Amicus and AIP joined forces to adapt Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novel The Land That Time Forgot for film, mostly to good effect. The selling point here is the dinosaurs, and while they’re not up to the standards of today (we’ve been spoiled by Jurassic Park), they do deliver.
Doug McClure (At the Earth’s Core) and his twee lady friend (Susan Penhaligon, Patrick) are the two lone survivors of a peaceful ship brought down by the torpedoes of a German U-boat during World War I. With the help of some fellow Englishmen they have the good fortune to stumble upon in the fog, the Yanks overtake the Kraut sub.
But the Germans have fucked with the compass, purposely sending the vessel way off-course in the Arctic. So off-course, in fact, that they’re lost and end up in a prehistoric world … that time forgot! Said land is inhabited by all kinds of dinosaurs that attack from the ground, air and sea. They’re either puppets or men in suits or models on strings, but they get the job done.
The land is also home to a tribe of fugly cavemen with lots of hair on their backs. With them, the creatures, the Germans and the Englishmen all at odds with one another, the line between who’s good and bad starts to blur, culminating in an ending that’s rather dark, but nonetheless satisfying. Directed by Kevin Connor (Motel Hell), the movie takes its precious time getting started, but eventually picks up steam after the first third, stumbling a bit in pacing toward the protracted, volcano-erupting climax. —Rod Lott
I heard Derek Meddings speak once and He was ask about the effects. He claims that he did the Ship sinking at the beginning and the Submarine effects. He claims that he had nothing to do with the Dinosaurs.
PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT is better because of boobs.
Agreed! And that review is in the queue.