The Lost World (1960)

Director:

Irwin Allen

Writers:

Arthur Conan Doyle (novel)
Charles Bennett (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

13 July 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

In the middle of the twentieth century, you fall off the brink of time!

Plot:

Professor Challenger leads an expedition of scientists and adventurers to a remote plateau deep in the Amazonian jungle to verify his claim that dinosaurs still live there.

Plot Keywords:

Professor | Dinosaur | Expedition | Helicopter | Jungle

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Michael Rennie	...	Lord John Roxton
Jill St. John	...	Jennifer Holmes (as Jill St.John)
David Hedison	...	Ed Malone
Claude Rains	...	Prof. George Edward Challenger
Fernando Lamas	...	Manuel Gomez
Richard Haydn	...	Prof. Summerlee
Ray Stricklyn	...	David Holmes
Jay Novello	...	Costa
Vitina Marcus	...	Native Girl
Ian Wolfe	...	Burton White
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ross Brown	...	Airport Attendant (uncredited)
Colin Campbell	...	Prof. Waldron (uncredited)
Fred Cavens	...	French Member of Zoological Institute Forum (uncredited)
Larry Chance	...	Indian Chief (uncredited)
Phyllis Coghlan	...	British Member of Zoological Institute Forum (uncredited)
Alex Denaszody	...	German Member of Zoological Institute Forum (uncredited)
Anne Dore	...	Member of Zoological Institute Forum (uncredited)
Alex Finlayson	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Bess Flowers	...	Guest at Zoological Institute Forum (uncredited)
Peter Fontaine	...	Airport Attendant (uncredited)
Don Forbes	...	TV Announcer (uncredited)
John Graham	...	Stuart Holmes (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	Man at Airport / Guest at Zoological Institute Forum (uncredited)
Ivo Henderson	...	British Member of Zoological Institute Forum (uncredited)
Stuart Holmes	...	Zoological Institute Professor on Stage (uncredited)
Kenner G. Kemp	...	Guest at Zoological Institute Forum (uncredited)
Harold Miller	...	Guest at Zoological Forum (uncredited)
George Pelling	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Ruggero Romor	...	Italian Member of Zoological Institute Forum (uncredited)
Brian Roper	...	British Member of Zoological Institute Forum (uncredited)
Jacqueline Squire	...	British Member of Zoological Institute Forum (uncredited)
Bert Stevens	...	Reporter at Airport (uncredited)
Gilchrist Stuart	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Ben Wright	...	BBC Field Reporter Ted Bottomley (uncredited)

Directed by
Irwin Allen

Writing credits
Arthur Conan Doyle		(novel) (as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Charles Bennett		(screenplay) and
Irwin Allen		(screenplay)

Produced by
Irwin Allen	....	producer

Original Music by
Paul Sawtell
Bert Shefter

Cinematography by
Winton C. Hoch		(director of photography) (as Winton Hoch)

Film Editing by
Hugh S. Fowler

Art Direction by
Duncan Cramer
Walter M. Simonds

Set Decoration by
Joseph Kish
Walter M. Scott
John Sturtevant

Costume Design by
Paul Zastupnevich

Makeup Department
Ben Nye	....	makeup artist
Helen Turpin	....	hair stylist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ad Schaumer	....	assistant director

Art Department
Maurice Zuberano	....	production illustrator

Sound Department
Harry M. Leonard	....	sound
E. Clayton Ward	....	sound

Visual Effects by
L.B. Abbott	....	special photographic effects
James B. Gordon	....	special photographic effects
Emil Kosa Jr.	....	special photographic effects
Willis H. O'Brien	....	effects technician (as Willis O'Brien)

Music Department
Sidney Cutner	....	orchestrator (as Sid Cutner)
Howard Jackson	....	orchestrator
Max Reese	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Henry E. Lester	....	technical advisor

Production Companies

• Irwin Allen Productions (uncredited)

Distributors

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1960) (USA) (theatrical) (released through)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1963) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere) (pan/scan)
• Fox Video (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (2006) (2007) (UK) (TV) (BBC2)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Mill Creek Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010-) (Canada) (DVD) (4 film collection)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010) (USA) (DVD) (4 film collection)
• Emerald (2011) (Argentina) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation  CinemaScope is the registered trademark of

Also Known As:

"Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World" - USA (complete title)

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System) | 4-Track Stereo (35 mm mag-optical prints)

Certification:

Finland:K-12 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | USA:Approved (certificate #19503) | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Irwin Allen Productions

Trivia:

The helicopter that lands on the plateau is one of the Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw series of machines (also known as a S-55).

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: In the scene where Ed Malone and Jennifer Holmes meet up in the forest before the "Brontosaurus" chases them, Ed Malone says dialogue, but his mouth doesn't move. Also, Jennifer's mouth moves, but no dialogue comes out.

Quotes:

Lord John Roxton:The best title for a woman is still "Mrs!".

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Boom! Hollywood's Greatest Disaster Movies (2000) (V)

Irwin Allen dinosaur adventure is high in corniness.

You would expect much more from an Irwin Allen film than 1960's The Lost World delivers. This film is high on silly-to-obnoxious characters, and corniness. The first few scenes in the film are particularly loaded down by corniness as we are introduced to the characters. There's eccentric Professor Challenger (Claude Rains) with his silly facial expressions, and boisterous but stuffy personality. There's Lord John Roxton (Michael Rennie) with his selfish and uncharming personality. There's Jennifer Holmes (Jill St. John) who starts out by trying to show the men a woman can also be worthy to take along on an expedition, but then becomes a useless, timid character who shows no strengths at all. The sexist remarks made by some male characters in the beginning become even more obnoxious, because Jennifer never comes through on showing strength, courage or ideas to help her crew members. The only strength she really proves is that she can pick out some elegant but inappropriate clothing to wear during the dangerous expedition. Jennifer has also brought along her silly, little poodle named Frosty. And then there's Costa (Jay Novello), a wimpy, greedy, seedy, little man. Throw in Fernando Lamas as Manual Gomez, the hired helicopter pilot who is also along for a side plot of personal revenge. He plots his murder-revenge and strums his guitar along the way (the natives even let him keep his guitar when the group is captured!) Not too many characters to really care for, but there are a few to possibly like such as Jennifer's brother, David (Ray Stricklyn.) David actually turns out to be more of a help then originally believed. A captured native girl (Vitina Marcus) turns out to be one of the better characters in the picture, but that is most likely because she has none of the corny lines and characteristics the expedition party's characters have. There's also corny drama from a love triangle that forms along the way. We all know Claude Rains (Phantom Of The Opera), Michael Rennie (The Day The Earth Stood Still) and others can do fine acting jobs, and the acting in this movie is fine--It's just most of the characters are so corny at times it should be embarrassing to the stars of the picture. The action in the film does not really build to any exciting levels as the crew is menaced by various creatures. The dinosaurs are lizards and reptiles with fins and horns applied to their bodies, and the giant spider is a rather lame effect (especially since it just hangs there, and only moves its legs a bit.) There is an unpleasant scene in which a real lizard fights a real reptile (portraying dinosaurs) that seems very politically incorrect by today's standards (and should have been a no-no even back in 1960.) Irwin Allen and 20th Century Fox could've done much better than this, and it is not nearly as good of a film as Journey To The Center Of The Earth (also from 20th Century Fox.) Still, The Lost World may entertain on a Saturday afternoon matinee level, and it is one of those movies collectors of horror and science fiction films will probably want to add to their 1950's and 1960's collections.