Jack S
Notable only for the innovative early use of stop-motion dinosaur effects, this one, with the exception of a couple dinosaur-related action sequences, is otherwise slowly paced to the point of monotony. A poorly dramatized story, filled with one-dimensional characters, this version unfortunately feels longer than its brief 93-minute running time.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/28/24
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Joseph D
If you get the chance, see the 90 minute cut, it's the best. The technical wizardry used to give life to the animals, & the world they live in is highly impressive, given the film's nearly 100yrs old, & the cast is colorful & entertaining. The music also helps breath life into the story. I'm glad this world didn't stay lost.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
08/20/23
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David W
Innovative, exciting, well written, acted and directed. The quality of the stop motion for its vintage is extraordinary. It set so many firsts and has quite literally sign posted the way for pretty much every film in this genre since. An absolute classic in every sense of the word. This was the start of adventure movies as we know them.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
11/06/22
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georgan g
This is THE best prehistoric film with dinosaurs...and it's silent! Even the ones from the sci fi golden age of the 50s/60s doesn't come close. Their special effects were down right silly, whereas the stop-motion of this 1925 movie are terrific. Best creature feature until the computer age!
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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Taylor L
'Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Stupendous Story Comes to Life!'
No, not that one. It's ... it's not about Sherlock Holmes, okay? He also wrote about dinosaurs. You all love dinosaurs, right?
This silent era project is definitely a formative work, more significant as an artifact than as a film. The Lost World helped usher in the era of science fiction film on a commercial scale, expanding from Georges Méliès' highly creative and whimsical shorts to feature-length narrative adaptations. It's such an early work that it actually features an introduction with footage of Doyle himself, who seems like an author generations removed from the age of cinema. Perhaps most notably, the film was the proof-of-concept for special effects pioneer Willis O'Brien, who would go on to give life to King Kong in 1933; the film totally embraces the potential of the effects of the period, frequently employing stop-motion and color-tinting (the latter to a rather unnecessary degree). However, those eight years would make a big difference in O'Brien's proficiency in the medium, as The Lost World seems more like awkward first steps than a timeless classic. And despite being totally unnecessary to the plot, the film manages to plug some unforeseen racial insensitivity and blackface into the film, making it something of an archival relic.
For hardcore science fiction fans, the film still might be worth a watch to get more of an understanding of the origins of the genre, but it shows its age quite often. (2.5/5)
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
09/19/22
Full Review
Audience Member
Adapted from Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 novel, The Lost World is most famous for its stop motion special effects, which were created by Willis O'Brien and predate his work on the original King Kong.
In some prints of this film, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself appeared in the opening, introducing what audiences were about to see. Just a few years earlier, he had shown test reel of O'Brien's effects to a meeting of the Society of American Magicians, including Harry Houdini. The audience was certain they had seen true footage of dinosaurs and Coyle refused to say where he had acquired the footage. It even made the front page of the New York Times, which said that Doyle's "monsters of the ancient world, or of the new world which he has discovered in the ether, were extraordinarily lifelike. If fakes, they were masterpieces."
The first feature-length film made in the United States — and probably the the world — to feature model animation as the primary special effect, this was also the first movie to be played on an airplane.
Professor Challenger (Wallace Berry) has been ridiculed for announcing that dinosaurs are real, yet he accepts an offer to field a team to rescue the scientist Maple White, along with that learned man's daughter Paula, sportsman Sir John Roxton, news reporter Edward Malone, Professor Summerlee, Zambo and Challenger's butler Austin. I mean, if you live in style, I always say take your servant to meet some kaiju.
Well, their trip is filled with peril, plenty of dinosaurs and an apeman who nearly kills them multiple times before they bring a brontosaurus back to London. Unlike Kong, beauty does not kills the beast and the gigantic quadruped sauropod swims on down the Thames to freedom.
The version that played Fantastic Fest has the score interpreted by Sirintip, whose origins and influences stretch across three continents and cultures: Thailand, Sweden and America. The young performer has stated, "I want to also appeal to people who don't know anything about jazz… while inspiring and challenging the people who do listen to jazz in a new way."
Fantastic Fest @ Home is featuring a series of silent films reimagined with the music of five artists from GroundUp music. Beyond this film, there's also Aelita: Queen of Mars with a score by Snarky Puppy's Chris Bullock, Sirintip rescoring The Lost World, PRD Mais taking on Waxworks, Bob Lanzetti covering Nosferantu and House of Waters playing music for Menilmontant, Le Voyage dans la Lune and Ballet Mecanique.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
Full Review
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