The Lost Continent was an old hammer horror from 1968 I saw on the UK horror channel this weekend.
I've never seen it before and enjoyed it a lot.
OK, by today's standards the special effects are all too rubbery and the monsters look like casts-offs from Robot Wars but it was a fair effort back then.
Essentially it's about a group of ship's passengers and crew stranded in a sort of prehistoric - medieval sea world. Think of Micheal Crichton having a bad dream about conquistadors and squids and you're nearly there.
There are many things to interest a film nerd like me in Continent.
There are solid actors in there like Eric Porter but there are also unusual ones.
One of the these is Hildegard Knef, whom Missus Moonbase has informed me was a big deal as a European singer back in the Sixties. Knef recorded songs in her native German and in English in a rich Nico-esque voice.
Acting and lots of singing are the trades of another actor in the film, a young Darryl Read. This lad has one of those TV faces you swear you've seen a million times growing up in the sixties but I can't think where.
Googling him revealed that he was a hard working musician on the fringes of stardom most of his life. He was also in a proto punk band called Crushed Butler, who, despite me never having heard of them I can appreciate the important role they and many other bands played in the build up to British punk rock in the mid to late Seventies, a role similar to that of The New York Dolls and The Stooges et al in the development of American punk and New Wave.
Having read quite a bit about Darryl Read he's the perfect candidate for a bio-pic in my opinion.
The Lost Continent also contains what you might call Victorian technology. Whether its steampunk I don't know but I'm referring to the inflatable shoulder balloons that are used to walk across the man-eating sea weed. It reminded me of Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea in that sense.
Overall it falls into that group of films concerned with marooned ships, lost worlds and hostile inhabitants. Films like Warlords of Atlantis, Mysterious Island and a slew of Time Forgot flicks starring the late lamented Doug McClure.
Have you seen Lost Continent and can you think of other films like it readers?
When I bought my first DVD Player in 2003,The Lost Continent was among the first discs I bought for it. That was indeed the purpose of having the player, to get a better look at older films that might have been viewed on a small grainy TV screen earlier.I also have on VHS tape an older movie called The Lost Continent, starring Caesar Romero(Joker from Batman) and Acquanetta( from Captive Wild Woman). Lost Continent is in a Mountain instead of the Sargasso Sea and contains dinosaurs.
ReplyDeleteI will have to check that one out Brian. I saw a cracker of a Hammer last night on DVD called Kiss of the Vampire. From 1963. a real gem not well known.
DeleteIt's great seeing thse old films on the Horror Channel. Watched it again yesterday too. Noticed it was edited for the afternoon slot. When the heroine shoots the guy with the flare gun they cut the shot of him being hit and cut sraight to her screaming. Amazing that Hammer films such as the Frankenstein and Dracula series are now shown at teatime. I believe they were 18 rated when they first came out and when I was a kid I first saw tham late on Friday nights in the 70s on Yorkshire TV about 10.30pm under the Appointment with Fear series. I used to be allowed to stay up late to watch them and was really scared. Probably because it was late at night and the house was dark :) Another fun one to watch for is Island of Terror -with silicon creatures that devour cattle and people - dissolving the bones, leaving a jellified lump. Peter Cushing gets his hand cut off with an axe!
ReplyDeleteI noticed that too Yorkie, how they cut away from the flare gun incident. Your mention of Appointment with Fear got memories flooding back. I loved that series of films. I seem to recall it was Karloffs Frankensteins head that appeared on the tv screen when the words Appointment with Fear. Is that how you remember it? And yep, island of terror is excellent. Bone gobblers. Reminds me of those brain drainers in Fiend without a Face. Yuk!
DeleteI went to see this on the cinema, along with At The Earths Core and the other Doug McClure fare. LC was laughable in the extreme, in terms of effects and acting, but at the time held up fairly well. Have to say watching it yesterday and seeing the men in suit monsters was funny, but made worth it by Dana Gillespie's ultra impressive cleavage which was wantonly presented throughout the whole film!
DeleteYes I remember Karloff's head as part of the Appointment with Fear opening. Pictures of the monsters would morph into each other I seem to recall they showed the old Universal monster films, Hammer, Amicus Tigon etc. Great fun now but they sure as heck scared me as a kid, I remember rushing upstairs and getting under the sheets, though that may also have been due to having no central heating in those days too. :) Another thing that scared the life out of me was the Lonely Water public information film that they showed on TV about the same time. Designed to make kids aware that they should keep away from ponds and rivers, with Donald Pleasence as the voice of the grim reaper, watching stupid kids fall in. I can still recall his words 'sensible children, I have no power over them!'.
DeleteBill, glad you were paying attention to the film's finer points.
DeleteYep Yorkie, it was a golden age for horror and amazingly us kids got to see it. I don't think that was irresponsible of our parents as the films themselves weren't that brutal really. Nothing compared to the content of your average 18 rated computer game played by kids these days. I'm so glad my folks let me see those films and TV plays. I have loved them my whole life and I'm sure they helped make me who I am. I know what you mean about public service adverts, they were scary. I shall have to look for that one you mention on you tube.
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