel "The Lost Ones." Handling the screenplay is John Whedon, a writer who worked mostly in sitcom television and also happens to be the grandfather of Joss Whedon. Directing the film is Disney favorite Robert Stevenson. It's a good-looking picture with nice sets and matte paintings. The scenes with the dirigible model are pretty good. There are no Harryhausen monsters to speak of, sadly, but there is a groan-tastic scene involving killer whales. The cast is decent, with most of the actors playing stereotype stock characters. Mako's turn as a cowardly Eskimo is probably the most colorful performance in the film. Maurice Jarre's evocative score is a big plus. The journey to discover the island is the best part. Once they arrive and deal with the Vikings, it becomes a lot less interesting, although things do pick back up during the escape. It's not going to give 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or Mysterious Island a run for their money, but it's very entertaining in its own way. Give it a shot if you're a fan of old-school adventure films, Disney or not, and you'll likely find something to enjoy here.