Remember those days when stop motion monsters of the Ray Harryhausen era were the state of the art in film SFC tec? And when they couldn't afford that, or didn't have the ability to integrate that footage with actors, they came up with paper mache constructions for the actors to react to? Ah...the days of cinematic innocence, and now that we live in the age of DVD, we can return to this and see it through our modern eyes.
Well, let me tell you, it comes difficult, post Jurassic Park. It takes some ability to suspend disbelief. I'm not one of those inclined to whine about special effects from the days of yore, as they work with what they had. No doubt, what we marvel to now will look quaint at best some years hence. But good movies don't rely on SFX to sell themselves. They tell a good story with interesting characters and the narrative transports the viewers, doing all the work. With our pair of films in this review, we've examples of both.
The Land That Time Forgot is originally a book by Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs. In it, we see the survivors of an allied vessel in World War 1 commandeer a German submarine. Through the machinations of the allies and Germans working to thwart each other, the submarine ends up going way, WAY off course and finding itself a long, long way from home. It seems to have stumbled across a lost continent of some kind. With the submarine low on supplies, both contigents agree to combine their efforts, rather than working at cross purposes. With the continent offering the best chance for reprovisioning the U-boat, they make their way through an underground river and find themselves in this new land. A new land that is full of very old creatures. The crew is immediately attack by plesiasaurs and other saurians. When they go on land, they find primitive proto humans and later, evidence of an ecosystem unlike anything they have known in their world. Then, the land itself proceeds to try to kill them.
The effects are a bit primitive, yes. But the characters, most notably American Bowen Tyler and German U-Boat Captain von Schoenvorts (who provides much of the science oriented exposition) are interesting enough to move the viewer along with the story, engage them, make them care.
Then we get the sequel, The People That Time Forgot. Tyler, one of the survivors from the first film, managed to get a message in a cannister back home. And friends come looking for him. But this bunch, with nothing but stiff upper-lippedness and what not, are not quite as engaging as the first bunch. There seems to have been budget cuts, as the dinos seem even cheaper than they were in the first film. Add to that, what we know now as incorrect assumptions about dinosaur physiology (like slow nervous systems), it all becomes harder to swallow. Now, old scientific assumptions about dinos, those can be forgiven. But the samurai who kind of show up out of nowhere with no explanation? And why are they working for Tor Johnson? Who is working for a volcano? The volcano had precedence from the first film, btw. Not Tor.
And the obligatory sexy cavegirl with beautiful breasts, nice hair, light makeup and shaven armpits.
Lovely vision...but why would a cavegirl use modern grooming? Same reason the women on LOST all remained well groomed. For some reason, women with hairy pits scare American sensibilities.
Ah well.
The Land That Time Forgot, decent pulpy fun. The People That Time Forgot, bring adult beverages and witty friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment