
“Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Stupendous Story”
The first film adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel about a land where prehistoric creatures still roam.
Release Date: 2/2/1925
Runtime: 104 minutes
Languages: No Language
Director: Harry O. Hoyt
00Companies: First National Pictures
Countries: United States of America
CinemaSerf
Wallace Beery is the rather eccentric "Prof. Challenger" - an eminent explorer who tries to convince his justifiably sceptical peers of a plateau in the Amazonian jungle where there be dinosaurs... Derided and ridiculed, he secures some funding from "Sir John Roxton" (Lewis Stone), assembles a team and back they go - promising to return with proof positive. The acting is adequate - that's not what matters, really - it's the wonderful and fluent actions of the stop motion photography that makes the stand out. These effects are superb. Basic, sure, and the scale of the sets around them isn't likely to convince anyone - but the story really picks up pace amidst the jungle as these beasts fight each other and look for the odd snack or two for themselves (one even looks like he's stopped for a Woodbine!)... They manage to capture an injured one and take it home - not quite the proof the Londoners were expecting when it starts marauding round Piccadilly! It is groundbreaking, this - and set the standards for a world of creatives like Ray Harryhausen to build upon.

Bessie Love
Paula White

Lewis Stone
Sir John Roxton

Wallace Beery
Prof. Challenger

Lloyd Hughes
Edward E. Malone

Alma Bennett
Gladys Hungerford

Arthur Hoyt
Prof. Summerlee

Margaret McWade
Mrs. Challenger

Bull Montana
Ape Man
Frank Finch Smiles
Challengers Diener

Jules Cowles
Zambo
George Bunny
Colin McArdle
Charles Wellesley
Maj. Hibbard
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