Before the innovations of Industrial Light and Magic and other groundbreaking special effects companies elevated the science fiction movie from B-movie status to blockbuster, movies like The Land That Time Forgot were considered to be as good-as-it-gets for the genre for quite some time. Released in 1975, the movie is an adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs story of the same name.
Taking place in 1916, with the world in the throes of World War I, the film begins in the North Atlantic as U-33, a German U-Boat, is hunting for Allied ships that are carrying supplies to Britain. Captain Von Schoenvorts (John McEnery) spies the British merchant ship S.S. Montrose in his periscope and orders two torpedoes fired on her. The ship explodes and sinks quickly but not before two groups of survivors can man lifeboats and take to the sea.
In one boat is Bowen Tyler (Doug McClure) and Lisa Clayton (Susan Penhaligon) and in the other is a group of British sailors led by Bradley (Keith Barron). Discussing their limited options on the open sea, the survivors plot to overthrow the U-Boat crew as the submarine surfaces to recharge its batteries.
Tyler and Bradley’s plan is successful and they command the German crew to take them westward to the United States. However, one of the Germans has tampered with the ship’s compass and instead of heading west, the sub heads due south for six days. With the sub lost and food and fuel running short, the Germans and British agree to work together to find a way to a neutral port. But before they can find a civilized port, however, they encounter the uncharted island continent of Caprona.
Navigating upriver into the mainland of Caprona, it’s quickly discovered that the island is home to a wide variety of prehistoric plant and animal life. Almost as soon as the sub surfaces in an inland lake, it is attacked by a group of plesiosaurs.
Once the now-allied crew makes landfall, they make a discovery that could help them get back home: the island has a natural oil reserve. Using refining equipment that is carried on the sub, the crew can produce enough fuel to get them off the island and back to civilization. That is, if they can survive attacks from dinosaurs and primitive tribes long enough to complete the task.
The Land That Time Forgot‘s special effects are certainly not the best by today’s standards but, for their day, they were fairly impressive. The dinosaurs were not created with stop-motion animation or men in rubber suits but through the use of somewhat unwieldy puppets. As a result, some of the “threatening” dinos appear to be staring off into space rather than being interested in eating anyone. One scene involving a pterodactyl that swoops down to attack the sub crew clearly shows the wires holding the beast aloft. Still, many of the miniature effects — particularly the submarine — are convincing.
Doug McClure’s performance is of the stock action hero variety but he seems to be having a good time through most of the movie. As Lisa, Susan Penhaligon doesn’t get do much other than scream, occasionally peer through a microscope, and translate caveman languages. John McEnery and Anthony Ainley provide suitably slimy performances as the Germans.
The Land That Time Forgot is an adequately enjoyable action-adventure film until the last 20 minutes. The script is progressing towards an interesting plot development — the reason for the co-existence of so many different life forms from different time periods — and, suddenly, it’s as if someone glanced at a clock and said, “OK, let’s wrap this up as soon as possible. Cue the volcanic eruptions.” What was a finely paced adventure story quickly turns into a slalom run through a series of clichéd obstacles for no real reason. The funny thing is that the movie only clocks in at an hour and 30 minutes. What would an extra 10 or 15 minutes have done to hurt anything? As this is a B-movie, I guess the money just wasn’t there to smooth up all the rough edges. It’s too bad because the movie is an otherwise entertaining romp through a prehistoric environment.
Nevertheless, The Land That Time Forgot was a relative success in its U.S. theatrical run in the late summer of 1975. It spawned a direct sequel, The People That Time Forgot, which also starred Doug McClure along with Patrick Wayne. Amicus Productions also created two other films of a similar nature, At the Earth’s Core and Warlords of Atlantis, which also achieved some notoriety in theaters. However, when Star Wars burst onto the scene in 1977, film-goer’s expectations for genre films changed and low-budget productions such as this received limited attention from distributors and fans.
In 2009, The Land That Time Forgot was remade with a new, more modern story-line and CGI effects replacing the handmade dinosaur puppets. It was released directly to video.
If you’re interested in seeing what dinosaurs looked like on film before CGI became the norm, the original 1975 version of The Land That Time Forgot isn’t a bad place to start.
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
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