THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT

UK, 1975, 102 minutes, Colour.
Doug Mc Clure, John Mc Enery, Susan Penhaligon.
Directed by Kevin Connor.

The Land that Time Forgot is one of several films from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ stories made by the production team of John Dark and director Kevin Connor. This film is full of the technology of the turn of the century, the preoccupation with exotic lands, animals, dangers and quests for legend and fairy-tale. While the material is dated in itself, it still delights audiences, especially those of the seventies and eighties during the revival of such stories and the comic strips.

This is a dinosaur story and the special effects work is well done. Doug Mc Clure, imported from America, is the hero and was also the hero of a sequel, The People That Time Forgot. The best of these films which starred Peter Cushing was At The Earth's Core. Kevin Connor also made a number of horror films including From Beyond The Grave, Trial By Combat and, in America, Motel Hell. The Land That Time Forgot is an adventure that can be recommended for younger audiences.

1. Was this a good adventure story? Why do adventure stories appeal to audiences? How important were the characters, the situations, the war backgrounds the fantasy?

2. Comment on the technical side of the film, the continent itself? Its seasons and landscapes, the reconstruction of dinosaurs and pre-historic animals, their animation, their interaction with the humans etc? Did the screenplay match the technical side of the animals etc?

3. For whom was this film made? Was it made for adults? For younger audiences? Depending on the answer, how successful was it in fulfilling its aim? How would the film be different if it were made for adults, or solely for younger audiences?

4. How satisfactory was the realistic framework of the film? Did this make the fantastic adventures more credible?

5. Comment on the film as a war film. The presentation of the submarine, the torpedoing of the merchant vessel, the background of a war world and disruption? The presentation of the British as heroic, of the Germans as heroic and villainous, of the American hero?

6. How important were characters in this film? Were they well presented and explored? how interesting was the hero, heroism? active? leadership? How attractive was the heroine, a lady biologist, her participation in the adventures, the romantic ending? How villainous was the German Captain? How heroic? how just? The minor British characters, the villainous German characters? The native on the island?

7. How enjoyable were the various takeovers of the submarine? The adventure exercises in skill? Your reaction to the bombing of the supply ship?

8. How well did the film establish the credibility of the lost continent? As seen from a distance, through the tunnel in the submarines the landscapes etc, the animals?

9. Comment on the visual presentation of the lost continent. What was audience reaction to this world of fantasy and reality? How enjoyable was it to look at? The varying landscapes, the animals and their struggles, their size, the danger, the grades of evolution, the people themselves?

10. How interesting was the point that the island contained the varying grades of evolution in animals and humans?

11. How enjoyable were the dangers? the threats to life, to the submarine, the animals fighting amongst themselves? How callous were the human beings in their slaughter of the animals? Audience response to this? Judgement on the humans?

12. The importance of the sequences of constructive work, the discovery of oil, the refining and collecting, the native working with the Germans and British etc? The taking of turns to supervise etc? The scientific investigation by the biologists?

13. How exciting were the fights? How well were they filmed? The fights amongst the humans, with the animals?

14. Was the final cataclysm an appropriate culmination for the film? Volcanoes and fire, explosions, the impact of the animals etc?

15. That was the significance of the ending? The science-fiction questions about the future of the world? The isolation of the couple and their future?

16. How valuable are entertainment films like this? What values about humans, heroism, adventure do they presuppose in audiences?