Bronto Rampage On Streets Of London!

Bronto Rampage On Streets Of London!

This year marks the centenary of the first film adaptation of The Lost World. It received its world premier at the Astor Theatre in New York City on 8 February, 1925. Based on the 1912 novel by Arthur Conan Doyle, the film was produced by First National Pictures. It was directed by Harry O. Hoyt.

A screening of some of the ‘rushes‘ from the film was previously arranged for the Society of American Magicians. Among those present was the famous escapologist, Harry Houdini. Another audience member was a reporter from The New York Times. In a front-page article the next day, the reporter wrote that, “(Conan Doyle’s) monsters of the ancient world, or of the new world which he has discovered in the ether, were extraordinarily lifelike. If fakes, they were masterpieces.“

The ‘monsters‘ are the work of Willis H. O’Brien. He pioneered special effects using stop motion animation. This is where objects are manipulated and photographed frame by frame. The film is then run at a normal speed to create the illusion of movement. Willis H. O’Brien then combined animated dinosaurs with live-action footage of human beings. It was a technique that he later used to great effect on the classic monster movie, King Kong (1933.) 

The animated dinosaurs in The Lost World include such species as Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, and the king of them all, Tyrannosaurus Rex. Among the human cast is Lewis Stone as Sir John Roxton, and Lloyd Hughes as the newspaper reporter, Ed Malone. The actor Wallace Beery plays the volatile Professor Challenger.

The film adaptation is mostly faithful to the original novel. After finding a mysterious plateau in South America, an expedition party encounter all sorts of dangers. These include carnivorous dinosaurs, a vicious tribe of apemen, and an erupting volcano. The Lost World is certainly not lacking in action!

Screenwriter Marion Fairfax made a couple of changes when she adapted the book. Fairfax introduced a new character named Paula White. Played by Bessie Love, she is the daughter of Maple White. He is the lost explorer mentioned in the original novel.

In the book, Professor Challenger brings back a Pterodactyl from The Lost World, to prove that he has been there. But the film-makers went one better. In the movie, Professor Challenger ships a 60-foot long Brontosaurus back to London. However, the beast escapes from its cage and terrorises London. There is widespread panic until the Brontosaurus falls into the River Thames at Tower Bridge. It is last seen swimming down the river at the end of the film! 

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle appears very briefly in a frontispiece to the film. A short poem is then shown on screen.

First National Pictures were eventually incorporated into Warner Brothers. For unknown reasons, Warner Brothers decided to cut the running time of The Lost World from 90 minutes to just 60 minutes. Thankfully the missing footage was eventually restored to the film. Today it can be seen as originally intended.

The Lost World also made aviation history when it became the first in-flight movie. It was shown to passengers who were on a Imperial Airways flight from London to Paris.

There have been a number of television and film versions of The Lost World since 1925. More recently, Jurassic Park ( 1993 ), and its sequels have featured CGI generated dinosaurs. Yet they all owe a huge debt to the original version of The Lost World.

When the author Michael Crichton wrote the sequel to Jurassic Park, he titled it The Lost World. It was a fitting homage to Conan Doyle’s book and its 1925 film adaptation. 

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