The Land That Time Forgot (1974) User Reviews

great B-Movie

[mulveymeister · 7/10 · 21 February 2009]

This has everything for a budding boy to enjoy. There's monsters, the struggle against evil, a submarine and the stunningly beautiful Susan Penhaligon. I was lucky enough to see this when it came out and it enthralled me. I still watch it on television when I can, with fond memories. It is not aging well. CFXs have left it looking quite poor in places. However, for a B-Movie it is very well done. The acting, storyline, direction and editing are all well controlled. I agree that a remake may be justified, as long as the inherent innocence of it all is not lost.

It is good family fun which will keep boys glued for an afternoon. And Susan is as beautiful as ever :-)

Fun monster film.

[poolandrews · 7/10 · 11 March 2006]

The Land that Time Forgot starts during World War 1 on June 3rd 1916 when a German U-Boat sinks a British passenger ship, a small group of survivors from the ship headed up by Bowen Tyler (Doug McClure, who was apparently a replacement for Stuart Whitman) & Captain Bradley (Keith Barron) storm the U-Boat when it surfaces & manage to capture it. The radio is damaged beyond repair & the compass has been sabotaged so they effectively travel blind, the British & Germans strike an uneasy truce & decide to work together. However they are running low on fresh water, food & fuel so when they reach the mythical land of Caprona they must stop to try & find supplies. Unfortunately for them it appears time has stood still on Caprona & they are confronted by various man-eating dinosaurs & primitive tribes of cavemen. Can they find a suitable fuel source for the boat? Will they survive attacks from the local wildlife & indigenous population? Can the Germans behave themselves for once & keep their word? Watch it to find out...

This British American co-production was directed by Kevin Connor & was the first of four 'lost world' type films made by Connor, the direct sequel to this The People that Time Forgot (1977) plus the two similar themed films At the Earth's Core (1976) & Warlords of Atlantis (1978). I must admit I like them all with Warlords of Atlantis probably being my overall favourite. The script by James Cawthorn & Michael Moorcrock is based on the novel of the same name by Edgar Rice Burroughs & certainly moves along at a fair pace, it's never boring or dull, it's entertaining & good fun if you like these type's of films. It starts out like a war film & it takes a good 30 odd minutes before it gets to Caprona, having said that the scenes on the boat are pretty good, tense & well done. It is a bit on the predictable side although the ending surprised me a bit as it's not a particularly happy one. The Land that Time Forgot is good, clean, fun monster filled entertainment, what more do you want?

Director Connor does a good job & the film has a nice feel to it, I don't think he knew how to shoot special effect scenes though. The monsters look pretty bad especially if they have to interact with an actor, just check the Pterodactyl out as it just glides through the air like a paper plane & doesn't flap it's wings once! Having said that I thought they looked alright for the most part & the filmmakers probably did the best they could on a low budget, at least they tried & you can't blame them for that.

Techncially the film is very good, some of the dodgy special effects excluded. The Spanish Canary Islands locations look nice, the cinematography is good, the production design is OK & as a whole it's generally well made. The acting is alright, Susan Penhaligon is the obligatory female love interest & she's cute enough I suppose.

The Land that Time Forgot is a good solid monster film that I think makes for great undemanding entertainment & that's what films are all about right? If you like the other similar films by Connor then you'll definitely like this but if you didn't then I'd stay away & watch something else instead.

Still a respectable B-budget adventure

[cutter-12 · 6/10 · 2 August 2006]

I loved this movie as a kid. Can't recall how many times I watched it on the late show in my early teens, but it was more than a few. I hadn't seen it since about 1982 and was pleased TCM ran it recently, so I recorded it and watched it last night.

The scenes came back to me by rote though I definitely needed the refresher after all these years. Seeing it now at 40, it of course has become a little more quaint in the wake of the Jurassic Park series, but it still held my interest as it WAS a very good effort in 1975 with limited resources at bringing to the screen an intelligent Sci/fi adventure with old fashioned heroics reminiscent of King Kong etc.

The script, though certainly not as good as it could have been, stays true to itself, and even though the SFX at times look primitive (they still kick the snot out of the FX in Logan's Run}, the story is poorly paced after the U-Boat reaches Caprona, and the Neanderthals and the obligatory volcanic eruption are more than forced, the film never becomes kitschy or laughable, or outright uninteresting like dozens of other films like this made on the cheap. My only wish is it would have been a bit longer and included more thoughtful dialogue about nature and evolution and survival to give the story and characters more depth. And Ray Harryhausen could have done much more with the dinosaurs in the technical department.

As far as leading men go, Doug McClure is good in this and will always get my sympathy as that likable, two fisted action star who had the misfortune of looking too much like Lee Marvin and sounding too much like Glenn Ford to ever get the kind of roles he deserved in bigger pictures. He was good in these Kevin Connor adventure flicks in the 70's, and is eternally one of my favorite actors as a result.

Lots of details about the U-Boat and what not are probably inaccurate, and the story itself is more than too similar to Verne's Mysterious Island with shades of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but overall, while I wouldn't call it great or even good, it is definitely worth a look and still a nifty little piece of entertainment for the budget it had. Surprising a remake hasn't appeared in this age of CGI. Could be a dandy. Are you listening, Peter Jackson?

One of my all time favorites.

[magellan333 · 9 January 2001]

I love this movie! It proves that it is not special effects that carry a movie, but a good believable story. That is proved because most of the effects used in the film are not good. However the acting is and so is the story! None of the characters appear "cartoonish" with maybe the exception of the pre historic man. But heck, we don't know what pre historic men were like so it doesn't hamper the story. Doug McClure is a very solid lead with the submarine captain in a superb supporting role. The other German officer makes a great villain. This is one of my favorites of all time! Even it's sequel, "The People Time Forgot" wasn't bad. **** out of 5.

Long before Jurassic Park, there was ... Caprona!

[mgruebel · 6/10 · 30 December 2014]

"The Land That Time Forgot" is arguably the most underrated dinosaur action movie of the 1970s. Good B-movie fun for the kids (and adults) in the family that can't resist dinosaur fare.

This Doug McClure vehicle about British sailors who capture a German U-Boat that sunk their ship, then get stranded on a prehistoric island (think King Kong's Skull Island), only to be picked off one-by-one by ravenous dinosaurs and cave men, has pretty high value special effects for a 1970s flick. It is an instant classic, like "Logan's Run," which also featured some of the top special effects the time could muster - until Star Wars changed the whole game. (Of course, I am excluding 1968's "2001" here, a Kubrick film so far ahead of its time that it stands in a special category of its own.)

Caprona actually has a plot (unlike the Jurassic Park sequels, for instance), good actors in a fabulous ensemble cast, character development, and a great set-up (Germans and British who want to kill one another, instead have to band together to survive ravaging dinosaurs).

The special effects of course are not up to modern CGI, but they are awesome in their palpable physicality: glider planes disguised as pterodactyls that pick up a real actor in their teeth by swooping down; ichthyosaurs that shoot out of the water next to the U-Boat to feed on human prey; prehistoric men that will bash your head in with an ax, but also make dearest friends and love the Edison phonograph music; tar pits bubbling and shooting natural gas flames. We must forgive a scene where two allosaurs (still standing upright and tails down as was the posing custom in 1970s paleontology) have strings attached. Puppetry still beats stop motion, but take the kids to "Dark Crystal" if you want to see it done really well.

The band of men and women is eventually defeated by their own infighting. The simple moral is that Nature will get us if we don't work together and get over our differences. As the U- Boat goes down in flames, the viewer actually feels sorry for the doomed characters, and equally sorry for the lone couple that was left on shore to deal with the prehistoric mayhem.

This film is good enough to deserve a remake, but also good enough that it doesn't really need one. One the other hand, many modern remakes were made from movies NOT good enough to need a remake, or even to have been made in the first place.

fun, entertaining dinosaur/caveman movie based on a novel by Edgar Rice Borroughs

[TheUnknown837-1 · 7/10 · 3 August 2005]

This is one of my favorite old-time dinosaur movies based on a book that I kind of liked. Doug McClure leads the cast in this motion picture and he did his usual fine job. What a lot of people complain about this movie are the dinosaurs, which are some of the fakest you can find in a 70s dinosaur flick. And I have to admit, they are correct. Heck, the pterosaurs can't even flap their wings and only one of them (the one that snatches up Ahm) even moves its jaw. The Allosaurs are also pretty fake in some scenes, but more convincing in others. One of my favorite parts of the movie is where the men that came onboard the U-boat are firing at the two Allosaurs. And also, the brief, yet bloody battle between a Ceratosaur and a Triceratops is very fun to watch. Also, the scenes with the cavemen are convincing and entertaining as well as long as you don't mind seeing people either get shot or stabbed with axes and blades. What's more, the music score for this movie is entertaining and moves along greatly with what's happening on screen. When the second Allosaur has been fatally shot, it roars a strange elephant-like kind of howl of pain and falls back while a powerful score of music plays. Overall, The Land that Time Forgot is a pretty entertaining 70s movie that I watch quite frequently.

An entertaining old-fashioned adventure tale

[mwilson1976 · 5/10 · 21 December 2019]

Britain's Amicus productions, who were more famous for their portmanteau horror movies, were behind this low budget fantasy adventure based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' 1918 novel of the same name. Doug McClure is the all American hero who survives an assault on his ocean liner by a German U-Boat during WW1. Along with a group of fellow survivors he manages to take control of the German submarine, but they end up lost at sea and stranded on a forgotten continent inhabited by gigantic dinosaurs and primitive cavemen. This enjoyable film in the Saturday-matinee mold, uses puppets, hand-held or on strings rather than stop motion dinosaurs, and some decent models posing as U-Boats and ships. The acclaimed sci-if author Michael Moorcock helped to write the meaty B movie script. The movie was a big hit for Amicus who went on to make two more Burroughs adaptations, The People That Time Forgot (1977), and At the Earth's Core (1976), which also starred McClure.

Adventure yarn with some spectacular scenarios and pretty fierce monsters

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 10 July 2010]

Fantastic and amusing adventures full of monsters in lost continent by Kevin Connor and based on a novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs . At the beginning of the film , during World War I , a German submarine sinks a Brit boat and takes the survivors on board. The submarine takes them to the unknown land of Antartica called Caprona . At the sub are reunited the U-boat German captain (John McEnery) piloting his ship along with Owen Tyler (Doug McClure) and Lisa (Susan Penhaligon) , among others . The group takes a wrong turn and descend over a barren land and meet some primitive men , Neardentals and prehistoric animals . They have to deal with numerous risks, dangers, endure torrential landslide, shakesands, volcano, cavemen warriors, dinosaurs and discover a lost tribe .

This engaging adaptation is a special version of the Edgar Rice Burroughs adventure yarn . There are rip-roaring action, spirit of adventure, derring-do, thrills, and results to be quite entertaining. It's a brief fun with average special effects , passable set decoration , functional art direction and none use of computer generator. This fantasy picture packs thrills, action, weird monsters, lively pace and fantastic scenarios . The monsters are the real stars of this production and its chief attribute. The tale is silly and laughable but the effects and action are quite well. Among the most spectacular of its visuals there are a Pterodactilus roaring menacingly towards the camera, a little tableau comprising attack of a giant monsters and the colorful backgrounds of the lost land . Some monsters are clumsily made but movie is OK . Highlights of the adventure includes a roller-coaster trip towards unknown land in South America , and appearance of prehistoric reptile such as Pterodactilus, Stegosaurius, and Tiranosaurious . In addition the final scenes where appears breathtaking volcanic eruptions and thunderous explosions . Some illogical parts in the argument are more than compensated for the excitement provided by Roger Dicken's monsters, though sometimes are a little bit cheesy. Filmed in glimmer cinematography by Alan Hume on location in Santa Cruz De La Palma , Tenerife(Canary Islands) and Shepperton studios , Surrey England . Adequate and stirring musical score by Douglas Gamley. This one turns out to be an acceptable collaboration between producers Milton Subotsky , Max Rosemberg and director Kevin Connor who also made in similar style : ¨All the Earth's core(76)¨, ¨Warlord of Atlantis(1978)¨, mostly starred by Doug McClure and with Dicken as the monster-maker. It's followed by ¨People that time forgot¨ in which an expedition undergoing a trip in search for Tyler (Doug McClure) who has been missing in that region for many years . The film will appeal to kids who swallow whole and sit convulsed in their armchair.

Weird ending

[jrichards2-1 · 5/10 · 23 December 2004]

In a lot of ways, the plot of this film is extremely clichéd. (SPOILER!) A bunch of people discover some weird, isolated place where evolution hasn't gone the same way as it has everywhere else. We encounter all the usual tropical undergrowth, toothy dinosaurs and fierce tribes, not to mention an explosive volcano into the bargain.sometimes is. The mystery element becomes almost compelling at one point, although the revelation is confusingly disappointing; there are also some intriguing two-dimensional characters, particularly the German Captain.

The ending really took me by surprise. I was expecting the conventional miraculous escape; I was astounded when the submarine sunk and everyone died. The last shots of the hero and heroine struggling over the mountains, with no hope of ever escaping the island, were actually kind of moving. Mm. Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age.

Cheezy Fun

[Johnny_West · 6/10 · 8 January 2020]

I liked this movie when I was a kid. It was great fun to watch the movie and play along with the GI Joes and the toy dinosaurs.

I saw it again a couple of days ago, and I noticed the special effects and the dinosaurs are not great, but they are pretty good. The British and German sailors kill every dinosaur they find. It was kind of sad. At one point two triceratops are standing over a clutch of eggs (which should have been in the ground), and the sub starts shooting missiles at them until they are literally blown to pieces for no reason at all.

Except for one local hobbit that gets caught, the British and Germans make no friends with any of the tribes that live in the hidden forest, and are at war with everyone and the dinosaurs too. The scientists on the submarine do not seem to have any traditional respect for life or nature.

In spite of the violence, the story is interesting. The pace is kind of slow, but if you take out your old toy dinosaurs and action figures, it gives you time to play along without missing much of the action. This movie is fun for its age.

Should have been better

[drystyx · 3/10 · 28 December 2009]

This isn't one of those reviews about poor special effects or technology, or being dated, issues that only the dorkiest people could relate with, but rather a review on the story telling, which most of us are truly interested in.

The plot is about a combination of WWII Allied and German Navy members, and two civilians (the hero and heroine), who are thrust together on a German U boat and wind up in a savage land of dinosaurs.

The manipulations aren't so bad by film standards, and we know from the plot that realism isn't going to be high. What films like this need are credible and likable characters, along with some semblance of reason in the actions.

This film lacks both. For a full length film, only 6 characters are given any time, and 3 of them are barely looked into. McClure's hero is beyond "routine", and doesn't make much sense in any era.

The female seems to be looking for an answer to a riddle about the land of dinosaurs they entered, but the riddle is not much of a riddle, and we could care less.

A lot of failure in a film that should have been better, even for its time.

Very Enjoyable Despite The Flaws

[Theo Robertson · 8/10 · 29 December 2005]

When I was a young boy of eight years old I saw this at my my local cinema . In those days it cost 15 pence ( A fair amount of money for an eight year old child ) to get in . I actually saw it two or three times which eat up my pocket money bit I certainly thought it was money well spent since in those days I enjoyed war films and monster films . Yesterday morning Channel 4 broadcast it at 6 am which seems a ridiculous time to broadcast anything never mind a fondly remembered fantasy adventure movie but I looked forward to seeing it again if only to see how well it stands up as entertainment today . Would my cherished memories be hurt ? Do I have nice memories about THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT simply down to nostalgia ?

To be honest I think the answer is a resounding no . Right from the opening title sequence where Douglas Gamley's score sums up the downbeat feature of the story we the audience are treated to a fantasy adventure that is a little bit different . You could point out the first half of the movie is somewhat repetitive as the Germans and Brits get one over on one another but in amongst all this is some serious debate on wartime morality , allied civilian ships carrying weapons of war for example which shows no one has a monopoly on self righteousness when the battle lines are drawn and the theories of Nietzsche are also touched upon . What'd you mean this is a childish film ?

No doubt the people who watched this at the cinema on its release where more interested in prehistoric monsters than 19th century philosophy and it's not till half way through that the U-boat reaches the ancient island of Caprona which is inhabited by rubber dinosaurs and troglodytes . Yeah okay the monsters especially the pterodactyls are not very convincing but I've seen worse . It's also interesting to that this part of the movie replaces Nietzsche with Darwinisnm and I don't know if it's deliberate but this concept fits in perfectly well with the sequel THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT . How many times have you seen a sequel that almost contradicts the original movie ? This makes THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT something of a stand out movie alongside the very pessimistic final act

I fail to see how anyone can actively dislike this movie . I agree that the special effects are far from brilliant but look beyond the FX and you'll see a very intelligent piece of fantasy adventure . The very fact that it has a sense of wonder and a truly haunting ending sets it apart from many other movies of its ilk like WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS and AT THE EARTHS CORE and nostalgia or not I certainly enjoyed seeing it again

The Land That Time Forgot

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 27 May 2023]

The survivors from a U-boat attack turn the tables on their would be killers and hijack the submarine after it has surfaced to recharge batteries. A gentlemen's agreement between the crews doesn't quite go to plan, and next we know it they are surfacing in a land that is full of dinosaurs and primitive human beings. Will they get home? Well that's down to a rather wooden but entertaining Doug McLure and John McEnery to fathom out. The monsters and other special effects are fine given the budget, though you do glimpse the odd bits of string now and again! Like a few others who have reviewed this, I too saw it at the cinema when I was but a bairn, and I cannot help but look back on this (and "Warlords of Atlantis") with a fondness maybe not quite due to the production. Still, it's a jolly adventure lark and still worth a watch.

My seven year old loved it!

[jouiskc · 5/10 · 23 January 2006]

I guess the summary of my comment says it all. We watched this the other day on cable TV and my son being an expert on the subject of dinosaurs found it to be very satisfying. Most kids will be be entertained by the dinosaurs (even if they do look lame by today's standard) the adults might find certain parts hard to sit through.

The plot slows down a bunch in certain spots, but they work in enough action so that it is not a completely terrible movie. I was surprised to see that there was actually a sequel, so it must have done decent box office.

If you are seeking some harmless fun and see a bunch of people get munched by long lost dinosaurs, then this is the movie for you.

Enjoyable yarn to awaken the imagination

[MrJRGO · 3 June 2020]

I was too young to see 'The Land That Time Forgot' when it originally premiered in the cinemas in 1975 but I saw it several times growing up and loved it. It had everything that a young boy/teenager wanted in a fantasy movie - gargantuan monsters, pre-historic tribes, active volcanoes, punch ups and a sense of wonder and amazement.

Putting aside the rubbery monsters and glaring plot holes, ''The Land That Time Forgot' is an enjoyable romp that keeps your attention from start to finish. It takes you on a thrilling ride of danger and excitement with a potent sense of fantasy. The film doesn't overstay its welcome at a running time of 91 minutes and at no point loses it's way. It also takes some time to develop some semblance of a story before arriving at Caprona, the land that time forgot, whereas other movies would have got you there as quickly as possible. This helps to add just a little extra anticipation.

Many of the characters are there to add to the bodycount, which is high, but some of the leading characters add a little more depth. Doug McClure's hardman Bowen Tyler shows surprising pathos in one of the film's later scenes whilst John McEnery's Captain Von Schoenwarts inverts the usual German stereotype to play a fair minded man with an interest in the origins and development of life. Considering this is a British made film with an almost entirely British cast (the exception being American Doug McClure), made thirty years after WW2 ended (this is set during WW1 though), there are surprisingly good sentiments towards the Germans, although there is still room for Anthony Ainley's duplicitous Dietz to give us someone to be wary of other than the monsters and pre-historic tribes.

The film's unusual ending also gives the audience a welcome change from the banal endings that usually conclude most movies and it allows that childlike sense of wonder and amazement to stay awake a whole lot longer.

Film I Remember.

[AaronCapenBanner · 6/10 · 5 October 2013]

Doug McClure stars as Bowen Tyler, who is rescued from his sunken British ship(along with a woman named Susan) by the German submarine who sunk it during World War I. Taken as prisoners, Bowen leads a revolt, but is too late to prevent the U-boat from drifting into uncharted waters. There, they find a land called Caprona, where dinosaurs and prehistoric humans still exist. Both sides forget the war in order to repair and refuel(oil is in abundance)the ship, though they suffer some losses from dinosaur attacks. A volcano also threatens to erupt, so it is a race against time if they hope to escape.

Entertaining film based on an Edgar Rice Burrough's story has good direction by Kevin Connor, and a good cast(including Anthony Ainley, before he became the new Master from "Doctor Who") The F/X aren't that bad either, and film holds up reasonably well, despite the pulp elements, and familiar story.

The Lost World Of Caprona

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 27 October 2009]

For those of us today who think of Edgar Rice Burroughs exclusively with the Tarzan books and the cottage industry from the film community that those books spawned, Mr. Burroughs did write all kinds of other stories of adventure, even venturing into the world of science fiction. The Land That Time Forgot was taken from one of his stories about a very mixed group of people who discover a lost world. A world inside the hollow of the earth populated with species of animal and man from each stage of evolution.

That theory was postulated by any number of folks, most eloquently during the first half of the 19th century by John Cleve Symmes whose cousin Anna Symmes married one of our presidents William Henry Harrison. Burroughs had quite a history to draw from in creating his lost world of Caprona and the strange collection of people who find it.

Doug McClure is an American taking passage on a British vessel that was carrying arms making it a target for U-Boat commander John McEnery. The boat is sunk by the U-Boat, but the survivors manage to board the U-Boat and take it over. Those things in World War I were quite small and so were the crews. Through a complicated series of events this U-Boat finds itself near the South Pole and sailing into a frozen harbor, they come out the other end on a lush green world and are attacked by an ancient sea going Plesiosaurus. That's the beginning of the adventure with our intrepid mixed crew meeting all kinds of ancient natural wonders.

There's one woman on board, Australian actress Susan Penhaligon and you would have thought with her the only female, a lot more of the stranded sailors would start having thoughts. Her thoughts are only however for Doug McClure.

By comparison to today, the special effects aren't really up to snuff. Then again DeMille films which were the last word in special effects in their day are also considered old hat. The Land That Time Forgot is an old fashioned adventure story, the kind that would get revived very shortly by the Indiana Jones films. This film is not as good as any of the Indiana Jones stuff, but still a nice afternoon's viewing.

Forget the Time

[Oslo_Jargo · 2/10 · 24 July 2001]

This was recently on AMC's vibrant movie classics and I had to laugh. I had high hopes for this adventure that follows in the vein of "Voyage to the Earth's Core" and "Mysterious Island".

I was sorely disappointed not only in the acting credentials, but in the silly storyline that reads from a five year old's comic book.

Be sure to catch sight of the wires that are holding on to the Pterdactyl's wings when they grasp "Ogar", a half-idiot pre-modern man who befriends the lost adventurers.

The ending left it open for further rehashing of the same effects in "People that Time Forgot".

Don't waste your time. Unless of course you love this stuff, like I do.

Unforgettable Adventure

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 25 September 2015]

In 1916, during the World War II, a British passenger ship is torpedoed by the German U-boat commanded by Captain Von Schoenvorts (John McEnery) and sinks. The survivors Bowen Tyler (Doug McClure) and Lisa Clayton (Susan Penhaligon) join a few crew members that has also survived and Bowen convinces them to take over the submarine that has come to the surface. They sail together but they end lost in the middle of the ocean. After many incidents between Germans and British, the two groups team-up to survive and arrive in Caprona, a land that is not charted in the maps. Soon they realize that the land has dinosaurs, pterodactyls and Neanderthals. They capture a native, Ahm (Bobby Parr), and they learn that there is oil on the land. They see the chance to refine it and leave Caprona. Will they succeed in their intent?

"The Land That Time Forgot" is an unforgettable adventure based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel with the same title. The plot is delightfully naive and is funny to see how we could buy a story of a land forgotten by time forty years ago. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Terra Que o Tempo Esqueceu" ("The Land That Time Forgot")

The movie that sci-fi fans remember!

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 24 October 2020]

Man vs. nature has its obstacles, especially when it has lizards twice the size of elephants. Actually, there are land and water lizards of all sorts here, dinosaurs to "Jurassic Park" fans. One watery creature gets a quick last meal before ending up a meal, served with yams. Fortunately, no one says "It tastes like chicken" even though it looks like the radio active turkey from "The Giant Claw".

The movie takes half an hour to get from the North Atlantic to this far away place, seen as a snow covered island yet filled with sunshine, tropical ferns and big beasts with huge teeth. The first half hour is a setup between American and German soldiers in World War one, with the Americans taken aboard a German submarine after their ship is torpedoed. Initial conflicts with them turn into a camaraderie of sorts when they find themselves on this island.

Between the two leads, American Doug McClure and German John McEnery, they come to an understanding and find out that they have more in common than the battles they face as enemies. A third ally comes in with an island natuve, first thought to be savage yet later revealed to be very helpful and interested in aiding them in exploring the island. There's also a female scientist. (Susan Penhaligon) among the crew, but any hint of romance brewing anywhere is mostly wishful thinking although it's apparent that there a possibility of one growing once the dangers are dealt with.

The focus remains on survival, dealing with some uncivilized Island natives, the many natural dangers and of course, the need to find shelter and food. Then, there is the island volcano, one that they believed to be the largest on Earth. This is a very enjoyable film for one that doesn't have modern CGI special effects, and the dinosaurs are in general fairly realistic, more in tune with what film goers has seen in the 1950s then they will see 17 years later with Spielberg's dinosaur masterpiece. That is a modern classic because it was non-stop thrills, but this is quite different because it has a story agenda that is still universal, the theme of survival.

The Doug McClure Legend

[Dandy_Desmond · 7/10 · 12 March 2010]

I loved this film as a child and recently purchased its as part of a Doug McClure box set (with Warlords of Atlantis & At the Earths Core)to see if it had the magic it once held for me. I found that surprisingly the first part of the film aboard the U boat was very strong (as a child your're waiting for dinosaurs) and Doug McClure was a very accomplished leading man. Doesn't over do it at all and is a likable guy you root for. I was praying McClure would not be hammy at all but he really owns this movie. Obviously the dinosaurs look bad compared to todays standards but the story, the direction and the actors are all in place to create a very entertaining film. What i find most memorable about the Land that Time Forgot is the downbeat ending which is most refreshing for a family film. I think its the ending that gives it the added punch when the credits roll. You can have all the CGI in the world but without a story, good actors and sure direction its pointless - The Land that Time Forgot does not have great effects but all the rest is there.

A very average "finding dinosaurs" movie.

[13Funbags · 3/10 · 11 June 2017]

I have seen half a dozen movies about people stumbling into some mysterious land where dinosaurs still exist and this is basically the same as all of them. One noticeable difference is the longer amount of time it takes them to get there. The only other one I remember taking so long to get there was At The Earth's Core, another Doug McClure snoozer. McClure is not much of a leading man and all his movies are very predictable but that's another story. Just like all the other dinosaur movies, they immediately start making up lies about the place as soon as they get there. There's plenty of slow moving dinosaurs that have a lot of difficulty catching humans but I must say they are better looking than most dinosaurs I have seen. There's no men in T-Rex suits, although you can clearly see the wires on the pterodactyl. All of the fight scenes take place in make believe old movie darkness. You know the kind where you can see the sun shining in the background but everything near the camera is impossible to see? I'm sure that was supposed to be some ancient movie magic but it was just lame. Almost on the level of a Roger Corman extreme close up, shaking camera fight scene. While this movie seemed to have a larger budget than all the movies it directly rips off, it's not really any better. If you think you want to see this just watch The Land Unknown instead.

Jurassic Lark

[Bishop-11 · 8/10 · 26 July 2000]

Fun dinosaur movie with a solid British cast headed by suitably lantern-jawed Doug McClure.

Respected SF author Michael Moorcock adds a dash of intelligence to what might have been just another Sunday matinee pot-boiler, and the downbeat ending (slightly different to the book) is a change from the norm. The decision to turn the U-Boat captain from the stereotypical dastardly Hun in the original book to a philosophical man of science is also a good one.

The submarine is suitably claustrophobic and the jungle suitably clammy, just a shame that some of the dinosaurs couldn't have looked a little more than just as if they'd been borrowed from episode of "Doctor Who". Fans of which should be suitably impressed by future 'Master' Anthony Ainley's nasty performance as the treacherous German first officer Dietz.

"Auf weidersehn, Mr Tyler!"

A Lost World adventure flick with a difference..

[marshalskrieg · 6/10 · 16 February 2017]

I saw this one as a kid about the time it came out- just took a second peek and was not disappointed. This dinosaur/lost world flick has an adult level pacing with a tension that builds to a dramatic ending. The acting, dialogue and character development is just above average, for what might otherwise be considered a Saturday afternoon film for kids.

The German U boat captain is treated sympathetically, something I doubt current political correctness would allow today. We also see some refreshingly deep thoughts expressed from time to time in this tale- be sure to note the wild evolutionary theory that is presented.

The special effects are adequate, and I will go out on a limb and say that if this was made today, the CGI would be bad and would ruin the film- the models were used to good effect. I know some will complain that the creatures are not exactly convincing, but they are not bad either, for what the movie is attempting to be.

I also like the fact that the ending was not the typical Hollywood (happy) ending.

Final note, the interior submarine scenes convey a realistic WW1 era technology and appropriate claustrophobia.

if you are into 'lost world' or dinosaur films , this one is a must see. Six stars.

Decent giant monster flick

[JohnSeal · 5/10 · 28 December 1999]

The Land That Time Forgot is a reasonable entertainment, featuring not exactly state of the art dinosaurs, rotten Germans in a U-boat, and Doug McClure's heroic firm chin leading the good guys to...victory? Not exactly, as the film ends on a surprisingly downbeat note...which led, of course, to the sequel, The People That Time Forgot. No classic, but my five year old loved it. I have a soft spot for it, too.