Review of The Lost World (1925) by Aaron A — 27 Oct 2012

"And I'm not here tonight to defend my statements - - but to demand that a committee be formed to go back to the Lost World with me -...".

Synopsis: Maverick scientist Prof. Challenger claims that dinosaurs still exist on a remote Brazilian plateau, and to prove his assertion he leads an expedition up the Amazon.

I find it kind of odd that silent cinema is so forgotten by so many. As more and more films being made with production budgets climbing ever closer to the stratospheric sky and as these films seam to be more and more special effects driven forgoing the complexity of character development, today's action films and big budget hollywood blockbusters more and more resemble a silent feature, albeit much much louder.

The Lost World is undeniably one of the most famous silent features. Many people have probably already seen the film as Steven Spielberg's The Lost World; Jurassic Park or less-so as King Kong with a few notable differences. it's script and characterizations are rather conventional, but the real draw here has always been and always will be it's special effects.

Ground breaking in it's day (you can almost see the genesis and spark that would later manifest itself as King Kong just a few years later), the special effects are now a quaint but incredibly charming piece of work that has instilled in me a desire to go back and give the slightly disappointing King Kong (1933) another shot.

If you are looking for a great, warm hearted adventure flick, may I recommend you take a trip into the past and give the purity of The Lost World a chance.