Dreadfully Boring

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

"Lost Continent" is one of the toughest cinematic experiences I have had for quite some time. I'm pretty sure even audiences way back in 1951 found it hard to sit through. There's nothing wrong with the basic premise (stumbling across a previously unknown prehistoric world), even though it's been done many times before. However, it's this particular execution that kills the movie. It is ridiculously padded out - there's endless talk before the protagonists start their journey, and once the journey starts, it takes an unbelievable amount of time before they really get to see the prehistoric world, mostly because (as others here have mentioned) there is a rock climbing sequence that doesn't know when to quit. Eventually we get to see some dinosaurs, but it's not worth the wait - there are only a handful of (short) special effect sequences depicting the dinosaurs, and the stop-motion effects portraying them are kind of amateurish. This is one movie that should have been lost.

I first saw this film courtesy of MST3K, and for years only knew of it from that hilarious episode. Years later I picked up the Image DVD and quickly found it to be an addictive little film with replay value. As a lover of both classic and trashy prehistoric cinema, "Lost Continent" may not necessarily be a good movie, but I feel it has plenty of entertainment value. The stop-motion is not on the level of Harryhausen or O'Brien, but it is solid and I enjoy the fact that only herbivorous dinosaurs are seen (certainly the result of the low budget). I can't help but love the macho characters; the nearly all-male cast is very much of that time period: these tough men climb a mountain and explore a vast lost world, with ample smoke breaks and reminders to the audience that these men are men, and American to the bone. The green tinted-footage is an interesting, if simple, visual effect. I am giving this a high rating for its entertainment value; it's not nearly as bad as some have suggested with their reviews, and better than MST3K may lead you to believe.

Plot—a retrieval team is dispatched to the Pacific to bring back vital info from a downed rocket. Their plane, however, crashes on a prehistoric island, so adventure follows.Considering the production's barrel bottom pedigree, it's better than I expected. Not that this says much—the monsters are poorly done, the rescue team climbs endlessly the same rocks, the pacing sometimes drags, while the green tint is stomach churning. Still, producer Neufeld hired a capable cast, even if the women's roles dangle like appendages, (added no doubt for marquee value). Then too, low-rent comedian Melton restrains his usual buffoonery as one of the team.On a different note, catch the brief Cold War dialog between Rostov (Hoyt) and Nolan (Romero). Judging from the release date, I expect the movie was filmed at the height (late 1950) of the Korean War, so maybe the departure's not surprising. Anyway, the ambitions may greatly exceed the budget, but the cast manages some interest in an adventure movie that could have easily been a total loss.

Russian refugee scientist John Hoyt attracts intense suspicion during the plane ride with his weird behavior. First, he refuses a cup of coffee. Traitor! Then, he is found to be looking at maps, another suspicious activity. Our stalwarts approach an uncharted island, somehow failing to notice its towering, sheer-sided pedestal of a mountain until they're on the ground. It's full of uranium, whose magical properties include a form of magnetism capable of attracting errant missiles. They climb it, discovering a few dinosaurs atop it, including a pair of sweetly doe-eyed ceratopsians who are nevertheless averse to humans. The rocket has augured straight into the ground, but appears to be undamaged.There has been some talk about how kind and gentle herbivorous dinosaurs must have been. I would like to mention a few contemporary herbivores: rhinos, hippos, cape buffalo, bison. Perhaps someone would like to walk up to these creatures and pet them.