Land that Time Forgot (1975 film)

Flying monster from Land that Time Forgot (1975 film)...

The Land that Time Forgot (1975), sequel The People that Time Forgot (1977)

Summary

In a pair of movies based loosely on the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs, first captives on an attacking U-Boat are accidentally diverted to the Land that Time Forgot: the polar/Hollow Earth lost continent of Caprona, where they encounter prehistoric monsters and warring tribes of cave people. Then, five years later in the sequel, an airborne expedition to Caprona is launched after finding a journal of the events from the first movie, and forced to crash when attacked by a flying monster; the expedition encounters more prehistoric monsters and the People that Time Forgot: a lost medieval Japanese(?) army that terrorizes more primitive tribes from their fortress in the Mountain of Skulls.

Details

• Release Date: 1975, 1977
• Country/Language: UK/US, English
• Genres/Technical: Adventure, Fantasy
• Setting: polar/Hollow-Earth continent of Caprona AKA Caspak, 1910s, 1920s (sequel)
• Starring: Doug McClure, John McEnery, Susan Penhaligon; Patrick Wayne, Doug McClure, Sarah Douglas
• Director: Kevin Connor
• Writer: Edgar Rice Burroughs (story), James Cawthorn and Patrick Tilley (screenplays)
• Producer/Production Co: American International Pictures (AIP), Amicus Productions, Lion International, Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc.
• View Trailer: (link), (link)
• TVTropes: (link)
• IMDB Page: (link), (link)

Ratings

MPAA Ratings

• Rated: PG (Violence, mild Adult Content and Profanity)

Tentacle Ratings

A rough measure of how "Lovecraftian" the work is:

• S____ (One Tentacle: Debateably Lovecraftian; has almost no direct connection to Lovecraft's work)

Might be linked to Lovecraft only in the sense that Edgar Rice Burroughs was an incredibly prolific and influential pulp writer whose original creations and ideas left very long shadows over the pulp world, including authors in the Lovecraft Circle.

Note: This rating is not intended as a measure of quality, merely of how closely related to Lovecraftian "Weird" fiction the work is.

Reviews

Review Links:

• Scott Ashlin at 1000 Misspent Hours, (link) - "I suppose this isn’t really that bad a movie. In fact, the early scenes set on the U-33 are quite good. Also in [its] favor is the fact that it uses a good many less famous species of prehistoric critter, rather than the usual Tyrannosaurus-Triceratops-Apatosaurus triad. I was especially impressed by the Ichthyostega-- late-Paleozoic amphibians deserve more screen time. But it's not quite enough to excuse the slow disintegration that begins with the boat's landfall on Caprona."
• Scott Ashlin at 1000 Misspent Hours, (link) - "You know, just once, I’d like to see a movie about cavemen and dinosaurs that doesn’t end with a cataclysmic volcanic eruption... The People that Time Forgot further compounds the error of this headlong plunge into cliche by dragging the eruption/chase scene out to absurdly excessive lengths... and The People that Time Forgot thus duplicates the damning structural flaw that so damaged its predecessor — putting the exciting part of the movie first, and ending with the dull part. It still comes out very slightly ahead of The Land that Time Forgot, in that the changeover from excitement to boredom happens significantly later in the film, but it still isn't anywhere near as good as its best moments suggest it could have been."

Synopsis (SPOILERS)

 Spoiler Section (Highlight to Read)

In a pair of movies based loosely on the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs, first captives on an attacking U-Boat are accidentally diverted to the Land that Time Forgot: the polar/Hollow Earth lost continent of Caprona, where they encounter prehistoric monsters and warring tribes of cave people. Then, five years later in the sequel, an airborne expedition to Caprona is launched after finding a journal of the events from the first movie, and forced to crash when attacked by a flying monster; the expedition encounters more prehistoric monsters and the People that Time Forgot: a lost medieval Japanese(?) army that terrorizes more primitive tribes from their fortress in the Mountain of Skulls.

Notes

Comments, Trivia, Dedication

• for similar films, see:
  • At the Earth's Core (1976 film)
  • Warlords of Atlantis (1978 film)
  • The Lost Continent (1968 film)
  • The City Under the Sea (1965 film)
  • Valley of the Gwanji (1969 film)
  • Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959 film)

Associated Mythos Elements

• location: polar/Hollow-Earth continent of Caprona