The Lost World (1960)

Director: Irwin Allen

Starring: Michael Rennie, Jill St. John, David Hedison, Claude Rains

Professor Challenger leads an expedition of scientists and adventurers to a remote plateau deep in the Amazonian jungle to verify his claim that dinosaurs still live there.

On return from an expedition from the Amazon, zoologist Professor George Challenger (Claude Rains) claims to have seen strange things. Creatures that believe to have been long extinct, still exist on a plateau.

When asked for funding and volunteers to join him on his next mission, the most unlikely characters come forward. And so his journey starts out with a game hunter Lord Roxton, Professor Summerlee and journalist Ed Malone. Arriving at the starting point in the Amazon, they are joined by Senor Costa, who made the arrangements, and helicopter pilot Gomez. Challenger is furious to see Jennifer – whose father funded the expedition – along with her brother David, present as well. And Jennifer even brought her dog, Fuzzy!

And so these adventurers head to the plateau in search of Challenger’s strange creatures, and dinosaurs. Needless to say, soon after arriving on the plateau, its the creatures that find them, and their mission becomes a quest for survival. I found the acting incredibly theatrical. The cheaply made sets also looked more like a stage play than a film set. The ‘dinosaurs’ were nothing more than lizards, iguanas, and crocodiles with horns and fins affixed to them!!! Hilariously cheap! I don’t know how audiences believed it to be dinosaurs back in 1960 (pffffff!!!!!).

The dialogue is melodramatic and the script caused me to raise an eyebrow more than once. The group find themselves on the run from dinosaurs, creatures, and cannibals. Surprisingly, despite all the film’s flaws, it was still a rather exciting adventure. So sit back, relax and enjoy a taste of vintage cinema.

Would I watch it again? Uh, no.