The People That Time Forgot (1977)

I love this movie so much

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

It's easy to pick on and ridicule the movie "The People That Time Forgot" (hereafter "PTF"), based on "Tarzan" creator Edgar Rice Burroughs's prehistoric fantasy tale. Many posters have detailed the clunky special effects and matte painting backgrounds, anachronistic features such as Hun-like barbarians with horses (!) in a secluded tropical land within frozen Antarctica (maybe it had thermal springs), buxom Narga cavewoman Ajor (Dana Gillespie) with flawless makeup and hair, and both barbarians and the primitive Narga tribe speaking fluent if stilted English (although "PTF" explains this miracle by stating that Bowen Tyler (Doug McClure) instructed both factions how to speak English.)Tyler was the explorer in PTF's predecessor movie "The Land That Time Forgot" left behind in the savage land (called Caprona) by the rest of his team. "PTF" chronicles the efforts of a new team to locate and rescue Tyler from Caprona. The leader and pilot of the rickety bi-plane that flies the team over the icy Antarctic mountains to Caprona is Ken-Doll handsome and resolute Major Ben McBride (Patrick Wayne) with his brown Superman hair-curl. Hogan (Shane Rimmer) is the boozy gunner and mechanic who also provides physical comic relief in his attempts to repair the bi-plane after it crashes in the desolate landscape. Financing the rescue expedition is comely, somewhat haughty, but game photographer Lady Charlotte "Charlie" Cunningham (Sarah Douglas) with her aviatrix get-up and mini Princess Leia 'do. Last but certainly not least important is knowledgeable paleontologist and scholar Norfolk (Thorley Walters), eager to explore Caprona's ancient fauna. After some convincing, the suspicious Ajor agrees to lead them to Tyler. Can McBride's team locate Tyler? Even if they do, can they bring him –and themselves- back to civilization alive?I don't completely disagree with "PTF"'s detractors and the aforementioned flaws they point out. The flaws are there. Nevertheless, I found "PTF" more than reasonably entertaining and involving because all the characters act more or less logically and rationally and yet display personal shortcomings without looking buffoonish, yes, even Hogan. The action and the prehistoric creature/human encounters are well-planned, suspenseful, tense, and meaningful, because you care about these people and their mission. The fiery human sacrifice ritual and volcanic explosion climax are also stirring. "PTF" at heart may be an improbable pulp jungle tale, but it's a surprisingly serious and well-told one.Two other "PTF" features are especially notable. First is the positive portrayal of Norfolk. Unlike other academicians, professors, and scholars who are smart but lack physical power and courage in a dangerous situation, Norfolk is no wimp. With his sword/stick concealed within an umbrella handle, Norfolk can fight and defend himself and others with the best of them, even while still obsessed with preserving his notes. Second is the actual, if imperfect, portrayal of real prehistoric dinosaurs and reptiles. Everyone recognizes the stegosaurus, the carnivorous ceratosaurus, and perhaps the pterodactyl that attempts to sideswipe the bi-plane. However, few of us may recognize that the two giant lizards menacing our tied-up heroes sprawled on the ground are known as Megalanias, ferocious Komodo Dragon-like 20- foot lizards that lived in Australia more than 2 million years ago. Even fewer of us would know that the huge armored lizard attacking our heroes in the cave is known as a scutosaurus, a 10-foot long herbivorous reptile that actually predates the dinosaurs by hundreds of millions of years and is considered the ancestor of the turtle. I just happened to know this because I'm a prehistoric animal geek. I appreciated that "PTF" took the time to re- create these creatures fairly accurately, even though they looked a little ungainly.In the final analysis, PTF is not a soaring work of genius. However, it's fun, serviceable entertainment which is an acceptable way to use up any idle time you have.

Major Ben McBride (Patrick Wayne) organizes a mission to the Antarctic wastes to search for his friend (Doug McClure) who has been missing in the region for several years. McBride's party find themselves in a world populated by primitive warriors and terrifying prehistoric creatures, all of whom they must evade in order to get back safely to their ship.This is the sort of movie that has Sam Arkoff and American International written all over it. While it will probably never be looked upon fondly by critics, it has a healthy dose of sailors, dinosaurs, some primitive people... the kind of things you might expect in a fun little adventure film.Edgar Rice Burroughs, who wrote the original story, really needs a re-examination. He is known primarily a the creator of Tarzan, and the attempt to bring John Carter to the big screen failed... but there are plenty of tales that could be adapted successfully if done properly. We simply do not have "fun" films like this one anymore.

The People That Time Forgot (1977) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Sequel to THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT finds a group of people going to the mysterious island after the letter written by Tyler (the survivor of the first film) is located. The group finally make their way to the island where they encounter all sorts of prehistoric creatures and cavemen while at the same time trying to locate Tyler. Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel is turned into a fairly entertaining movie but I think PEOPLE falls well short of LAND for a couple of reasons. I think the biggest reason is that the characters here aren't nearly as interesting as the ones in the original film. It seems like these characters are just the typical cardboard characters that you'd expect to see in a movie like this and there was very little attempt to make them more interesting. I think it's also fair to say that this sequel just seems like the first film made over without as much energy or passion. With that said, if you did enjoy the first movie then it's pretty safe to say that you'll at least be entertained by this one. As with the first one we're given some pretty good action scenes and as long as you don't take anything too serious you should at least be able to smile. The special effects of the creatures are somewhat better here but there's still no question that the dinosaurs are a long ways from what we'd eventually see in something like JURASSIC PARK. The performances aren't that bad with Patrick Wayne leading the way with Sarah Douglas and Shane Rimmer offering nice support. Doug McClure makes a very brief cameo but Dana Gillespie clearly steals the film as a cave woman. Speaking of Gillespie, the greatest special effect in the film is her costume and how amazing it is that her breasts never come popping out. THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT is a step down from the previous movie but fans of this type of thing should still be entertained.

The Land That Time Forgot was a surprisingly decent entry into the lost world of cavemen / dinosaurs adventure genre of the 70s, but this paint- by-numbers follow-up is nothing special. Block of wood celebrity offspring Patrick Wayne leads a band of rescuers in search of first movie survivor Doug McClure. The resulting chases, fights, narrow escapes etc. are the usual stuff of adventure movies, but the stunt choreography comes off as ordinary and uninspired. Oh-so-British Sarah Douglas is along as one of Wayne's crew but she has little to do here other than stand around looking uncomfortable. And the Lost Land itself, an important and colorful presence in the first film, is less imaginatively conceived this time around. Not a bad time waster when you have nothing better to do for a couple of hours, but try not to expect too much in the way of visionary fantasy. It isn't here.