The Lost City

The second half of The Lost City serial is pretty much what you would expect if you've seen part 1. Taken for what it is, and considering the time in which it was made, it's entertaining enough in it's own way. Racist by any standard, the continuous flow of villains turning into good guys and back again ( Ya gotta work in as many gimmicks as ya can to keep 'em comin' back week after week for a serial like this one. ), and the lamest natives and fight scenes ever. Bright spot ... The evil Queen was HOT. But then so is the jungle and I don't want to go there either. This flick is what you do at two a.m. Saturday night to kill time without having to think. Its kinda fun in a goofy sort of way.

Is there a good 35mm print of this thing? If there is and a negative, there is millions to be made from a camp Rocky Horror type reissue in cinemas or on the late-show cine circuit. Never have I seen such a bizarre serial. Imagine a jungle jumble of RED DUST, UNDERSEA KINGDOM, THE GOLEM, TARZAN AND HIS MATE, and FLASH GORDON, KING KONG, and THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME..I know, I know, just insane...but wound up to almost hysteria level acting and with a reasonable budget of deco indoor FRANKENSTEIN looking ray guns and zzzzy things, on steel rivet sets; submarine-airship bits and pieces...and you get sort of a picture of how berserk this serial truly is. Handsome he man Kane Richmond and some silly old professor and screaming daughter end up in darkest Africa being menaced chased, shot at, tied up and scribbled on (yes, scribbled upon!) by a roster of jungle idiots who include: giant oily Nubians who walk like huge stoned babies, a hunchback in a "prince Valiant style" page boy wig (and speaks in Shakespearian English), a tribal queen who clearly is Spanish, wears huge diamonties and talks like Lupe Velez, a gang of what look like flour covered jockeys in feathers and white fright wigs, and a gang of Hawaiian looking cranky cannibals who yell 'oomba goomba' and throw wobbly spears at whoever they are told to. And last but not least, a gay muscle dude who wears the tightest...and I mean SO tight you can see his religion... tightest spangly one piece girls swimming costume this side of the Hayes censorship code of 1934...he is called Appollon just in case you are not sure what he is there for. Once the scene is set between caves, indoor deco lost city with zappy electrical instruments and the usual all seeing television, and the jungle huts, the whole cast then chase each other between each location, throwing things at each other, looking suspiciously at each other or through windows or around corners - and screaming. Sometimes someone gets tied up or lions appear in old circus stock footage, or Kane gets his chest scribbled on (!) or the jockeys flabbboiiiing arrows at someone or the nubians stagger about, OR they run into a bush or get locked up in a grass hut, or tied to a chair, OR slam a door or just plain hit each other from behind in corridors with lead pipes, the action just basically rattles about in circles with ridiculous comments and overacting. I loved all 236 minutes of it. Made at the same hopeless serial factory by someone called Sherman Krellberg who produced THE BLACK COIN and other terrible serials before Republic Studios married Mascot and stopped (and imitated) the competition, THE LOST CITY needs to be concreted in infamy as the most hysterical loony and out of control piece of kids horror pantomime ever committed to celluloid. The 5000 FINGERS OF DR T has nothing on this. BUT I do believe it was made for adults. Exactly what type of adults I can only guess, but in its camp value and howling general beserkness suggests it was either seriously deranged in every part of its production or made by shrewd schlockmeisters who knew that in 2006 we would be waiting.

How bizarre is this serial? Very.

It was made fairly cheaply but does have some impressive sets and occasionally decent effects. But the writing and the acting are all terrible.

Kane Richmond is bland as the square-jawed hero. Claudia Dell seems miscast as the love interest; although she was only 26 she looks 40ish and plain. She has an overall prim, quavering, schoolmarmish air that's rather off putting. Jerry Frank as Apollyn is easy on the eyes in his gold lame shorts and little else. He helps rise this serial to a certain level of homo erotic camp.

The serial belongs to William "Stage" Boyd as mad scientist Zolok. He camps it up hilariously, although obviously meant to be serious. His final scenes are strangely effective; I'm told he was actually roaring drunk during the filming of those scenes which makes his final madness seem more effective. He died not long after completing this serial, making this an odd obituary.

The story? Well, Zolok is menacing the world from a lost city in Africa, once inhabited by a highly advanced race of which Zolok is the last member. He has hunky Apollyn and a twisted hunchback as assistants, and also has a captive scientist who has the requisite "lovely" daughter (Dell). Richmond goes to stop him and runs afoul of one trap after another, as well as Zolok's army of mindless black giants, and the queen of an African tribe who a) falls for Richmond and b) wants to be white.

Yup, this serial is morbidly racist. Quite a bit of plot hinges on the scientists' ability to turn black people white; at one point it's done and the subject jumps and leaps about with glee. When the Queen proposes marriage to Richmond, he smiles smugly and says, "Oh, I'm afraid that's out of the question."

Some audiences may find THE LOST CITY unpalatable, but it must be bourne in mind that it's a product of less-enlightened times (MUCH less enlightened). I view it not as a serious racial statement but just a reflection of the limited psyches of those involved.

It's actually pretty fun if you make the campiness of it part of the deal. I understand this was actually considered quite old-fashioned and out-of-date when it was released in 1935, making it a true oddity. See it and enjoy, but you were warned...

In the mid Fifties, Famous Monsters of Filmland published photos and stories about early horror and sci-fi serials. The Lost City serial was reviewed by Forrest Ackerman, FM's publisher, in which he told a story about the serial being run on early television in New York City. This was at a time when the networks were using old movies to fill up daytime schedules. As the story goes, the kids were so frightened at seeing black natives being turned into giant zombies with wide-eyed expressions and menacing grins, that protests were made to the station running the serial. The station discontinued the serial viewings. This story found its way into a couple of movie reference books. A serial historian checked out the story and found no mention anywhere that it either ran or was discontinued due to criticism. The serial has become a classic among fans because of its outdated racism and because it featured George Hayes, who became "Gabby Hayes" in Roy Rogers westerns. It also featured familiar B actors Kane Richmond, Claudia Dell and William "Stage" Boyd. Boyd was a B actor whose infamous claim to fame was that he once arrested for having illegal liquor at a party in his house during Prohibition. When the story was published in the paper, a photo of another William Boyd, whose stardom was on the rise. The studio where Boyd was working released him on the morals clause, even though he was not guilty. It may have been at this time that the William Boyd who was arrested took the name "Stage" to differentiate from the other Boyd. In any case, the innocent Boyd toiled in the B picture sweatshops until he was cast in a A western as Hopalong Cassidy.

As I saw it as it was intended to be seen at the Delta Cinema,in my home town of Hamilton.They showed a lot of older films as the Gentleman who ran the Cinema was money challenged. So they showed Serials Chapter by Chapter and the Lost City ws one that I saw Three or Four Times when I was young. This is a Serial that throws in everything but the Kitchen Sink,with Africans being turned into Giants,Slave Traders and a Tribe Of Spider Men. There are interesting people like Gabby Hayes,and Gino Corrado who was the Singer in the Three Stooges Microphonies.And Billy Bletcher as Gorzo,who was the voice of the Big Bad Wolf in the Three Little Pigs. And a young Kane Richmond,later on Spy Smasher. The acting is so over the top its enjoyable. I recommend this to anyone who loves that sort of off the wall lunacy in their films.