Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Spikeopath The Lost World is directed and produced by Irwin Allen, who also co-adapts the screenplay with Charles Bennett from the novel written by Arthur Conan Doyle. It stars Michael Rennie, Jill St. John, Claude Rains, David Hedison, Fernando Lamas and Richard Haydn. A CinemaScope production in De Luxe Color, music is by Paul Sawtell & Bert Shefter and cinematography by Winton C. Hoch.A loose adaptation of Doyle's novel, this version was the first talkie to surface after the silent original back in 1925. The story pitches a diverse group of travellers/explorers onto an Amazonian plateau where it is hoped that proof of living dinosaurs can be made. Monster malarkey does follow.Given that it has a diverse reputation and average ratings on internet movie sites, you would be fooled into thinking this was a flop. Far from it! It made very good coin at the box office and it continues to be a well received fantasy favourite shown on TV schedules during holiday periods. In fact, there is a cult fan base out there whom steadfastly will defend the pic from violent attack!Irwin Allen used his average budget in areas other than for the creature effects, this is obvious, while it's true to say that most of the acting is from the school of ham and cheese sandwich. Yet the slurpasaur effects are engaging and effective. Oh for sure none of the creatures look like dinosaurs, which begs the question on why didn't they just write it as a new raft of undiscovered dinosaurs? But suspense and peril is eked out and the world created by the art design team is impressively interesting.The usual character stereotypes exist, including a surplus to requirements female character (St. John), who is attired in pink trousers and brings her pet poodle pooch along for the trip! The formula would get tired over the on coming decades (see Disney's Island at the Top of the World which would crib from this pic), yet there's still a lot of fun to be had with big creatures, big spiders, diamonds and a secret race of people with a specialist appetite - while you can't beat a good old chase finale topped off by peril and twisty strife.Sometimes cheap and cheerful, sometimes full of fun and frolics, all things considered, there's a good time to be had for the discerning creature feature/fantasy adventure film fan. 6.5/10

TxMike This movie was shown on the Movies! network. It came out in 1960 when I was only 14 years old. I don't remember this one specifically, I may have seen it back then, but it certainly is typical of the 1960s Sci-Fi genre.Simple enough story, a team of scientists travel to a deep Amazon location to investigate reports of dinosaurs still living there. When a few had gone off then returned to camp they found what "looked like a cyclone had hit" the campsite and the rest were missing. Soon they found them, captured by an unknown native tribe, seemingly intent on eating them.In the cave of the volcanic mountain they found a long-lost professor, now blind, and a well-meaning native lady who would help them find a way out. Which they did, with difficulty, barely escaping the chasing natives. Along with a few nice diamonds and a large egg, a dinosaur egg. It is a very "campy" movie, fun entertainment for an afternoon with nothing else to do. Stars included Michael Rennie, Jill St. John (only 19 or 20, just eye candy), Claude Rains, and Fernando Lamas. They did encounter a live dinosaur, the "special effect" for this was to film extreme close-ups of a lizard. It works pretty well.

david-sarkies Well, this is not the sequel to Jurasic Park, as I originally thought it was, but I guess that is what happens when all you have is a label on a video cassette and have basically forgotten when you taped the movie because it was so long ago. Gee, all of that in one sentence, though I think I have done better.Anyway, this is a simple adventure story where a scientist discovers dinosaurs in the Amazon Rainforest, goes to England, creates an expedition, and returns to bring back proof. While they are there, the helicopter is destroyed so they are stuck on the plateau and must pass vicious natives and rivers of lava to escape. And when they escape, they bring with them huge diamonds to make them rich beyond their wildest dreams - a typical American fantasy, or so for its time.My question though is why don't they make adventure movies like this anymore? The last one was the Mummy, and the only really decent ones I have seen are the Indiana Jones trilogy and Congo (and maybe a few others thrown it). This does not include Jurassic Park as I would hardly call it an adventure movie, or even good.The effects weren't that great, but it is the best one can expect from that time. The dinosaurs were basically lizards made to look big and had funny things attached to their heads. After seeing Jurassic Park, such effects make us gag, but once again we must remember the time. Also, if we see or like a movie based purely on its effects, then we are missing out on a lot of good stuff.The other thing of note is that I found some of the scenery to be breathtaking, though most of it was filmed on a set.I was going to give this film a 6, but decided, on policy reasons, to increase it to a 7, namely because I am purposely protesting against those who simply rate movies based on special effects.

moonspinner55 Dinosaurs, diamonds, cannibals, Jill St. John! Having had big success the year before with "Journey to the Center of the Earth", 20th Century-Fox repeated the expedition-into-the-unknown formula with this school kid's fantasy adapted from the original tale by Arthur Conan Doyle (previously filmed in 1925). Claude Rains is an ill-tempered, impatient professor who boasts to the British press that he has found Jurassic monsters on an island plateau in the Amazon; with funding from a wealthy newspaperman, Rains returns to the creatures along with a reporter and a natty adventurer (the newspaperman's feisty daughter, along with her dog and younger brother, join the troupe later). Producer-director Irwin Allen co-wrote the script as well, and his cartoony, tongue-in-cheek style is all over this colorful saga. The special effects aren't bad for 1960, and there's enough amusingly dopey dialogue and disparate characterizations to make the film a minor treat. Rains steals the acting honors, while St. John (who boasts about being able to shoot better than any man, but who never gets the opportunity to prove it) carries around her pup in a wicker basket! Non-think entertainment benefits from excellent art direction and design, though Allen's pacing is a bit lax. **1/2 from ****