THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT (1974 - color)
"World War 1 U-boat surfaces in prehistoric lost world."
Reportedly very close to it's source novel, THE LAND THAT TIME
FORGOT was the first of three films co-produced by
American International Pictures and England's Amucis Productions, based
on the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and starring American actor Doug
McClure. Some truly fine matinee entertainment, the trilogy was rounded
out with AT THE EARTH'S CORE and THE
PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT (an unofficial quartet formed by the addition of the Burroughs-inspired WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS).
The film's poster was a marvel to behold, featuring dinosaurs galore
waiting to menace a rather less dated submarine than the movie offers!
Although stamped "U-33" like the vessel in the movie, the sub sports
huge
observation windows that the Seaview would be proud of, and there's an
excursion bell with
mechanical arms (!), plus wet-suited divers (!), being carried along!!!
What's more, not only is the
sub being menaced by a hundred foot, water-logged (only his eyes above
the surface, like a hippo) Tyrannosaurus (!!), but also a giant
(although more realistically so) octopus, and, I'm not making this up, a
giant manta ray complete with a heat ray coming from an appendage upon
it's back!!!!
While this poster
has almost no bearing on the
film itself (other than the connection of a submarine and some
dinosaurs), it's a
very displayable piece of art. It certainly fires a young imagination
standing on line to buy popcorn!
I remember studying this artwork (nicely reproduced as the box art for
this Video Treasures VHS release*) intensely before the first time I
screened the film as a child. This looked like it was going to be the
biggest dinosaur film of all time! Interestingly, I didn't feel cheated
at all when the film finally finished. Despite being rather incredibly
mislead, the film was so good I never even brought the box art into mind
during the viewing!
(* Amusingly, the only image on the back of the box is a still from the sequel film!)
(* Amusingly, the only image on the back of the box is a still from the sequel film!)
And what a great time is to be had with this film! Kids got some great adventure
movies in the 60's and 70's! This one must have topped some favorite lists pretty quickly!
We open with a canister being flung from a cliff and into the raging
waters of the sea below. The credits play out as we see the canister
being dragged along by the raging waters until it comes to rest on the
shores of
a tiny fishing village.
Opening the canister and unfurling the paper inside, an old salt begins to read the account of one Bowen Tyler (McClure), a submarine builder on a civilian ocean vessel which is torpedoed by a German U-boat, U-33*. Tyler finds himself among a tiny handful of survivors who end up in a life raft bobbing about in the fog. Among them is pretty lady biologist Lisa Clayton (Susan Penhaligon), and the ship's Captain, Bradley (Keith Barron). Hearing the U-boat surface, the survivors mount a siege and quickly wrest control away from Capt. Von Schoenvorts (John McEnery).
(According to the trivia of the IMDB, there really was a U-33 in German service in World War One.)
A natural leader and strategist, Tyler finds himself calling the shots and the sub is headed toward British port. Unfortunately, the Brits open fire on the German vessel before it's friendly status can be confirmed, and the sub dives to the sea floor. They decide to head for a neutral port, but German first mate Dietz (Anthony Ainley) sabotages the compass with a magnet. After heading south for six days, Tyler and Bradley discover the subterfuge. While figuring their location on a chart, they find themselves taken prisoner by Deitz and Von Schoenvorts.
(The only version currently in release is a DVD put out by MGM. While the print is quite lovely, and scope, it seems to be the British print. Absent from it are a couple of scenes, such as the above sequence which makes clear the sabotage of the compass.)
The German's back in control, they continue the ship southward toward a supply line. When the ship surfaces, Lisa takes advantage of the activity and releases the prisoners. The good guys quickly take back control, unbeknownst to Von Schoenvorts watching the supply ship topside. Tyler notices the supply ship is directly in front of the U-33 and launches torpedoes which quickly sink the enemy ship. With no new supplies, including fuel, Tyler is now in command of a seemingly doomed ship. They'll conserve rations and let the currents dictate the movement of the ship to save fuel.
In time, the sub comes across a field of icebergs that are too far north. Tyler must admit he's lost and he strikes a deal with Von Schoenvorts to work together until they can reach a neutral port and surrender to the authorities there. Von Schoenvorts agrees.
Soon, they come across a huge ice-bound continent, one Von Schoenvorts recalls reading about in the 200 year old records of an explorer named Caproni. He suspects the mass of ice and snow and rock to be Caprona, uncharted due to it's lack of landing ground. Discovering a stream of warm (and fresh) water coming from a huge cave opening, the decision is made to travel up the river to wherever it may lead.
Up til now, the film has been a well-produced but simple WW1 submarine movie. All that's about to change...
Navigating through the treacherous cavern, the U-33 surfaces in a huge lake surrounded by dense jungle. It's hot, it's humid, and there are prehistoric creatures all over the place! We first spy one of these beasties as Tyler is looking through the periscope. In one of the great shots in 70's cinema, the periscope view of the volcanic lake is suddenly interrupted by a huge green monster shooting out of the waters and appearing to swallow the camera with it's toothy maw! Tyler is taken aback, but then takes another look and the creature is nowhere to be seen.
I may as well take this time to delve into one of the elements that makes this movie so great: the dinosaurs. In the first place, there's so many of them! The edges of the lake are just crazy with activity as various sea serpents pop their heads in and out of the water (one even chomps down on the serpent next to it)! The skies are full of pterodactyls, and a sauropod is even viewed from a distance! (I recall a lot of these shots being used for bumpers when TBS was screening The Flintstones in the 1990's.)
That's just the beginning, though! In time, our heroes will have to face down a pair of charging allosaurus WHILE fighting off a number of cavemen! Later, they'll witness a fight between a ceratosaurus and a triceratops, and the ship will open fire on a pair of styrakosaurus who pin down Tyler and Von Schoenvorts! There's also a full-size pterodactyl who carries off one of the characters! Wow!
The creatures themselves are just beautiful. Mostly a collection of rod and hand puppets, we're treated to a veritable smorgasbord of giant monster action! The caronsaurs have lifeless arms, the pterodactyls are stiff, and there's one instance where a styrackosaurus has a nasty case of Muppet-mouth, but otherwise it's all good!
And then there's the full sized props! Not only is there the aforementioned giant bird, but also TWO life-sized lake monsters! These water monsters are mixed with the much better designed puppets to ill effect, but the cuts are quick and we focus on the slicker puppet versions.
A crewman snatched off the deck by a giant monster, another pops up to sample the new goodies. Tyler and Bradley manage to kill the beast with machine-gun fire and we get one of the few scenes in movie history to show people eating a dinosaur! Over this unique meal, the men formulate a plan of command to keep the crewmen under control as long as it takes them to leave Caprona. Bradley will command the Brits, Von Schoenvorts the Germans, and both groups will act under advisement of neutral American Tyler.
Although not salt water, the lake is filled with cellular animals. The men will have no fresh water unless they can find a spring upriver that's free of such creatures. And as they move upstream, they discover something very peculiar about this lost world....
For the sake of anyone who hasn't seen the film yet, I'll avoid going into further details. You could do worse than seek out a copy of the film yourself! This is everything the 1976 KING KONG should have been! Again, though, although the MGM DVD has a nice pretty print in a widescreen format, the older video release includes elements missing from the newer release. One is a line of dialog missing from the climax of the DVD. Listening to this audio again, I'd suspect the line was added to the U.S. print, and the MGM release is the UK print.
Opening the canister and unfurling the paper inside, an old salt begins to read the account of one Bowen Tyler (McClure), a submarine builder on a civilian ocean vessel which is torpedoed by a German U-boat, U-33*. Tyler finds himself among a tiny handful of survivors who end up in a life raft bobbing about in the fog. Among them is pretty lady biologist Lisa Clayton (Susan Penhaligon), and the ship's Captain, Bradley (Keith Barron). Hearing the U-boat surface, the survivors mount a siege and quickly wrest control away from Capt. Von Schoenvorts (John McEnery).
(According to the trivia of the IMDB, there really was a U-33 in German service in World War One.)
A natural leader and strategist, Tyler finds himself calling the shots and the sub is headed toward British port. Unfortunately, the Brits open fire on the German vessel before it's friendly status can be confirmed, and the sub dives to the sea floor. They decide to head for a neutral port, but German first mate Dietz (Anthony Ainley) sabotages the compass with a magnet. After heading south for six days, Tyler and Bradley discover the subterfuge. While figuring their location on a chart, they find themselves taken prisoner by Deitz and Von Schoenvorts.
(The only version currently in release is a DVD put out by MGM. While the print is quite lovely, and scope, it seems to be the British print. Absent from it are a couple of scenes, such as the above sequence which makes clear the sabotage of the compass.)
The German's back in control, they continue the ship southward toward a supply line. When the ship surfaces, Lisa takes advantage of the activity and releases the prisoners. The good guys quickly take back control, unbeknownst to Von Schoenvorts watching the supply ship topside. Tyler notices the supply ship is directly in front of the U-33 and launches torpedoes which quickly sink the enemy ship. With no new supplies, including fuel, Tyler is now in command of a seemingly doomed ship. They'll conserve rations and let the currents dictate the movement of the ship to save fuel.
In time, the sub comes across a field of icebergs that are too far north. Tyler must admit he's lost and he strikes a deal with Von Schoenvorts to work together until they can reach a neutral port and surrender to the authorities there. Von Schoenvorts agrees.
Soon, they come across a huge ice-bound continent, one Von Schoenvorts recalls reading about in the 200 year old records of an explorer named Caproni. He suspects the mass of ice and snow and rock to be Caprona, uncharted due to it's lack of landing ground. Discovering a stream of warm (and fresh) water coming from a huge cave opening, the decision is made to travel up the river to wherever it may lead.
Up til now, the film has been a well-produced but simple WW1 submarine movie. All that's about to change...
Navigating through the treacherous cavern, the U-33 surfaces in a huge lake surrounded by dense jungle. It's hot, it's humid, and there are prehistoric creatures all over the place! We first spy one of these beasties as Tyler is looking through the periscope. In one of the great shots in 70's cinema, the periscope view of the volcanic lake is suddenly interrupted by a huge green monster shooting out of the waters and appearing to swallow the camera with it's toothy maw! Tyler is taken aback, but then takes another look and the creature is nowhere to be seen.
I may as well take this time to delve into one of the elements that makes this movie so great: the dinosaurs. In the first place, there's so many of them! The edges of the lake are just crazy with activity as various sea serpents pop their heads in and out of the water (one even chomps down on the serpent next to it)! The skies are full of pterodactyls, and a sauropod is even viewed from a distance! (I recall a lot of these shots being used for bumpers when TBS was screening The Flintstones in the 1990's.)
That's just the beginning, though! In time, our heroes will have to face down a pair of charging allosaurus WHILE fighting off a number of cavemen! Later, they'll witness a fight between a ceratosaurus and a triceratops, and the ship will open fire on a pair of styrakosaurus who pin down Tyler and Von Schoenvorts! There's also a full-size pterodactyl who carries off one of the characters! Wow!
The creatures themselves are just beautiful. Mostly a collection of rod and hand puppets, we're treated to a veritable smorgasbord of giant monster action! The caronsaurs have lifeless arms, the pterodactyls are stiff, and there's one instance where a styrackosaurus has a nasty case of Muppet-mouth, but otherwise it's all good!
And then there's the full sized props! Not only is there the aforementioned giant bird, but also TWO life-sized lake monsters! These water monsters are mixed with the much better designed puppets to ill effect, but the cuts are quick and we focus on the slicker puppet versions.
A crewman snatched off the deck by a giant monster, another pops up to sample the new goodies. Tyler and Bradley manage to kill the beast with machine-gun fire and we get one of the few scenes in movie history to show people eating a dinosaur! Over this unique meal, the men formulate a plan of command to keep the crewmen under control as long as it takes them to leave Caprona. Bradley will command the Brits, Von Schoenvorts the Germans, and both groups will act under advisement of neutral American Tyler.
Although not salt water, the lake is filled with cellular animals. The men will have no fresh water unless they can find a spring upriver that's free of such creatures. And as they move upstream, they discover something very peculiar about this lost world....
For the sake of anyone who hasn't seen the film yet, I'll avoid going into further details. You could do worse than seek out a copy of the film yourself! This is everything the 1976 KING KONG should have been! Again, though, although the MGM DVD has a nice pretty print in a widescreen format, the older video release includes elements missing from the newer release. One is a line of dialog missing from the climax of the DVD. Listening to this audio again, I'd suspect the line was added to the U.S. print, and the MGM release is the UK print.
As we know, the film was followed up by a sequel film, THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT,
which featured slicker effects, but fell a little flat compared to the
breakneck pace of this film. Also, Caprona's topography was a bit different for
some reason! It doesn't stand up well in the light of the parent film,
but I don't want to sell it short, either. It's a fine adventure film in
it's own right, but suffers from having much less Doug McClure!
I love the scene with the pterodactyl flapping off with that poor caveman in his mouth/beak. It looked hysterical and at the same time you felt sorry for the poor guy getting turned into dinner.
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