'The Lost World' - The 1925 Film

1 Conversation

The Lost World is without doubt one of the most influential films of all time. It was the first full-length special effects and science fiction film1, the first 'creature feature', a film in which a monster rampages through a city, attacking famous landmarks, and the first film made starring dinosaurs.

It was also the first full length animated film. It wasn't until 1937 that the first hand-drawn full length animated film, Disney's Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, was made, 12 years after The Lost World paved the way with the first full length stop-motion animated film2.

Not Quite Black And White

The Lost World is a silent, black and white film, although the film was originally tinted3 to portray mood and time of day. Tints shown include red for the volcano scenes and blue for late night scenes, adding an effective atmosphere. The original organ soundtrack accompaniment too is effective if occasionally repetitive. Modern releases of The Lost World often give the option of viewing The Lost World with more recent soundtracks.

Cast


CharacterActor
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Himself
Edward Malone Lloyd Hughes
Professor Challenger Wallace Beery
Sir John RoxtonLewis Stone
Paula WhiteBessie Love
Professor Summerlee Arthur Hoyt
GomezBull Montana
Zambo Jules Cowes
Gladys Hungerford Alma Bennett
Mrs. ChallengerMargerette McWade
Colin McArdle George Bunny
Austin Francis Finch Smiles
Jocko the Monkey Himself

Dinosaurs:

Dinosaurs seen in the film:

  • Agathaumas4
  • Allosaurus
  • Brachiosaurus
  • Brontosaurus5
  • Pterodactyl6
  • Stegosaurus
  • Trachodon
  • Triceratops
  • Tyrannosaurus Rex

Over 50 dinosaur models were made, based on drawings by Charles Knight7. The animation team was led by Willis O'Brien, who would later animate King Kong, assisted by Marcel Delgardo, who made the models and Ralph Hammeras, who made the sets. The dinosaur models were designed around a metal skeleton known as an armature to allow them to be moved realistically in stop-motion animation. The models were built around balloon bladders that could be inflated and deflated to give the impression that the dinosaurs were breathing. A special gel to imitate slobber was also used around the animals' mouths for added realism.

The sets the dinosaurs were animated on were, with one exception, six by four feet sets built three feet off the ground. The trees were all fixed rigidly to the sets with the trunks and leaves all made of metal to prevent accidental movement whilst the dinosaurs around them were being animated. The largest set was the set used for the volcano and stampede sequence. This was a 75x150 feet stage that featured all 50 dinosaur models.

Although the dinosaurs and the actors are frequently seen on the screen at the same time8, the actors and dinosaurs do not interact apart from at the climatic end sequence where the brontosaurus rampages through the streets of London. For this sequence a full-size replica tail, head and foot of the brontosaurus were built to add to the illusion.

Some of the dinosaur models used in the film later were collected by Forrest J Ackerman9. Although the models were poorly looked after and the outer rubber skin eventually disintegrated, the metallic armatures still survive.

Ray Harryhausen informs us how the models were on display in the early 1930s.

'I was also lucky that the Los Angeles Museum had at that time an exhibition ...amongst the items on display were model dinosaurs from 'The Lost World' ...all of which were gifts from Willis O'Brien. I spent hours at that exhibition learning everything I could from the models and miniature props.'

The Plot Of The Film

Reporter Ed Malone proposes to Gladys, who rejects him by saying that she will only marry someone daring and brave. Later that day he goes to a meeting to report on Professor Challenger's claims that he knows the whereabouts of a 'lost world' populated by dinosaurs. At the meeting Professor Challenger is laughed at, but a committee is formed to give him the opportunity to defend his claims. His chief critic, Professor Summerlee, agrees to travel with Challenger so he can expose him as a fraud, Lord John Roxton, a famous hunter, signs up too and Malone attempts to also, wishing to impress Gladys.

Later Professor Challenger introduces Roxton and Malone to Paula White, daughter of the explorer Maple White, who is believed missing in this lost world. Malone agrees to join the expedition and says that as he is a reporter, his paper will pay for the costs in exchange for exclusive rights.

Challenger, Summerlee, Roxton, Malone and Paula White travel to South America, up the Amazon to a strange plateau. This cannot be reached from the outside world as its verticle sides are unclimbable. They reach this by climbing a neighbouring pinnacle and crossing through using a makeshift bridge from a tree they chop down there. On the plateau they do indeed discover several dinosaurs as well as a vicious apeman, but are stranded when a brontosaurus knocks the bridge down.

After watching the dinosaurs, including a brontosaurus attacked by a Tyrannosaurus Rex that fell off the plateau into a pool of mud, Malone realises that he loves Paula, who is also admired by John Roxton. Roxton discovers the body of Maple White as well as a way off the plateau, with the assistance of Jocko the monkey. As the explorers escape, a volcano errupts and the apeman attempts to prevent their leaving the plateau, but is shot by Roxton. They discover the trapped brontosaurus just as a rescue party arrives, and the brontosaurus is transported to London. Here it escapes, smashing statues, houses and Tower Bridge, before swimming off to sea. Malone discovers that Gladys has in the meantime married a particularly dull man, and her wanting to marry a hero was a girlish whim. Delighted, he runs off to be with Paula, and Lord Roxton gives the happy couple his blessing as the brontosaurus swims into the sunset.

The Novel

The Lost World is a film adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 novel of the same name. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a world-famous writer best known for creating Sherlock Holmes but was fondest of his historical novels, including The White Company and Sir Nigel, as well as his Professor Challenger stories, of which The Lost World was the first and finest.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel was the second published work about dinosaurs still existing in modern times, after Jules Verne's 1864 novel Journey to the Center of the Earth, but the first to be written in English. It was written shortly before the 1918 classic The Land That Time Forgot by Tarzan and John Carter of Mars author Edgar Rice Burroughs10, and as in The Land That Time Forgot, scientific accuracy takes second place to the narrative and spirit of adventure.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle originally appeared in a prologue of the film where he examined the models used for The Lost World and sat down in front of a typewriter to write the novel, however this original footage is lost. Instead modern versions have inserted contemporary newsreel footage of him.

Before the release of the film, in June 1922, Arthur Conan Doyle showed early footage of the dinosaurs to the annual banquet of the Society of American Magicians, to which he had been invited by Harry Houdini. This amazed the society, leading Arthur Conan Doyle to later write, 'It struck me that it would be very amusing if I could mystify the mystifiers.'

Inspiration

The main character of Ed Malone is believed to have been inspired by the journalist Edmund Dene Morel, who campaigned against human rights abuses in the Congo Free State and shared Ed Malone's initials, and by Arthur Conan Doyle's newspaper editor friend Bertram Fletcher Robinson. Lord Roxton was based on Roger Casement, who investigated human rights abuses in the Congo Free State in 1903. This led to the creation of the Belgian Congo as opposed to being the personal fiefdom of King Leopold II of Belgium. In 1906 Roger Casement was sent to investigate human rights abuses and slavery in Peru, and after The Lost World was published became a militant advocate of Irish independance. Arthur Conan Doyle based his character of Professor Challenger on Professor William Rutherford, who had taught him at Edinburgh University, as well as the zoologist Charles Wyville Thomson, who led an expedition to explore 69,000 nautical miles on board a ship named HMS Challenger.

The Lost World's plateau was inspired by Percy Harrison Fawcett's expedition to Mount Roraima on the border between Venezuela, Brazil and British Guyana. Mount Roraima is the highest and largest of the Pakaraima chain of tepui plateaus in South America. A tepui is a 'table top' flat topped mountain. There are over a hundred in South America and their appearance is identical to how the plateau is portrayed in the film The Lost World, only without the dinosaurs.

Differences From The Novel

There are several differences with Arthur Conan Doyle's original novel. These include minor changes, for instance in the film the port they leave England from is Liverpool rather than Southampton. The volcano sequence too is a new addition that owes more to The Land That Time Forgot, although the novel does suggest that the plateau may have been formed by the activity of a volcano now long extinct.

The main difference is the ending. In the novel, Professor Challenger brings a baby pterodactyl back to London to prove to the unbelievers that his adventures were true. In the film, however, it is a fully grown brontosaurus that is brought to London, which promptly escapes to rampage through the streets before breaking Tower Bridge.

Other differences include additional characters. The love interest of Paula White, the search for her lost father Maple White and the subsequent love triangle between Malone, Paula and Lord Roxton are all additions to the film.

The film also excludes the plateau's indigenous native population as well as all but removing the 'Missing Link' apeman culture.

Another element not in the novel is the love shown by Jocko the Monkey towards Paula White, and Jocko being instrumental in rescuing them by his climbing the great heights of the plateau in order to save Paula. This idea was later to feature prominently in special effects creator Willis O'Brien's next finished film, 1933's classic King Kong.

Dame Jean Conan Doyle, daughter of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, when interviewed in the early 21st Century about her father's reaction to the film stated that he was pleased with it and amazed at the animation.

The Making Of The Film

In 1920 Willis O'Brien first proposed a full-length adaptation of The Lost World, and by 1923 had persuaded First National Pictures to fund it. Filming took over 14 months between 1923 and 1925.

The script for the film was written by Marian Fairfax in such a way that it could be adapted should the untried dinosaur effects not work. The film was designed to succeed even if all the dinosaurs were left out. First National Pictures were worried about whether this all-but untried technique would work even though Willis O'Brien had, between 1914 and 1917 made five short stop-motion animated films featuring dinosaurs.

In fact, more than enough dinosaur footage was created, with over ten minutes of dinosaur footage filmed that was not used in the film. Many of these scenes were kept in storage in Warner Bros. stock shot library, which are now available to view as extras on DVD versions of the film.

The film also makes the most of the Amazonian setting by showing a plethora of jungle animals. These include capuchin monkey, chimpanzees, lizards, snakes, alligators, jaguar, macaw, spectacled bears and sloth. Many of these are the clever use of stock footage, but add greatly to the spirit of adventure of the film.

Restoration

The original negatives of the Lost World were destroyed in 1929 when it was believed that a sound remake version of the Lost World would soon be forthcoming.

The film was originally 105 minutes long, yet when First National scrapped the film only a 50 minute copy was believed to exist until a 94 minute long copy was discovered in Prague in 1992. Although 10 minutes of the original film have been lost, including the original prologue and scenes relating to the journey to the plateau, the spirit of the dinosaur adventure remains intact.

The Legacy

Many films have been influenced by The Lost World. These are perhaps some of the films that The Lost World has had the greatest influence on.

King Kong

After the worldwide success of The Lost World there were plans to make a sound-version remake. However, this was not to be. The film studio behind The Lost World, First National, who had been in favour of the project were undergoing a turbulent time. Formed during the Great War, First National Pictures began as a cinema chain alliance made up of independent cinemas who began creating their own films in 1924. In the late 1920s this new film studio was considered an attractive target by the established film studios, with Paramount buying out some of the independent cinemas supporting First National and Warner Brothers purchasing a controlling interest in First National in September 1928. In this corporate takeover environment all attempts to make an expensive effects film such as the sound The Lost World remake would prove to be were at first delayed and finally abandoned.

With the rights to remake The Lost World tied up with First National, Willis O'Brien attempted in the early 1930s to make a similar film with a different film studio, RKO11. This film was to be named Creation and the plot was very loosely based on Edgar Rice Burrough's novel The Land That Time Forgot12 novel, with some elements re-used from The Lost World. These include the female lead having a pet monkey called Chico, just as Paula White had a pet monkey, called Jocko, in The Lost World. Creation too featured a volcano eruption, a family of triceratops and fights between dinosaurs. However, as this expensive film was being made during the time of the Great Depression this too was abandoned after filming began for reasons of both cost and an unoriginal plot. Many of the models made for Creation, however, and some of the planned sequences were later re-used in one of RKO's most famous films, 1933's King Kong.

Ray Harryhausen, in an interview about how he worked, stated,

'I submit drawings and I work very close with the writers and they'd write these drawings into the script in a logical way. Willis O'Brien worked this way too. He submitted many ideas for King Kong. Some of his ideas came from Creation, so many ideas came from The Lost World, which were incorporated by the writer and, of course, they get the credit for it.'

Ray Harryhausen

Ray Harryhausen was Willis O'Brien's protégé who worked closely with Willis O'Brien on Mighty Joe Young. In his book An Animated Life, Ray Harryhausen describes how he was influenced by The Lost World.

'It was in 1925 that I saw The Lost World. This was heady stuff for such a young mind... Although I was only 5 at the time, The Lost World made a huge impression on me, especially the scene where a huge brontosaurus falls off the plateau and into a lake of mud where it lies struggling. ...The image of that brontosaurus kept reappearing in my mind's eye, and from that moment I knew I wasn't alone in my fascination with dinosaurs.'

Ray Harryhausen would also incorporate the breathing techniques used in the dinosaur models in The Lost World in his later films, in particular 20 Million Miles to Earth.

Ray Harryhausen would later bring one of Willis O'Brien's unmade projects to life after Willis O'Brien's death – 1969's Valley Of Gwangi.

The Jurassic Park Trilogy

The second Jurassic Park film ends with a dinosaur brought back to civilisation, which escapes and goes on the rampage. It is even named The Lost World.

Up

Up is a charming Pixar animated film that has many similarities both with The Lost World novel and the 1925 film. First of all, much of the film takes place on a tepui plateau in South America, just as in The Lost World. This, known as Paradise Falls, is described in the newsreel at the start as a lost world in South America. The black and white newsreel footage itself appears very similar to The Lost World, and Paradise Falls itself has a pinnacle next to the plateau on its right, just as in the film The Lost World there is a pinnacle next to the plateau's right.

Up's character of Charles Muntz comes across as an evil cross between Professor Challenger and Lord Roxton. Physically he is like Lord Roxton as he is portrayed in the film, old and with a thin moustache, and like Lord Roxton he is a hunter.13 Like Professor Challenger who was mocked on his first return from South America, Charles Muntz too was mocked and vowed to return with living proof – which in The Lost World Professor Challenger does with the live brontosaurus, however in Up it is a live bird that is brought back.

The plot of Kevin the bird seems loosely based on a section from the novel The Lost World where in both Chapter 16 'A Procession! A Procession!' and Chapter 15 ' Our Eyes Have Seen Great Wonders' a bird similar to Kevin in Up appears. This is described as 'a great running bird, far taller than an ostrich, with a vulture-like neck and cruel head which made it a walking death... the great creature, twelve feet from head to foot.'

Russell in Up is the equivalent of Ed Malone in the 1925 film version of The Lost World, where he comes across as an average, clumsy comic man, rather than the international rugby player of the novel. Just as in the film Ed Malone embarks to impress one woman, his intended fiancée, but gets another, so Russell begins the film hoping to impress his distant father but gets another father figure in the form of Mr Fredricksen.

Remakes and subsequent adaptations

There have been several remakes and other versions of The Lost World. These include:

  • The Lost World a 1960 Irwin Allen film.
  • The Lost World and sequel Return to the Lost World, both well made with a good cast starring John Rhys-Davies and David Warner.
  • The Lost World a poor cheap 1998 film where the action takes place in Mongolia rather than South America.
  • Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World 1999-2002 an entertaining television series.
  • 'The Lost World', a high quality 2001 television 2-part adventure made by the BBC starring Bob Hoskins and James Fox.

For the most part these have had inferior effects to create the illusion of dinosaurs. These have included filming lizards and alligators from low angles to make them look big – in 1960 an iguana unconvincingly portrayed an iguanadon – as well as people in rubber costumes, until the invention of Computer Generated effects.

1Made two years earlier than Fritz Lang's Metropolis with Georges Méliès' 1902 film Le Voyage dans la Luneonly 14 minutes long.2Although admittedly The Lost World was not entirely animated, unlike Snow White.3Black and white film was soaked in dye and stained so that shades of grey appear as another colour. Colours available included red, green, blue, pink, amber, yellow, and orange. Tinting films phased out in the late 1920s as it was difficult for films to be both tinted and contain a soundtrack.4Now known as Styracosaurus.5Now called an Apatosaurus by paleontologists.6Pterodactyls are now known as pterodons. A flying reptile and not strictly a dinosaur.7Charles Robert Knight was an American artist who between 1890 and 1950 specialised in paintings of dinosaurs, both for books and for Natural History museums throughout America.8Through camera techniques known as split screen, glass shot, static matte and travelling matte.9An avid science fiction fan who was instrumental in early science fiction conventions who later amassed a vast science fiction collection and museum which was open from 1970 to 2002.10Edgar Rice Burroughs also wrote about monsters in the centre of the Earth in his Pellucidar books.11Radio-Keith-Orpheum Pictures.12The Land That Time Forgot would be filmed in 1975 by Amicus, who released its sequel, The People That Time Forgot, in 1977.13The other main characteristics Charles Muntz has are his love of dogs and fondness for skeletons of animals he has killed. Lord Roxton is described in the novel as 'keen, alert, open-air lover of dogs' and has heads on display as trophies.

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