''The Lost World'' is a 1960 De Luxe Color and

CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, ani ...

directed by

Irwin Allen Irwin Allen (born Irwin O. Cohen, June 12, 1916 – November 2, 1991) was an American film and television producer and director, known for his work in science fiction, then later as the "Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film genr ...

and loosely based on the 1912 novel of the same name by

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

. The plot of the film revolves around the exploration of a

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

inhabited by

cannibal Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, bo ...

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

carnivorous plants Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods. Carnivorous plants still generate some of their energy from photosynthesis ...

, and giant spiders. The cast includes

Claude Rains William Claude Rains (10 November 188930 May 1967) was a British actor whose career spanned almost seven decades. After his American film debut as Griffin (The Invisible Man), Dr. Jack Griffin in ''The Invisible Man (1933 film), The Invisible Ma ...

David Hedison Albert David Hedison Jr. (May 20, 1927 – July 18, 2019) was an American film, television, and stage actor. He was billed as Al Hedison in his early film work until 1959 when he was cast in the role of Victor Sebastian in the short-lived espion ...

Fernando Lamas Fernando Álvaro Lamas y de Santos (January 9, 1915 – October 8, 1982) was an Argentine-American actor and director, and the father of actor Lorenzo Lamas. Biography Argentina Fernando Álvaro Lamas y de Santos was born in Buenos Aires, Ar ...

Jill St. John Jill St. John (born Jill Arlyn Oppenheim; August 19, 1940) is a retired American actress. She may be best known for playing Tiffany Case, the first American Bond girl of the 007 franchise, in '' Diamonds Are Forever''. Additional performances i ...

, and

Michael Rennie Michael Rennie (born Eric Alexander Rennie; 25 August 1909 – 10 June 1971) was a British film, television and stage actor, who had leading roles in a number of Hollywood films, including his portrayal of the space visitor Klaatu in the s ...

Plot

Professor Challenger, a celebrated

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual cell, a multicellular organism, or a community of interacting populations. They usually specialize ...

and

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms an ...

, reports to the

London Zoological Society The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained the London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Park. History On 29 N ...

that he has discovered living specimens of supposedly extinct animals, including dinosaurs, on an expedition to the

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Boli ...

and up a barely known plateau. Much to Challenger's dismay, he has attracted a few very unscientific people to join him on his second journey to the Amazon. This expedition group includes big game hunter Lord John Roxton, newsman Ed Malone whose publisher advances $100,000 to pay for the expedition. The publisher's adventurous daughter, Jennifer and son David join the group at the head of the Amazon. Also, in the group is a Zoological Society bigwig, professor Summerlee, helicopter pilot Gomez and sidekick Jose Costa. During the first night on the plateau, a dinosaur wrecks the helicopter. As the expedition proceeds, Malone chases a primitive jungle girl through cobwebs to a giant spider. The native girl later falls for David. Roxton argues with the others, and jealousies over Jennifer leads to a fistfight between Malone and Roxton. They discover a diary of a previous explorer, Burton White, who was lost on the plateau. Roxton is mentioned several times in the diary. Roxton reveals that he had visited the plateau years before, and claims the plateau holds a bounty of diamonds. This motivates Jose to stay with the party instead of striking out on his own to escape from the plateau. At one point, Malone and Jennifer are separated from the others and have a near death encounter with two battling dinosaurs. Cannibals capture the members of the party, but before they can become dinner the jungle girl leads them to a passage that leads down off the plateau. Along the way, they encounter Burton, now living as a blind hermit. They encounter more obstacles — pursued by cannibals, spider plants, the "Graveyard of the Damned", and a dinosaur in a lava pit guarding the diamonds, which kills Costa. Gomez sacrifices himself while breaking a rock dam, killing the dinosaur. During a volcanic eruption, the survivors of the Challenger party escape from the plateau, Challenger carrying the egg of a ''

Tyrannosaurus rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...

''. The financial security of the party is secure because Lord Roxton filled a couple of the bellows pockets of his hunting jacket with diamonds, and shares them with everyone. The dinosaur egg hatches when it is dropped by accident, and Professor Challenger decides to take the infant T. Rex back to London with them.

Featured cast

Lord John Roxton Lord John Roxton (a fictional title derived from the English parish of Roxton, Bedfordshire) is a supporting character in the Professor Challenger series of stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. He makes his initial appearance in the first entry of this se ...

— An experienced big-game hunter who joins the expedition. *

as Jennifer Holmes — The daughter of the owner of the ''Global News''. *

as Ed Malone — A journalist at the ''Global News'' who volunteers to join the expedition. *

as Professor George Edward Challenger — The short-tempered leader of the expedition. *

as Manuel Gomez — The expedition's helicopter pilot. *

Richard Haydn Richard Haydn (born George Richard Haydon, 10 March 1905 – 25 April 1985) was a British-American comedy actor. Some of his better known performances include his roles as Professor Oddley in '' Ball of Fire'' (1941), Roger in '' No Time for Lo ...

as Professor Summerlee — A rival of Challenger's who joins the expedition. * Ray Stricklyn as David Holmes — The brother of Jennifer Holmes and the son of Malone's boss Stuart Holmes. * Jay Novello as Costa — Gomez's assistant who also guides the expedition into the plateau. *

Ian Wolfe Ian Marcus Wolfe (November 4, 1896 – January 23, 1992) was an American character actor with around 400 film and television credits. Until 1934, he worked in the theatre. That year, he appeared in his first film role and later television, as a ...

as Burton White — a professor who visited the Amazon Plateau before Challenger's expedition. * John Graham as Stuart Holmes — Edward Malone's employer and the father of Jennifer and David Holmes. *

Colin Campbell Colin may refer to: * Colin (given name) * Colin (surname) * ''Colin'' (film), a 2008 Cannes film festival zombie movie * Colin (horse) (1905–1932), thoroughbred racehorse * Colin (humpback whale), a humpback whale calf abandoned north of Sydney, ...

as Prof. Waldron who organises the expedition. *

Vitina Marcus Vitina Marcus (born March 1, 1937) is a retired American actress of Sicilian and Hungarian descent. Her parents were Rose and Frank Marcus, and her Sicilian grandmother was named Vitina. She now works in real estate. Career Born in New York Ci ...

as the Native Girl.

Prehistoric creatures

* '' Iguanostyracus'' portrayed by an iguana with glued on horns * '' Protostegosaurus'' portrayed by a

monitor lizard Monitor lizards are lizards in the genus ''Varanus,'' the only extant genus in the family Varanidae. They are native to Africa, Asia, and Oceania, and one species is also found in the Americas as an invasive species. About 80 species are rec ...

with a glued-on frill and plates * '' Ceratopspinus'' portrayed by a spectacled caiman and an

alligator An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additional ...

with glued-on horns, a small tail, and a small sail. * '' Centrotyrannus'' portrayed by a asian water monitor with a glued-on frill and sails. * Baby ''Centrotyrannus'' portrayed by a

tokay gecko The tokay gecko (''Gekko gecko'') is a nocturnal arboreal gecko in the genus ''Gekko'', the true geckos. It is native to Asia and some Pacific Islands. Subspecies Two subspecies are currently recognized. *''G. g. gecko'' ( Linnaeus, 1758): t ...

with glued-on horns and a sail. * Giant spider portrayed by a Mexican redknee tarantula * Giant carnivorous vines

Production

In 1959, Allen purchased the rights to Doyle's novel for $100,000. He wanted to make the film with

Trevor Howard Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988) was an English stage, film, and television actor. After varied work in the theatre, he achieved star status with his role in the film ''Brief Encounter'' (1945), followed by ''T ...

and

Peter Ustinov Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (born Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov ; 16 April 192128 March 2004) was a British actor, filmmaker and writer. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits ...

in support of Rains, as well as

Victor Mature Victor John Mature (January 29, 1913 – August 4, 1999) was an American stage, film, and television actor who was a leading man in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s. His best known film roles include '' One Million B.C.'' (1940), '' My Darli ...

and

Gilbert Roland Luis Antonio Dámaso de Alonso (December 11, 1905 – May 15, 1994), known professionally as Gilbert Roland, was a Mexican-born American film and television actor whose career spanned seven decades from the 1920s until the 1980s. He was twice no ...

(who had been in the 1925 film). None of these plans came to fruition. He hired Charles Bennett to help him adapt the book into a script and commissioned

Willis O'Brien Willis Harold O'Brien (March 2, 1886 – November 8, 1962) was an American motion picture special effects and stop-motion animation pioneer, who according to ASIFA-Hollywood "was responsible for some of the best-known images in cinema history," ...

, who worked on the 1925 film, to do the models. He said he wanted to start filming on 15 October 1959. Allen eventually received financing to make the film from

Buddy Adler E. Maurice "Buddy" Adler (June 22, 1906 – July 12, 1960) was an American film producer and production head for 20th Century Fox studios. In 1954, his production of ''From Here to Eternity'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture and in 1956, hi ...

, head of production at 20th Century Fox.

Special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wo ...

for the film were rather basic and involved

s, iguanas, and

crocodile Crocodiles (family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant me ...

s affixed with miniature horns and fins. Director Allen later stated that though he wanted

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

models, he could only work with lizards and live creatures in accordance with the studio's budget.

Legacy

Irwin Allen utilized stock footage from this film for episodes of his various TV series, including '' Land of the Giants'', ''

Lost in Space ''Lost in Space'' is an American science fiction television series, created and produced by Irwin Allen, which originally aired between 1965 and 1968 on CBS. The series was inspired by the 1812 novel ''The Swiss Family Robinson.'' The series fo ...

'', ''

The Time Tunnel ''The Time Tunnel'' is an American color science fiction TV series written around a theme of time travel adventure starring James Darren and Robert Colbert. The show was creator-producer Irwin Allen's third science-fiction television series an ...

'', and ''

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea ''Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea'' is a 1961 American science fiction disaster film, produced and directed by Irwin Allen, and starring Walter Pidgeon and Robert Sterling. The supporting cast includes Peter Lorre, Joan Fontaine, Barbara Eden, M ...

''. In 1966, Irwin Allen even tried to sell a TV series based on the film, as he had done with ''

'', but was unsuccessful. Stock footage was also used in the movie ''

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth ''When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth'' (titled ''When Dinosaurs Ruled the World'' in the U.K.) is a 1970 British prehistoric dinosaur film from Hammer Films, written and directed by Val Guest, and starring Victoria Vetri. It was produced by Aida Y ...

'' (1970).

Comic book adaptation

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

Four Color ''Four Color'', also known as ''Four Color Comics'' and ''Dell Four Color'', was an American comic book anthology series published by Dell Comics between 1939 and 1962. The title is a reference to the four basic colors used when printing comic ...

#1145 (August 1960)

References

External links

* . * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lost World (1960 Film), The 1960 films 1960s English-language films 1960s fantasy adventure films American fantasy adventure films CinemaScope films Films directed by Irwin Allen Films set in Venezuela Professor Challenger films Films about dinosaurs Films produced by Irwin Allen 20th Century Fox films Films adapted into comics Films set in London Films scored by Paul Sawtell 1960s American films