As mentioned previously, in “Impossible Voyages” I’m watching and writing about a run of new (to me) science fiction films to be watched over this year (and possibly beyond). You can read the rationale and ground rules here. In the meantime, we are advancing from 1924 to 1925 with this movie, #7 in this series.

Not long ago when I was watching Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I found myself pondering (briefly) the boundaries of what is a science fiction film and what isn’t, and wrote at the time this intentionally specific definition: “A movie which features aliens, spaceships, robots, time travel or other advanced technology.” Somewhere along the way with The Lost World, I realized that this movie doesn’t qualify as science fiction under that description. But I think it is a science fiction movie, which means now I need to expand my parameters. Maybe I’ll just go with: “A movie which features aliens, spaceships, robots, time travel, modern-day dinosaurs or other advanced technology.” As we go along this series, we’ll see if that covers them all!

Spoilers Ahead

The Lost World (1925)

Directed by Harry O. Hoyt

The Story: Young reporter Edward Malone is spurned by his girlfriend Gladys unless he undertakes a daring deed, so he joins an expedition being led by the eccentric and short-tempered Professor Challenger to find a mysterious plateau in South America where dinosaurs and other supposedly extinct creatures still live. The group discover the plateau and become trapped there, contending with many dangers, including dinosaurs, an active volcano, and an aggressive ape-man. The group eventually escapes and bring back a living brontosaurus as proof of their experiences–however, the it escapes and causes chaos in the streets of London before it swims out to the ocean. Gladys moves on with someone else while Malone is away, leaving him free to marry Paula White, the daughter of the man who discovered the plateau, with whom he has fallen in love.

Starring: Lloyd Hughes as Edward Malone, Bessie Love as Paula White, and Wallace Beery as Professor Challenger. Lewis Stone plays big game hunter Sir John Roxton and Arthur Hoyt is Professor Summerlee, who are both part of the expedition as well. Alma Bennett plays Gladys, Francis Finch-Smiles is Austin (Challenger’s butler), Jules Cowles is Zambo (a local servant) and Bull Montana plays the Apeman. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote the book that The Lost World is based on, appears briefly in the film’s prologue as himself.

Comments: The Lost World has all the trappings of a modern day, spectacle-filled, Hollywood blockbuster–it’s got a high concept, it’s got spectacular action scenes and it’s got a story that ultimately favors its special effects way more than its character. Of course, it was also produced a century ago, so current-day audiences would have to go into it having reasonable expectations for what it will look like, but I was amazed at how much current day Jurassic World films and their ilk were cut from the cloth that The Lost World helped to establish.

For instance, you have the movie’s emphasis of spectacle over character or story, which is reminiscent of a lot of big budget Hollywood fare. It actually does quite a good job establishing the characters and their motivations, but once we get to the titular “Lost World” and there are dinosaurs running around everywhere, they just kind of fade into the background. This is a story that is happening to the characters, but it’s not especially about the characters.

This is too bad because the cast is quite good. Wallace Beery performs Professor Challenger with great scenery-chewing relish and certainly cuts a memorable figure. Lewis Stone (Andy Hardy’s dad from that series of movies) affords Sir John with depth and dignity. And Bessie Love as Paula has got great screen presence. It’s a shame that once they get to the movie’s monsters, she spends most of her time just looking over her shoulder in terror at the crazy things that are going on.

I don’t blame her for that–that’d be my reaction too–but it is a disappointing comedown after a promising start.

The movie is also doesn’t really have anything to say, devoting itself instead to just escapist entertainment. So this is not like watching Intolerance or Metropolis or even A Trip to Mars, which are all movies that have a strong point of view on the world or their subject matter. This is more like the big blockbusters of my generation, which might have some sort of message to deliver but don’t let it get in the way of the thrills and spills.

And it’s also like a lot of modern movies in its light-hearted tone. There is danger and peril and some genuine drama, but there is also a lot of silliness and comic relief going on. Much of this surrounds the gruff and eccentric personality of Professor Challenger.

He has a humorously contentious relationship with his wife (Margaret McWade in small but memorable part), near the start of the movie, and then later there is a memorable face-off between him and his frenemy Professor Summerlee. They are arguing about whether the anti-dinosaur weapon that Challenger has built–basically a giant catapult made of trees–will describe a curve or a parabola when it launches a projectile. The thing accidentally goes off with Summerlee sitting on top of it–he is flung hundreds of feet away. He lands in a fortunate pool of water, of course, at which point Challenger boasts that his prediction was correct.

And there are also all the antics of the little monkey Jocko (credited as being played “by himself”) that starts following them around.

Jocko even saves the day at the end when he is able to climb up some daunting cliffs while carrying a rope that helps the heroes to escape the plateau they’ve become trapped on.

Now to be clear, none of the things I’m talking about are meant as actual criticisms–they are just observations. The Lost World is not deep, but it is crowd-pleasing fun. This is especially clear in another major link between this movie and modern day blockbusters: the emphasis on special effects. Especially when you get to the dinosaurs (once you allow for all the changes to technology over the last century) it’s easy to see how impressive the work display here is.

The dinosaurs are brought to life via stop-motion work by Willis O’Brien, who went on to work on a little movie called King Kong. He brings a lot of life, detail and personality to his creations. When these dinosaurs are in their life-and-death struggles to fend off predators or to protect their young, we are right there with them. There is a gruesome sort of identification with the creatures as they are being eaten, with their little legs writhing away.

Probably the most exciting part is when the team brings a brontosaurus back to London, only to have it escape and rampage through the streets.

It’s confused and terrified, and while it isn’t eating people like in modern dinosaur movies, it’s no less dangerous. There is a standout bit where the beast accidentally crashes through a whole building, which just looks amazing.

The movie ends with the Brontosaurus falling into the river as London Bridge collapses under its weight (maybe that’s what the song is about!) and then we see it finally swimming away out in the ocean! So yeah, none of this is precisely “realistic”–our understanding of dinosaurs has changed right alongside our filmmaking techniques, but none of it detracts from my enjoyment. I’d rather see a swimming brontosaurus with a crazy long neck then no dinosaurs at all.

And there effects are not just dinosaurs. A volcano erupts at one point which looks pretty scary, albeit a little confusing. It’s impressive, but it’s hard to follow the action that happens as a result (aside from the accompanying stop-motion dinosaur stampede, which was pretty epic). And there’s also some interesting makeup effects with an Ape-Man character who harasses the expedition a few times–it looks a little odd, but still striking.

Anyway, there is a lot to like in The Lost World, but there are obviously weaknesses as well. One of the most obvious is the presence of Zambo, a servant character who is clearly a white guy in black-face. As problematic this might be, the character is not particularly negative or demeaning. He and Challenger’s butler are paired up together for much of the film–they are both a little comical, but also resourceful and loyal and generally likeable guys.

A less in-your-face but actually more important issue with the movie is something I’ve already mentioned, which is the way the film just loses focus on its characters as it goes along. After a strong start the movie just doesn’t seem to have time to keep up with them, and everyone just drifts out of the spotlight.

One example is the movie’s romantic drama.

A lot of time spent setting this up: Edward has a toxic girlfriend whose crazy demands that he risk his life to prove he’s man enough to wed her sets him on his whole journey in the first place. But that journey involves traveling with the much more appealing Paula White, who is on a mission to find her lost father. She must contend with the romantic overtures of the Sir John Roxton, which though gentlemanly are clearly not met with enthusiasm (and to us in the audience are certainly awkward given the sizeable differences in their age).

But she accepts this it seems because his help will be invaluable.

Now, we know, or at least hope, that Edward and Paula will find love with each other, but the movie literally doesn’t have time to actually show us this developing naturally–instead it just comes out of nowhere, and then ends just as abruptly because of Edward’s prior commitment (to the toxic girlfriend). The later big story beat where Edward finds out he’s free is predictable, and the final payoff at the end where Sir John swallows his sorrow is underwhelming. There is a lot of potential to make the human drama just as fun as the monster stuff, but the movie doesn’t make it a priority. The best of these sorts of films will do a good job with both (have a look at Godzilla Minus One for a great example of this).

Still, in spite of these drawbacks, The Lost World is worth a watch. It has many impressive qualities and has had a massive influence on all sorts of science fiction and monster movies that followed, and for its time represents an astounding feat of transporting us to someplace new and unfamiliar, and bringing it to life in a way that can only really happen in the movies.