Memorable, crazy movie

A Brilliant Conflict

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

I was so pleased to find this ratings list after I Google the Lost Continent. I had just been email my (Film Student) son to tell him I'd caught it on the Horror Channel and I thought it was a contender for the worst (British) movie ever made. This site has made me see there is a camp, crazy, delectable madness about it that I have bypassed at my peril.I shall watch it again with my son when he is home.I was also v pleased to find there are several cuts as I remember a scene with Dana Gillespie that wasn't in the version I saw on TV recently - in fact, I couldn't find her at all. Thanks for all your reviews.

An interesting gallery of characters take a sea voyage on a tramp steamer led by Captain Lansen (Eric Porter). Some of them have their own sordid stories, like the Captain himself, who's in a hurry to unload some dangerous cargo in order to make a quick buck and retire rich. One hurricane and one mutiny later, and they end up stranded somewhere in the Sargasso Sea, where the water is infested by a particularly hideous, man eating variety of seaweed. There they come upon an island civilization, not to mention a crazed mollusk or two.The primitive special effects (Robert A. Mattey, who later supervised the creation of "Bruce" for the 1975 classic "Jaws", was in charge) add a great deal of schlocky charm to this Hammer production, certainly one of the oddest things that they ever made. Based on the novel "Uncharted Seas" by Dennis Wheatley (which you can actually see the character of Dr. Webster reading at one point!), it tells a fairly original yarn with a singularly weird atmosphere. The somewhat askew colour photography in the later parts plays a big part in this atmosphere, as well as some memorable images. The music score by Gerard Schurmann is supplemented by tunes crooned by a 60s group called The Peddlers. And the creatures on display are quite fun to watch.The actors are able to give incredibly straight faced performances in light of how nutty the story eventually gets. Porter is an interesting guy in that he's not quite the conventional "hero". Hildegard Knef, the lovely Suzanna Leigh, and Tony Beckley have the meatiest roles among the supporting actors. Nigel Stock, Neil McCallum, Jimmy Hanley, James Cossins, Dana Gillespie (whose breasts threaten to pop out of her costume at times), Victor Maddern, Norman Eshley, the always delightful Hammer good luck charm Michael Ripper, and Donald Sumpter all deliver enjoyable performances.Definitely a curiosity for fans of this great British studio.Producer Michael Carreras reportedly fired original director Leslie Norman, and took over in that capacity, also writing the screenplay himself using the pseudonym "Michael Nash" (the name of his gardener).Seven out of 10.

Suggestive Spoilers This is one of these movies you can remember watching on television one Friday night many years ago and thinking was a great movie . When you see it again after a period of a couple of decades you spend much of the running time on the rewatch thinking " How the heck did I find this enjoyable in any way ? " but then a couple of scenes appear and you can see why you found it enjoyable when you were young enough to have not developed overly critical abilities . In short the memory has cheated making you forget all the dire bits and bigging up the fun moments . Certainly THE LOST CONTINENT is a fun film but only intermittently To say there's something uneven with the screenplay is an understatement . The first half manages to combine contrivance , banality and boredom all together which is no small feat . If you've got a cargo of yellow oil drums that have " DANGER HIGHLY EXPLOSIVE MATERIAL DON'T GET IT WET UNDER ANY CIRUMSTANCES " warning signs splashed all over them you can just imagine this might some baring on some plot turn later on in the film , especially if the film spends five minutes explaining through its one dimensional ship's crew just how dangerous this stuff might be . Especially if a hurricane is coming . Just when you think it might be a disaster movie featuring shipwrecked survivors struggling to stay alive on a lifeboat the film mutates in to something entirely different so much so you'd be left thinking why this aspect wasn't developed earlier since the first half is entirely boring in comparison I'm not saying the second half is good from an artistic point out of view but it is thoroughly entertaining as long as manage to suspend disbelief which is very difficult when the film throws everything including the kitchen sink at the audience . There's enough plastic monsters and ideas here to fuel an entire season of DOCTOR WHO . Perhaps the most striking thing is some of the design work where people can walk on weed infested water because they're wearing giant balloons strapped to their backs . Don't bother to ask where these survivors of a 16th Century Spanish fleet managed to acquire them or what they've been eating for several Centuries because it's not that type of movieTo give the cast credit they do try and make the most of their painfully underwritten clichéd roles of woman with a secret past , hip black dude , slutty blonde bimbo , tough level headed sea captain etc . The stand out performance is probably by Tony Beckley best known for his flamboyant larger than life roles and is especially best known by this reviewer for his show stopping role as Harrison Chase in the DOCTOR WHO story The Seeds Of Doom and it's strange watching him as a macho square jawed hero come alcoholic piano player . Also worth pointing out is Dana Gillespie as Sarah though possibly not for her acting talent and when one of the characters mentioned " Sarah is playing her with her balloon things " all sorts of images flashed through my mind THE LOST CONTINENT is a very uneven film . As many people have said - and it's impossible not to notice it - it feels like two different films welded together by the same cast . . It's silly and entertaining but probably not as entertaining as you might have remembered it . That said it could very well do with a remake involving a more disciplined story structure while keeping the more horror and action based elements of the original

I thought this romp was somewhat in the vane or spirit of those Doug McClure movies where the U-Boat ends up in a pre-historic lost area of the globe and the crew has to deal with cave people, Dinosaurs etc.I certainly don't hold the feet of this film to any super critical standard since it dosen't seem to take itself seriously anyway. I agree with the one reviewer of the postings on this page that if you just suspend your disbelief somewhat that it's a quite entertaining film since it is quite imaginative in the visuals and the situation (albeit quite ridiculous) such as the Conquistadors stuck there for several centuries. The buxom balloon girl was most pleasant to look at and took to speaking English quite quickly (They have Berlitz books out there).I think a story like this would be a bit more easier to swallow if it had taken place in the 20's or 30's, but again, the movie does not seem to take itself seriously so who cares(Giant crabs are not to beyond the pale, but giant scorpians!).The cast plays it straight despite the absurdity, and that helps to suspend disbelief.The weird factor is very high which is the most appealing factor of this flick.I think there was a bit of 60's political angle of questioning of authority as the ship crew incited the lord kid to question his own blind obedience to the hooded inquisitor. There was a rapprochement between the crew of the ship and the conquistadors both standing in respect for the kid ruler in his burial at sea. So I suppose this could also be kind of a 60's version of 'can we all just get along' type decade influenced feature in this film.Yes! A beer and pizza film.