IMDb RATING
6.9/10
6.2K
YOUR RATING
The first film adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel about a land where prehistoric creatures still roam.The first film adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel about a land where prehistoric creatures still roam.The first film adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel about a land where prehistoric creatures still roam.
- Director
- Writers
- Stars
- Awards
- 2 wins & 2 nominations total
Wallace Beery
- Prof. Challenger
- (as Mr. Wallace Beery)
Bessie Love
- Paula White
- (as Miss Bessie Love)
Lloyd Hughes
- Ed Malone
- (as Mr. Lloyd Hughes)
Lewis Stone
- Sir John Roxton
- (as Mr. Lewis S. Stone)
Alma Bennett
- Gladys Hungerford
- (as Miss Alma Bennett)
Arthur Hoyt
- Prof. Summerlee
- (as Mr. Arthur Hoyt)
Margaret McWade
- Mrs. Challenger
- (as Miss Margaret McWade)
Bull Montana
- Ape-man
- (as Mr. Bull Montana)
Frank Finch Smiles
- Austin
- (as Mr. Finch Smiles)
Jules Cowles
- Zambo
- (as Mr. Jules Cowles)
George Bunny
- Colin McArdle
- (as Mr. George Bunny)
Charles Wellesley
- Maj. Hibbard
- (as Mr. Charles Wellsley)
Jocko the Monkey
- Jocko - the Monkey
- (as Jocko)
Mary the Chimpanzee
- Mary - the Chimpanzee
- (uncredited)
Malcolm Denny
- Undetermined Secondary Role
- (uncredited)
Virginia Brown Faire
- Marquette - Half-Caste Girl
- (uncredited)
Holmes Herbert
- Undetermined Secondary Role
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
This was the first movie I ever taped when I got my first VCR back in the 1980's. I saw it was going to be on at 3:00 a.m., so I decided to try the programming to see it it worked. It did. I was so excited. The movie is so much fun. It has Wallace Beery as a borderline madman scientist leading an expedition to a far off island to find dinosaurs. There is a subplot of a reporter who is trying to talk him into letting him go along. There are scenes where Professor Challenger (Beery) chases and assaults this man because he hates reporters. Of course, we all know the story. They do bring back a dinosaur and it gets loose (ala King Kong) and leaves a path of destruction. The special effects are like Claymation, but one could only wonder how exciting and impressive these things were in their time. As a period piece, I urge people to see this. There are full length prints of it, not just the one some have commented on, which only shows the dinosaur scenes. If you have an open mind, you will have a lot of fun.
This first, silent version of The Lost World is the best one for dinosaur fans as it has more dinosaurs in it than any other. I have two VHS copies of this, an hour long version and the restored copy, which lasts for about 100 minutes.
Professor Challenger leads a party into an uncharted part of the Amazon where prehistoric monsters still live. When there, they explore the land and see the many dinosaurs that roam it. They then decide to try and capture one of these alive and bring it back to London! They manage this and bring back a Brontosaurus, but it escapes and goes on the rampage through London, brings down Tower Bridge and then escapes down the Thames.
The stop-motion dinosaurs are done excellently by Willis O'Brien and also include Allosaurus, Tricertops and Pteranodon.
The cast includes Wallace Beery as Chellenger, Bessie Love and Lewis Stone.
This movie is a must see, especially if you are a fan of dinosaur movies like myself. Excellent.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5.
Professor Challenger leads a party into an uncharted part of the Amazon where prehistoric monsters still live. When there, they explore the land and see the many dinosaurs that roam it. They then decide to try and capture one of these alive and bring it back to London! They manage this and bring back a Brontosaurus, but it escapes and goes on the rampage through London, brings down Tower Bridge and then escapes down the Thames.
The stop-motion dinosaurs are done excellently by Willis O'Brien and also include Allosaurus, Tricertops and Pteranodon.
The cast includes Wallace Beery as Chellenger, Bessie Love and Lewis Stone.
This movie is a must see, especially if you are a fan of dinosaur movies like myself. Excellent.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5.
Modern audience members won't exactly be scared or thrilled by the living, breathing dinosaurs in this 75 plus year old classic. They will see a visually amazing silent classic. THE LOST WORLD tells of an exhibition that finds mammoth dinosaurs on a plateau in the Amazon. A brontosaurus is brought back to London. Willis O'Brien's stop-motion animation is rather fluid, (as compared to the short animated comedies he made around 1918) There are also neat uses of matte work, rear screen and double exposures.
The recent DVD re-issue of LOST WORLD is a keeper. It even has LOST WORLD animation out-takes with single frames of O'Brien and his assistant accidently caught on film. Requied viewing for the student of cinematic special effects.
The recent DVD re-issue of LOST WORLD is a keeper. It even has LOST WORLD animation out-takes with single frames of O'Brien and his assistant accidently caught on film. Requied viewing for the student of cinematic special effects.
Although the existing versions all have missing portions, and although the film is obviously old-fashioned in several respects, the original "The Lost World" is still a fine film and very entertaining. It has an exciting and interesting story with some good characters and acting, and the dinosaur action, terrific for its time, is still quite watchable.
Besides the adventure story about dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures, there is also some decent human drama with a few interesting characters. The earnest young journalist out to prove himself, the bad-tempered but brilliant scientist, the devoted daughter searching for her missing father, and the rest, are all slightly exaggerated, but most also contain some real substance. There is a good cast to bring these characters to life.
Naturally, the animals are the big stars, and although the special effects do not compare with what is done today, the dinosaur action is still creative, entertaining and worth watching. There are also some good shots of live animals living in the Amazon area where the expedition takes place.
This is certainly recommended for those who enjoy silent films. It would also be interesting viewing for those who are more used to modern films of the genre - you'll see a lot of the ideas that were later used in films that are more familiar today.
Besides the adventure story about dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures, there is also some decent human drama with a few interesting characters. The earnest young journalist out to prove himself, the bad-tempered but brilliant scientist, the devoted daughter searching for her missing father, and the rest, are all slightly exaggerated, but most also contain some real substance. There is a good cast to bring these characters to life.
Naturally, the animals are the big stars, and although the special effects do not compare with what is done today, the dinosaur action is still creative, entertaining and worth watching. There are also some good shots of live animals living in the Amazon area where the expedition takes place.
This is certainly recommended for those who enjoy silent films. It would also be interesting viewing for those who are more used to modern films of the genre - you'll see a lot of the ideas that were later used in films that are more familiar today.
In this 1925 silent era film, a Professor Challenger (Wallace Beery) leads a group of British explorers to South America, to prove to the civilized world that there exists a land of living prehistoric creatures. What the explorers find is exactly that ... a rugged Amazon plateau inhabited by all kinds of dinosaurs. It's a wonderful film concept befitting Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's adventure novel. The dinosaurs were brought to cinematic life via stop-motion animation, the first time that the then new technique had been applied, on such a grand cinematic scale. For its visuals alone, "The Lost World" is an important film.
The problem I have is not with the film, but with the way the film has been mishandled in the eighty years since it was released. Much of the original film was lost or cut out, a sad commentary on the way our culture has underestimated the value of silent films. Recently, the film has been at least partially restored. That, in turn, has led to confusion as to the extent to which the film being watched reflects the original.
My understanding is that there is or was: (1) an original full length version, no longer available; (2) a thirty-two minute version shown as a short film; (3) a sixty-three minute original DVD version; and (4) a ninety minute restored, extended DVD version complete with soundtrack and commentary. None of these versions are exactly alike, and there may be other versions as well.
The version I watched was on DVD, and was sixty-three minutes in length; there was no soundtrack, no commentary. Since this version is vastly different from the original, and different from other versions, a conventional critique would be unfair. All that I can do is to make a couple of general observations.
The special effects were impressive for their time. But what I most liked was the film's sense of three-dimensional scale, as shown in many scenes, the tree bridge to the plateau, for example, or the rope ladder hanging down the side of the cliff with a person climbing down. Such scenes convey a sense of distance and height, important to any physical adventure or risk. What I found disconcerting was the scenes of dinosaurs detached from the characters. Most of the time, but not always, these dinosaur scenes were shown from the POV that would be optimal for the cinematic viewer, rather than from the POV of the characters. In other words, the dinosaurs were usually shown out of context to the film's narrative.
"The Lost World" (1925) is an important contribution to early cinema. Although the film may be somewhat tedious to watch and technically crude by today's standards, depending on version, the film will most surely be appreciated by film historians and by technicians interested in the evolution of cinematic special effects.
The problem I have is not with the film, but with the way the film has been mishandled in the eighty years since it was released. Much of the original film was lost or cut out, a sad commentary on the way our culture has underestimated the value of silent films. Recently, the film has been at least partially restored. That, in turn, has led to confusion as to the extent to which the film being watched reflects the original.
My understanding is that there is or was: (1) an original full length version, no longer available; (2) a thirty-two minute version shown as a short film; (3) a sixty-three minute original DVD version; and (4) a ninety minute restored, extended DVD version complete with soundtrack and commentary. None of these versions are exactly alike, and there may be other versions as well.
The version I watched was on DVD, and was sixty-three minutes in length; there was no soundtrack, no commentary. Since this version is vastly different from the original, and different from other versions, a conventional critique would be unfair. All that I can do is to make a couple of general observations.
The special effects were impressive for their time. But what I most liked was the film's sense of three-dimensional scale, as shown in many scenes, the tree bridge to the plateau, for example, or the rope ladder hanging down the side of the cliff with a person climbing down. Such scenes convey a sense of distance and height, important to any physical adventure or risk. What I found disconcerting was the scenes of dinosaurs detached from the characters. Most of the time, but not always, these dinosaur scenes were shown from the POV that would be optimal for the cinematic viewer, rather than from the POV of the characters. In other words, the dinosaurs were usually shown out of context to the film's narrative.
"The Lost World" (1925) is an important contribution to early cinema. Although the film may be somewhat tedious to watch and technically crude by today's standards, depending on version, the film will most surely be appreciated by film historians and by technicians interested in the evolution of cinematic special effects.
Did you know
- TriviaIn April 1925, on a London-Paris flight by Imperial Airways, The Lost World (1925) became the first in-flight movie to be shown to airline passengers. Safety film was developed in 1922 and was likely used in this flight which was a wood and fabric-hulled plane, converted WWI bomber, the Handley-Page 0 400.
- GoofsProfessor Challenger travels to the Lost World to prove his claims that dinosaurs still live, yet no one on the expedition seems to have brought a camera.
- Crazy creditsJocko [the monkey] ... by himself
- Alternate versionsA longer version was released in 1925 but cut in the 1930's.
- ConnectionsEdited into The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald: Scared Silly (1998)
- SoundtracksThe Lost World
(1925) (uncredited)
Music by Rudolf Friml
Lyrics by Harry B. Smith
Published in connection with the movie
- How long is The Lost World?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Propali svet
- Filming locations
- Biograph Studios, Bronx, New York City, New York, USA(live action sequences)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $1,194,450
- Gross worldwide
- $2,834,000
- Runtime1 hour 50 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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