Quick Rating:  ***

 
Before King Kong, before Godzilla, before Jurassic Park.  There was the Lost World.  This silent classic, adapted from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's story, paved the way for monster movies.  The film's story is simplistic.  A professor's story of live dinosaurs in the Amazon is ridiculed.  When he asks for brave souls to accompany him back to the lost world to prove it, he does get a few volunteers  - another professor, a clumsy reporter, the daughter of a man lost on the last expedition, and a few forgettable others.
 
The venture into the unknown land and find the giant plateau on which the dinosaurs are supposed to be.  They make their way up and they do see dinosaurs.  No real suspense or drama in this area of the film, which I think it could have used... but rather the dinosaurs are just thrown at us.  The special effects of the dinosaurs are fantastic.  They are a little choppy at times, but considering this film was made over 80 years ago, it's damn fine!  The expedition see a Brontosaurus, an Allosaur, a Triceratops, a Stegasaur, and many others.  There's also some monkey man missing link, accompanied by an orangutan, who attacks the men, for some reason.  That's never really explained.
 
The men escape and take a live Brontosaurus back to London, where of course, he escapes and causes havoc in the streets.
 
It is a classic film, and the dinosaur effects are great.  However, there's not much to the story, or even enough drama/suspense to keep you fully interested in these characters and their predicament.
 
 
 

 
 

Quality: 3.0  Visuals: 8.0  Intensity: 4.0
OVERALL RATING: 5.0