The Lost World

This is how I will get my future children to watch silent movies. Drags in the beginning, but once the locale changes it becomes a lot of carnal and hokey fun. The highlight for me was the finale in London. I like dinosaurs. Don't you???

(2016 restoration) Better than Spielberg's version. A mixed bag plotwise; the casual racism and helpless girl is par for the course unfortunately, but once they get to the dinosaur plateau, the plot just sort of stops just so they can show off their special effects for 30 minutes while our characters do little but watch. Then again, I can't blame them, it's pretty impressive, and the film has a sense of humour that makes the ending more than just a dry run for King Kong.

One of the more enjoyable silent films I've seen. The build-up was gripping and intriguing, with good casting choices (barring the usual wide-eyed girl for the era) - especially professor Challenger. The stop-motion animation for it's most part is pretty spectacular, but apart from the initial few awe-inspiring scenes, it gets boring quickly. A great sequence: crossing over to the plateau. The ape-man was very awkward, but menacing. Overall very enjoyable.

Short, pioneering silent film that isn't amazing, but is easy to appreciate. I've not read the novel, but the story is simple and to the point. The dinosaurs are no Jurassic Park dinosaurs, but for a mid 20s film, they are pretty remarkable. A much more enjoyable silent film than the first one I watched.

Pretty cool adventure story and animation.

Wallace Berry terrif as Challenger, plus Willis O'Brien dinos! Takes many liberties with the novel -- but enough fun to make me Not Care.

Dude, is that Bigfoot?

The best silent film ever made. LOL, that's the only one I've seen. This film had great effects, good story and it was thrilling.

Good silent adventure movie. Dinos by Willis "King Kong" O'Brien

A nice, fun, adventure film; Willis O'Brien's stop motion dinosaurs are the big draw, and there are some interesting technical advancements in trying to integrate the models and live action (though the full payoff was still a few years down the line in King Kong). The live action parts are also pretty decent, with a rampaging Wallace Beery as Professor Challenger, and a healthy dose of comic relief.

Contrary to criticism I'd aim at a lot of 1950s creature features, this is at its strongest with the drama. Likeable characters & fun dialogue make for a great setup, & it's the Jurassic act where things slow to a crawl, having more in common with a prehistoric nature doc than monster mayhem. O'Brien's dinos are packed with charm, but clearly 'primitive' by comparison to later efforts. Nonetheless, this is foundational effects history that's a delight to witness for those that admire the craft.

The characters here aren't terrible but aren't great, the romance is just okay, and the racist character in blackface is a lot, but the fantasy elements are strong and the stop motion effects are so much fun and at times even stand up okay to the modern eye. The climactic scenes are just awesome effect filmmaking. A lot of it is obviously very impressive model work but I'm not sure how they got the shots of what appear to be actual humans running with the giant dinosaur next to them.