The Land That Time Forgot

Intro:

This is a series on old dinosaur movies. Specifically, I am looking at anything released before 1990; before Jurassic Park revolutionized cinema with its CGI animation. I will not be covering anything "dinosaur-adjacent", such as kaiju monsters like Godzilla or the creature from The Giant Behemoth, which are perhaps inspired by dinosaurs, but clearly not meant to represent any real world genus. I will also be skipping over films that are heavily dependent on "borrowed" footage from other films, such as the Valley of the Dragons / Prehistoric Valley.

Also known as:

Runtime:

1 hr 31 min

Background:

The Land That Time Forgot is a 1974 British-American co-production based on the 1918 novel of the same name. American International Pictures provided the bulk of the budget and filming was done at the Shepperton Studios in England. Some landscape scenes were filmed at a disused claypit in Reading, Berkshire. The prehistoric animals were hand puppets designed by Roger Dickens. Puppets were chosen over stop-motion because they had "a more fluid" movement. A small VistaVision camera was used to shoot the dinosaur background plates in conjunction with front projection effects. The U-boat and ships were models on strings or hand-held.

This was Kevin Connor's second time directing, although he had wanted to be a camera operator for horror films. According to Kevin Connor, of the three 'lost world' films he directed, The Land That Time Forgot is his favorite because it "had a good script" and while working on it he "was surrounded by great technicians". Kevin believed that there was a great future for the genre, but the powers that be felt that "children's films" had limited financial success at the box office. Regardless, Kevin found making low budget monster movies to be fun and remains proud of his work because they produced "wonderful memories of an innocent time".

Plot Summary:

During World War I, a passenger ship is sunk by a German U-boat. Two survivors, Bowen Tyler and Lisa Clayton, along with a few British officers, sneak aboard the U-boat when it surfaces, as it is their only chance for survival. Using stealth, they manage to take the German Captain von Schoenvorts hostage, thereby obtaining control of the U-boat. Tyler orders the crew to sail to a British port, but German officer Dietz sabotages the submarine's radio.

The passengers try signaling a British warship, which mistakes them for an enemy laying a trap and opens fire. The U-boat is then redirected towards a neutral American port. However, after six days of travel, Bowen deduces that Dietz has tampered with the compasses based on the direction of the sun. Captain von Schoenvorts regains control of the submarine and plans to have Bowen executed as a pirate once they convene with a German supply ship in the area. Lisa Clayton then gets into a debate with von Schoenvorts over the morality of sinking her ship, as it was carrying women and children. Although, von Schoenvorts argues that the ship was also transporting weaponry that would be used to kill women and children in his own country.

"The study of nature has taught me that life is founded upon killing and destruction. The sea swarms with living things that prey upon one another to survive." -Captain von Schoenvorts

Lisa later escapes her room and frees her people, which reclaim control of the submarine and shoot down the German supply ship. Off course and low on fuel in the South Atlantic, the group encounters an uncharted subcontinent with no beach or harbor. Schoenvorts believes the landmass to be Caprona, a place first encountered by the Italian explorer Caproni in 1721, but no one believed Caproni's claims. Fresh water and signs of green vegetation lead the group to an underground river that opens to a lush prehistoric land.

Pterodactyl soar the skies and a diplodocus is seen on land. A tylosaurus and plesiosaurus lurking in the waters attack the submarine, but are subdued and fed to the crew. Over dinner, everyone agrees to work together for mutual survival, and should they find a way to escape, will head for a neutral port.

While exploring the land they fend off an allosaurus attack and meet a neanderthal man named Ahm, who leads them to deposits of crude oil. With refining, the oil could enable escape from the island. Over the next few days a triceratops is seen defend its nest from a ceratosaurus and a styracosaurus herd passes through the area. The group gradually comes to realize that individuals on the island do not evolve through natural selection but by migrating northward across the island, undergoing a metamorphosis.

As soon as the submarine is operational again, a sudden outbreak of volcanic eruptions threatens the island. Dietz mutinies by shooting Captain von Schoenvorts and taking command of the vessel. Dietz tries escaping Caprona without Bowen and Lisa, but the U-boat cannot function in the now boiling waters and the entire crew perishes. As the only two survivors, Bowen and Lisa are forced to move northward because the local tribes will not accept them. Bowen writes a manuscript that he places in a bottle and tosses into the sea, in the hope that someone someday might know their story.

Thoughts:

This is a surprisingly good watch. The plot and human drama stays shockingly close to the book's narrative and is genuinely interesting. The biggest changes from the book was Schoenvorts being made into more of a sympathetic character and him trying (unsuccessfully) to stop his men from abandoning Bowen and Lisa on the island. There was also a failed engagement between von Schoenvorts and Lisa that was dropped from the narrative. A lot of the roles and knowledge that Bowen had in the book have also been transferred to Schoenvorts, which reduced Bowen's role in the film.

The acting is good, the characters feel like real people, and the ending is bittersweet. The first half of the movie, set entirely on the submarine, actually ends up being more engrossing than the latter half when the prehistoric creatures finally appear. The ship models and the puppets for the marine reptiles look very realistic; someone clearly put a lot of effort into them. The land dinosaurs though, mostly have that man in a rubber suit look and don't hold up that well today. A real gem from the era of stop-motion dinosaur movies.

Related Articles:

• One Million B.C. (1940) / One Million Years B.C. (1966)
• Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955)
• Dinosaurus! (1960)
• Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965)
• The Valley of Gwangi (1969)
• The Land That Time Forgot (1974)
• The Crater Lake Monster (1977)
• The Last Dinosaur (1977)
• Legend of Dinosaurs & Monster Birds (1977)
• Planet of Dinosaurs (1977)
• Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (1985)