To me, this movie is perfection.

Instant Favorite.

Good movie but grossly overrated

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

A bunch of sneaky-acting characters set out across the Atlantic Ocean and find "The Lost Continent"… or, maybe they don't. This has nothing to do with the missing "Atlantis" mentioned by many people, from writer-philosopher Plato to singer-songwriter Donovan… or, maybe it does. None of it makes much sense. The characters have interesting backgrounds, and voyaging with "illegal cargo" sounds like it should make a dynamite story. Yet, neither the performers nor producer/director Michael Carreras can make it float. His best direction occurs at around 30 minutes of running time, when he has sexy Suzanna Leigh wring out her wet dress. Tony Beckley gets to play the best part – if you're given a choice of roles, always opt for the alcoholic.*** The Lost Continent (6/19/68) Michael Carreras ~ Eric Porter, Hildegard Knef, Tony Beckley, Suzanna Leigh

I've given this film 9/10 based on its ENJOYMENT FACTOR - not its quality. Undoubtedly, the piece is laughably inept. The stationary backdrop to the scenes on the bridge - with a harbour marker being obviously wheeled past by a grip! The battle of the rubber monsters. Those balloons, which would barely have given lift to a copy of Denis Wheatley's "Uncharted Seas", which Nigel Stock is seen reading in the lounge, early on - and which should have helped his character, given it was the source novel for the movie!But we don't care about any of that. Despite his fame as a writer of Black Magic books, Denis Wheatley had started in the Thirties with novels of enormous scope (how come no-one EVER made "Sixty Days To Live"?) of which Uncharted Seas was just one. And it is this great YARN that gives The Lost Continent its outrageous style.And everyone just WENT for it. Heavyweight actors, Eric Porter and Hildegard Knef. The reliable Tony Beckley. And of course, Hammer's "lucky charm" - the pop-eyed Michael Ripper (did they originally hire him for his surname?) Then there's the music. The original score was DUMPED (unique for micro-budget Hammer) being replaced by a minimal score, enhanced with songs from British "cool group", The Peddlers.And while the trails trumpeted the movie as being a conventional action-adventure, the reality was it was a superior fantasy/mood-piece.However, the curiosity of this film is its "alternate versions". There are at least two that I know of. The British version emerged with an "X" certificate and ran for about 95 minutes, while the US version had a "softer" rating and ran for just 89. The US version lacks eight minutes which the British version had - but the British version lacks an extended scene which the US version had.The reason given for the US pruning is that it enabled the softer rating. But since the missing footage includes little to offend, this reason seems spurious. And why were about forty seconds pruned from the British version? I suspect the REAL reason for the pruning was LENGTH. The Lost Continent was made as an "A" movie, but most of Hammer's output was released as double-bills in The States.The British version was released in theatres, then an analogue VT transfer was made for TV showings, which ran - uncut - for about ten years (presumably until the contract ran out).But during this time, the British negative was allowed to deteriorate (Hammer had a rough late-Seventies and were careless with their archive).Thus, when the film was shown on British TV in the Nineties, the digital VT transfer was taken from the US version - America had preserved their print better.Which now leaves us with a DVD restoration based on said US version - with the missing eight minutes culled from the inferior British print. This DVD is available from IMDb's sister - Amazon - and is well worth the money. It also includes a version of The Peddlers' title song - in its entirety - on one of the menus. Plus a second, contemporaneous film - "The Reptile" - with the delectable Jacqueline Pearce and the afore-mentioned Mr Ripper, in the biggest role he ever had at Hammer.But returning to The Lost Continent, SOMEWHERE there may be yet ANOTHER edit. Traditionally, Hammer made "continental versions" of their films for Europe, containing extra naughtiness. Perhaps THAT edit EXTENDS the "love scene" featuring Ms Leigh and INCLUDES one between Ms Knef and the super-suave but unlikely-named Ben(ito) Carruthers?Two footnotes - apparently Ben Carruthers was a mate of Bob Dylan (he introduced Nico to Bob) and was musically inclined. But his acting career ran from '57 (when he was 21) and ended in '71 (when he was 35) and he died at just 47. What's HIS story? His contribution to The Lost Continent is certainly significant.And Jimmy Hanley (who died not long after this film was released) was Britain's "nice guy". His role is also worthy of mention, but one can't help wondering how HE interpreted his line - "If you'll pardon me for saying so - that's not what she wants." In the context of the film, it certainly has two meanings...

The principal quality of the movies of Edward D. Wood Jr. was that he had far-reaching ideas, but no ability to write them down, explain them or put them on film. That's how this film works.For instance, in the first part of the film, where we meet the motley groups of passengers, we learn some of their secrets and intrigues. In a well-done picture these would have paid off in the conclusion. The idea of these worn-out, ruined people with their regrets, coming together to become heroes at the climax, would have been great. They do have a bit of heroism halfway through (during the lifeboat sequence) but in the conclusion, their personalities seem to disappear and it's all generic action. All that preparation, no payoff.And the bad guys - the religious fanatics, made pretty ridiculous to avoid angering any present-day religions - didn't make much sense. If they went around killing anybody who violated Vatican...er, the fanatic's morality, there wouldn't be a lot of people left to do all the work. And are we to believe that our crew is the only 20th century ship to be caught by the Lost Continent? To me, this is Britain's Ed Wood film (although British readers could probably come up with better examples).It is probably the best "bad" film Hammer ever made, still watchable no matter how ridiculous it gets. In fact, recent TV series like "The Lost World" and the Xena-Hercules shows aren't any less ridiculous. A producer and director of genius could remake this film as a TV series, improving it tremendously with just a little bit more thought. I'm thinking of Gene Roddenberry's "The Fantastic Journey" short-run TV series as a model.

The lost continent is perhaps one of the most unusual movies I have ever seen. It begins with the captain giving a farewell speech, and the camera makes a dolly shot we see this bizarre people dress as Spanish conquistadors in a foggy atmosphere then we fade to the past introducing the characters each showing hardly no respect for one another even the ships crew don't trust the captain. We have a captain that is smuggling explosives, a doctor escaping from the past, a daughter that wants to see her father dead and a variety of characters that don't know what there in for. Through the film we see a dramatic change of the character but we never see the captain change. Going from deception to murderer, the movie takes a totally different turn. After the boat is in the middle of a tropical storm the captain and some of the crew escape in a small life boat then they confront sharks, hunger, and even them selves. Somehow they manage to find the cruise intact but they are trapped in a strange weed looking island, and then the fun really begins, giant monsters, killer weed, and Spanish conquistadors are the order of the lost continent. This film is not one of HAMMERS best but is sure one of the must bizarre and entertaining movies. In a Saturday night order a pizza and a couple of beers and you on for a good time.