GUENOT PHILIPPE I watched this movie after nearly thirty years and I saw the 1925 version just after. I did not remember this one and I was astonished to see that the first version of Conan Doyle's novel was far far better. I know this sounds strange, but the remake seems to end where the original resumed towards a terrific climax: the prehistoric monster loose in a big city, in the pure KING KONG manner, or so many other monster movies, such as those we saw during the fifties. I don't know why Irwin Allen did not continue his story in NY, London or Paris...This would have been great; instead of that we only see a baby monster where maybe in the future give many difficulties to the human kind. A sort of open ending. And watching such an end and then resuming with the original, with an ending where the monster is brought to London to finally attack the city, watching the Irwin Allen's feature may be really painful, such as an one arm man who, after an amputation, still feels his missing arm.

Spikeopath The Lost World is directed and produced by Irwin Allen, who also co-adapts the screenplay with Charles Bennett from the novel written by Arthur Conan Doyle. It stars Michael Rennie, Jill St. John, Claude Rains, David Hedison, Fernando Lamas and Richard Haydn. A CinemaScope production in De Luxe Color, music is by Paul Sawtell & Bert Shefter and cinematography by Winton C. Hoch.A loose adaptation of Doyle's novel, this version was the first talkie to surface after the silent original back in 1925. The story pitches a diverse group of travellers/explorers onto an Amazonian plateau where it is hoped that proof of living dinosaurs can be made. Monster malarkey does follow.Given that it has a diverse reputation and average ratings on internet movie sites, you would be fooled into thinking this was a flop. Far from it! It made very good coin at the box office and it continues to be a well received fantasy favourite shown on TV schedules during holiday periods. In fact, there is a cult fan base out there whom steadfastly will defend the pic from violent attack!Irwin Allen used his average budget in areas other than for the creature effects, this is obvious, while it's true to say that most of the acting is from the school of ham and cheese sandwich. Yet the slurpasaur effects are engaging and effective. Oh for sure none of the creatures look like dinosaurs, which begs the question on why didn't they just write it as a new raft of undiscovered dinosaurs? But suspense and peril is eked out and the world created by the art design team is impressively interesting.The usual character stereotypes exist, including a surplus to requirements female character (St. John), who is attired in pink trousers and brings her pet poodle pooch along for the trip! The formula would get tired over the on coming decades (see Disney's Island at the Top of the World which would crib from this pic), yet there's still a lot of fun to be had with big creatures, big spiders, diamonds and a secret race of people with a specialist appetite - while you can't beat a good old chase finale topped off by peril and twisty strife.Sometimes cheap and cheerful, sometimes full of fun and frolics, all things considered, there's a good time to be had for the discerning creature feature/fantasy adventure film fan. 6.5/10

cal reid This 1960 retelling of the novel has many good points and far more bad points. The characters are more or less the same just updated in social class and occupation to suit the modern setting. All the explorers led by Challenger visit a plateau that Challenger claims to be inhabited by prehistoric monsters. They end up having their helicopter smashed by a brontosaurus (in reality a monitor lizard with a large frill and Godzilla style spikes on it's back ) so they have to find a way out of the mountain. Along the way the encounter natives more dinosaurs which include the creature that destroyed their helicopter , a baby alligator and another monitor lizard all of which have fins glued on. The acting isn't great but it certainly isn't bad just fairly average , the dinosaurs are goofy but they do look quite cool and sometimes fierce like during the fight between two of them , they are lizards but it is kind of fun to watch. I wouldn't recommend it but i wouldn't prohibit it either , it's a Marmite movie you love it or hate it. The only thing i'm not happy with is certain scenes of animal cruelty involving the lizards.

moonspinner55 Dinosaurs, diamonds, cannibals, Jill St. John! Having had big success the year before with "Journey to the Center of the Earth", 20th Century-Fox repeated the expedition-into-the-unknown formula with this school kid's fantasy adapted from the original tale by Arthur Conan Doyle (previously filmed in 1925). Claude Rains is an ill-tempered, impatient professor who boasts to the British press that he has found Jurassic monsters on an island plateau in the Amazon; with funding from a wealthy newspaperman, Rains returns to the creatures along with a reporter and a natty adventurer (the newspaperman's feisty daughter, along with her dog and younger brother, join the troupe later). Producer-director Irwin Allen co-wrote the script as well, and his cartoony, tongue-in-cheek style is all over this colorful saga. The special effects aren't bad for 1960, and there's enough amusingly dopey dialogue and disparate characterizations to make the film a minor treat. Rains steals the acting honors, while St. John (who boasts about being able to shoot better than any man, but who never gets the opportunity to prove it) carries around her pup in a wicker basket! Non-think entertainment benefits from excellent art direction and design, though Allen's pacing is a bit lax. **1/2 from ****