The Lost World (1960)

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.

Director:

Irwin Allen

Writers:

Charles Bennett (screenplay), Irwin Allen (screenplay)

Stars:

Michael Rennie, Jill St. John, David Hedison

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited 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

Storyline

Professor Challenger leads team of scientists and adventurers to a remote plateau deep within the Amazonian jungle to investigate reports that dinosaurs still live there.

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Plot Keywords:

plateau | volcanic eruption | dinosaur | expedition | lava | 

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Taglines:

It's Like Nothing Ever Known...or Shown!!!

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Genres:

Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

When first announced in 1959, Irwin Allen declared that Victor Mature, Robert Mitchum, Trevor Howard and Gilbert Roland would be headlining " The Lost World".

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Goofs

In the exterior shots of the helicopter, Manuel Gomez can be seen in a tiny cockpit on top flying it (this also houses much of the rotor engine). When they approach the plateau, the interior cockpit expands to accommodate the Professor and the rest of the cast.

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Quotes

Lord John Roxton: [Talking about the native girl] She's a hundred pounds of walking dynamite.

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Connections

Version of The Lost World (1998)

User Reviews

This World Would Have Been Spotted by Air in 1960

The Lost World might have been a better film if it had been set back in the time when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the novel. Which would be in the pre-World War I days of 1912. Back then such a plateau might have escaped detection from modern man.

In any event it's been updated to 1960 and I remember seeing it for the first time at a downtown Rochester theater long since demolished and I was with my grandmother. She took me when I was by myself visiting them in Rochester. I remember the movie, but I also remember how slow she was moving. What I didn't know was that she was in the first stages of Parkinson's disease which would eventually kill her.

Seen as an adult it's a film better left to the juvenile set. And it could use a makeover now and replace those dinosaurs with the more realistic ones of Jurassic Park.

But I doubt we could get a cast as classic as the one I saw. Claude Rains is in the lead as Conan Doyle's irascible Professor George Challenger who was the protagonist in about five books. Not as many as that much more known Conan Doyle hero Sherlock Holmes, but Challenger has his following.

In this film he's back from South America in the country roughly between Venezuela and British Guiana at the time, deep in the interior at some of the Amazon tributary headwaters. He claims he saw some ancient dinosaurs alive on a plateau.

True to his name Claude Rains invites company and financing on a new expedition to prove him right. His rival Richard Haydn accepts as does big game hunter Michael Rennie and David Hedison who is an American newspaperman whose publisher promises financing for an exclusive.

Of course it wouldn't be right in the day of woman's liberation if the shapely Jill St. John, sportswoman and a crack shot doesn't come along with her brother Ray Stricklyn. Guiding the expedition are South Americans Fernando Lamas and Jay Novello who have an agenda all their own involving at least one member of the party.

Watching The Lost World again, I think of myself as a kid back in the day and even with such a cast it really should stay in the juvenile trade. And this review is dedicated to my grandmother Mrs. Sophie Lucyshyn who took me to the movies that day back in 1960.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

13 July 1960 (USA)

Also Known As:

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$1,515,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Irwin Allen Productions, Saratoga Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

3 Channel Stereo (Westrex Recording System) (5.0) (L-R)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1