Product Details

• Actors: Bessie Love, Lewis Stone, Wallace Beery
• Directors: Harry O. Hoyt
• Format: Animated, Black & White, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Sling Shot
• DVD Release Date: April 13, 1999
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00000IXPK
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #119,147 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Classics > Silent Films > Sci-Fi & Fantasy

• For more information about "The Lost World" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Every larger-than-life creature feature, from King Kong to Godzilla to Jurassic Park, owes a debt to the original Lost World, the granddaddy of giant monster movies. Based on an adventure fantasy by Arthur Conan Doyle, it's the story of a maverick scientist (Wallace Beery, under a bushy beard) who finds a land that time forgot on a plateau deep within the South American jungles and comes back to London with a captured brontosaur to prove it. His expedition includes Bessie Love, the daughter of an explorer who disappeared on the previous expedition, and big-game hunter Lewis Stone. The ostensible stars of the picture are all upstaged by Willis O'Brien's dinosaurs, simple models brought to life with primitive stop-motion animation. Hardly realistic by any measure, these pioneering special effects are still a sight to behold, especially the lumbering brontosaur (which receives the most care from O'Brien, both foraging in his jungle and rampaging through the streets of London).

The Lost World was truncated for rerelease in the 1930s and the original negative was subsequently lost. David Shepard meticulously "rebuilt" the film using material from eight different surviving prints from all over the world, cleaning and restoring along the way. The result, which is 50 percent longer than previously extant prints, is still not complete but closer than any version since its 1925 debut. The difference is not merely in restored scenes but in a rediscovered sense of grace in scenes filled out to their original detail and pace. The film moves and breathes once again like a silent film.

The disc features the choice of an original, modern score by the Alloy Orchestra and a classic orchestral score compiled and conducted by Robert Israel (both enjoyable and effective), 13 minutes of O'Brien's animation outtakes (including a couple of isolated frames that capture O'Brien manipulating his models), and rudimentary commentary by Arthur Conan Doyle historian Roy Pilot. --Sean Axmaker

Product Description
Original Theatrical Trailer Unique Promotional Film Excerpt's From Willis O'Briens's Earliest Films Special Still Fram Library 2 Audio Tracks: Music & Sound Effects or Music Only

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic job by Image makes The Lost World fully satisfying, January 17, 2002

By	Brian C. Davis (Milwaukee) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lost World [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I just finished watching Image's restored edition of the 1925 Lost World, prepared for DVD issue, but thankfully also released on very high quality VHS tape for luddites like me. This is one case where the VHS tape was not just an afterthought--the quality of the tape is exceptional, and mine had absolutely NO tracking problems, tape glitches, or audio dropouts whatsoever--something that has become all too rare these days.

This version restores many lost scenes and many lost parts of scenes, restoring much character development, as well as some truly-impressive dinosaur footage. Compared to previous abridged versions, this one runs over half an hour longer, thanks to footage from *eight* prints, especially a Czech print found in the 90's from which most of the lost scenes come from.

Anyway, I'm absolutely stunned by the quality of the film. It's never looked better, and for the very first time, it no longer seems like merely an important FX historical curiosity, but is now a fully satisfying adventure/fantasy film. The pacing no longer feels rushed, and Willis O'Brien's groudbreaking stop-motion and matte FX work is still simply amazing today. There's a restored dinosaur stampede and aftermath that features far more fully-articulated dinosaurs than anything in Jurassic Park. I am a fan of dinosaur films generally, and I can honestly say that in its restored form, the 1925 Lost World is simply the best dinosaur film I have ever seen.

The image looks fantastic for such an old film too, and the color-tinting is very intelligently used--blue for night, brown/sepia for indoor, green for jungle--but it never comes across as intrusive. The new percussion-heavy modern musical score (by the Alloy Orchestra) commissioned for this version may be a bit untraditional, but it fits the film perfectly.

The 12 min. of animation outtakes following the film were fascinating too, and helped to underscore how much detail and care went into the FX work on the film--there are some cool moments in the outtakes where freeze-frames actually show the animators at work in the frame.

Anyway, fantastic film, stunning restoration. You've never seen the 1925 Lost World like this until you've seen Image's restored edition--and this is one restoration you can safely buy on either DVD or VHS. A+

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Journey to the original Lost World, September 25, 2001

By	Joseph P. Menta, Jr. (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Lost World (Restored Edition) (DVD)

This 1925 silent film still works as an involving, pretty exciting experience, not in just a "let's see how a dinosaur movie made in 1925 looks" kind of way. This Image Entertainment restored edition is definitely the DVD version to get, as it's about thirty minutes longer than the other editions on the market. I especially liked the epic shots of the dinosaur plateau in the distance; the creepy man/gorilla creature; and the nice views of London at the beginning and end. The dinosaur action is also impressive more than seventy-five years later, though I thought most of the dinosaurs were more cute than scary. Another nice touch is the long booklet included with the DVD; it's a reproduction of the original souvenir program given to patrons at the film's premiere. There are lots of other great extras to enjoy, too, including a choice of two musical tracks to accompany the film. Oh, yes, an excellent article about the various undertakings to restore this movie- including Image's efforts- appears in the 75th issue (dated Sept. 2001, I believe) of "Video Watchdog", a very good monthly digest about genre movies. After reading the article, I went out and picked up "The Lost World", and I'm happy I did.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Something missing from the Image release..., April 15, 2005

By	BBQ (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lost World (Restored Edition) (DVD)

The Image Entertainment version is definitely the version of this movie to own on DVD. It is the most complete version available, about half an hour longer than any other version. Also, the picture looks great and real care was taken on the special features. Bravo. However, I would like to point one curiosity about this version. I have seen the truncated hour-long version several times before, and there is a difference in the final "Brontosaurus on the loose" scene. In the shorter, more common version, there is a scene where the Brontosaurus roars into the camera, followed by a shot of its tail, knocking over several people on the street. In Image's restored, extended version, these scenes do not appear, but are replaced with alternate, more subtle shots. First, the dinosaur snarls, then we get a shot of his tail knocking around a single body on the street. The scenes are similar, but different depending on which version of the film you're watching. I thought it strange to watch the restored version of this movie and not see two of the most famous shots. Strangely, they are also nowhere to be found in the special features. It is a slight omission, but one that I noticed right away. If you want to see those scenes, you'll have to get one of the shorter versions of the movie. Still, if you can only own one, I recommend the Image DVD. Overall, it is the most superior and complete version. Too bad it wasn't quite perfect.