I truly feel that The Lost World is one of the most important and monumental films ever created. Really break this down with me, we can view a film a century old and silent films are a rare breed considering the vast majority are lost, this is the film that showcased Willis O'Brien and his craft of stop motion effects that would inspire generations to come like Ray Harryhausen and Phil Tippet, you get to see how the world viewed dinosaurs 100 years before in terms of appearance and behavior that still has left an impact to this very day in cinema, and the author himself of the original story Sir Arthur Conan Doyle not only was able to see the film and enjoyed it but the filmmakers got the man himself to introduce the picture. That retinue alone should make this one of the greatest films ever made, and I'm happy to say that. Even as a lover of silent cinema this film intrigued me, shocked me, made me laugh, and get very emotionally invested throughout. Now I did a wee bit of research concerning the runtime and I found there's an hour version and a hundred minute version, I picked the latter which is not only available on the Youtubes but is showcased in high definition with the proper color tinting so that's the one I strongly recommend. The story involves a reporter who hears claims of an explorer who encountered the ancient terrible lizards in the Amazon, and joins the expedition not only for the story but also to aid a young lady to find her father. What follows is a high scale adventure evading ravenous dinosaurs, trekking through caves and jungle, and as old Hollywood is wont to do find romance in the process. Despite the reporter named Ed being the main focus I truly feel the real main character is the young girl Paula played by Bessie Stone. Nowwww am I slightly smitten by this little lady? Yes! But that is not coloring my perception of the film, she wants to find her father who got marooned there, she has a romance with Ed, she's easily the best damn character in the movie emotionally, this truly is her show. That and I was having several meltdowns over how frick fraking pretty she is, oh my God! I gotta move on. I quite liked the professor who originally stumbled across the dinosaur laden land played by Wallace Beery, he almost has this burly crazy haired look like he got abandoned on that lost world and his rageful outbursts against reporters just cracked me up. I actually really appreciate the different protagonists that make up this expedition, you got the everyman reporter, the sweet charming lady, the game hunter, the experienced leader of the party, and the more academic centered professor. All the characters work very nicely together and despite the obvious lack of sound have good chemistry on screen, and this is one of the few instances where I wish I could hear their voices. The scope of the production is nothing short of stellar, from the lavishly dressed buildings of civilization, to the dense foliage of the jungle, from the painted backdrops to the really real fire scorched landscapes this is a damn well made movie and we haven't even got to the dinosaurs yet! How the hell am I gonna talk about all lf this and not take an Age to put it all down? Holy moly guacamole these dinosaurs are the bee's knees! The design of their shape, the texture of their hides, the fact they fuggin' BREATHE, this is too amazing for words. I revelled in every second and wondered in awe how they even got some of these shots, this is a groundbreaking piece of cinema that truly had no equal for years, maybe even decades to come depending on who you ask. It's so timeless and yet classic, it was kinda scary at a certain point and my God this movie is gory as shit which really shocked me! Like it doesn't shy away from what carnivores do to herbivores, and most of the scientific information was spot on for 1925! Interesting choice to go for an Allosaurus instead of a vastly more popular Tyrannosaurus Rex, but the inclusion of Brachiosaurus, Triceratops, Pterodactyl, and a Stegosaurus lends itself quite nicely to the variety. I feel the movie is entertaining enough to where you're not just waiting for the stopmotion creatures to appear, but man are they still a highlight all these years later! So damn influential, so damn amazing, I know 5 year old me would treasure this movie if I saw it back then. Really only negative I could throw at it is I'm pretty sure, like 109% sure, we have a heavily unfortunate case of blackface for one character and yeah I know it's the 1920s it ain't gonna perfectly congeal with 2025 ethics, but it still sucks. So that'll knock the final score down but this is still a truly great movie that I feel like a total ass for waiting three decades of life to finally watch it! 4 stars, 9/10, and we're jumping ahead to the sound era of the 30s next time!
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