The Land That Time Forgot

I loved this movie as a kid. Can't recall how many times I watched it on the late show in my early teens, but it was more than a few. I hadn't seen it since about 1982 and was pleased TCM ran it recently, so I recorded it and watched it last night.

The scenes came back to me by rote though I definitely needed the refresher after all these years. Seeing it now at 40, it of course has become a little more quaint in the wake of the Jurassic Park series, but it still held my interest as it WAS a very good effort in 1975 with limited resources at bringing to the screen an intelligent Sci/fi adventure with old fashioned heroics reminiscent of King Kong etc.

The script, though certainly not as good as it could have been, stays true to itself, and even though the SFX at times look primitive (they still kick the snot out of the FX in Logan's Run}, the story is poorly paced after the U-Boat reaches Caprona, and the Neanderthals and the obligatory volcanic eruption are more than forced, the film never becomes kitschy or laughable, or outright uninteresting like dozens of other films like this made on the cheap. My only wish is it would have been a bit longer and included more thoughtful dialogue about nature and evolution and survival to give the story and characters more depth. And Ray Harryhausen could have done much more with the dinosaurs in the technical department.

As far as leading men go, Doug McClure is good in this and will always get my sympathy as that likable, two fisted action star who had the misfortune of looking too much like Lee Marvin and sounding too much like Glenn Ford to ever get the kind of roles he deserved in bigger pictures. He was good in these Kevin Connor adventure flicks in the 70's, and is eternally one of my favorite actors as a result.

Lots of details about the U-Boat and what not are probably inaccurate, and the story itself is more than too similar to Verne's Mysterious Island with shades of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but overall, while I wouldn't call it great or even good, it is definitely worth a look and still a nifty little piece of entertainment for the budget it had. Surprising a remake hasn't appeared in this age of CGI. Could be a dandy. Are you listening, Peter Jackson?

I was too young to see 'The Land That Time Forgot' when it originally premiered in the cinemas in 1975 but I saw it several times growing up and loved it. It had everything that a young boy/teenager wanted in a fantasy movie - gargantuan monsters, pre-historic tribes, active volcanoes, punch ups and a sense of wonder and amazement.

Putting aside the rubbery monsters and glaring plot holes, ''The Land That Time Forgot' is an enjoyable romp that keeps your attention from start to finish. It takes you on a thrilling ride of danger and excitement with a potent sense of fantasy. The film doesn't overstay its welcome at a running time of 91 minutes and at no point loses it's way. It also takes some time to develop some semblance of a story before arriving at Caprona, the land that time forgot, whereas other movies would have got you there as quickly as possible. This helps to add just a little extra anticipation.

Many of the characters are there to add to the bodycount, which is high, but some of the leading characters add a little more depth. Doug McClure's hardman Bowen Tyler shows surprising pathos in one of the film's later scenes whilst John McEnery's Captain Von Schoenwarts inverts the usual German stereotype to play a fair minded man with an interest in the origins and development of life. Considering this is a British made film with an almost entirely British cast (the exception being American Doug McClure), made thirty years after WW2 ended (this is set during WW1 though), there are surprisingly good sentiments towards the Germans, although there is still room for Anthony Ainley's duplicitous Dietz to give us someone to be wary of other than the monsters and pre-historic tribes.

The film's unusual ending also gives the audience a welcome change from the banal endings that usually conclude most movies and it allows that childlike sense of wonder and amazement to stay awake a whole lot longer.

I saw this movie as a kid in the late 70s at the cinema and loved those dinosaurs. I have now watched the restored version (91 min. instead of 78 min.) on DVD and still love those dinosaurs. There are few movies that I still enjoy as much as I did a quarter of a century ago, so this obviously must have something `classic' about it, though it's hard to put the finger on it. Maybe it's just the naïve charm that was lost when computer FX spoiled fun to a certain degree in Jurassic Park and later on. No actor is a candidate for the Academy Award here, the monsters look about as deadly as your daughter's puppets, but nonetheless – more sense of wonder in the forgotten land of Caprona than anywhere else.

This has everything for a budding boy to enjoy. There's monsters, the struggle against evil, a submarine and the stunningly beautiful Susan Penhaligon. I was lucky enough to see this when it came out and it enthralled me. I still watch it on television when I can, with fond memories. It is not aging well. CFXs have left it looking quite poor in places. However, for a B-Movie it is very well done. The acting, storyline, direction and editing are all well controlled. I agree that a remake may be justified, as long as the inherent innocence of it all is not lost.

It is good family fun which will keep boys glued for an afternoon. And Susan is as beautiful as ever :-)

This is one of my favorite old-time dinosaur movies based on a book that I kind of liked. Doug McClure leads the cast in this motion picture and he did his usual fine job. What a lot of people complain about this movie are the dinosaurs, which are some of the fakest you can find in a 70s dinosaur flick. And I have to admit, they are correct. Heck, the pterosaurs can't even flap their wings and only one of them (the one that snatches up Ahm) even moves its jaw. The Allosaurs are also pretty fake in some scenes, but more convincing in others. One of my favorite parts of the movie is where the men that came onboard the U-boat are firing at the two Allosaurs. And also, the brief, yet bloody battle between a Ceratosaur and a Triceratops is very fun to watch. Also, the scenes with the cavemen are convincing and entertaining as well as long as you don't mind seeing people either get shot or stabbed with axes and blades. What's more, the music score for this movie is entertaining and moves along greatly with what's happening on screen. When the second Allosaur has been fatally shot, it roars a strange elephant-like kind of howl of pain and falls back while a powerful score of music plays. Overall, The Land that Time Forgot is a pretty entertaining 70s movie that I watch quite frequently.