The Lost Continent (1968)

Memorable, crazy movie

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

I guess I'm not a complete fan of Hammer films like some. I found this movie somewhat engrossing but disturbing. All the usual Hammer gore. The monsters were hokey enough to be entertaining, and the plot kept you wondering what was next. However, it was too intense for me to watch it again. Just my opinion, of course, but not recommended for those who are at all faint of heart or disturbed by lots of red stuff.

An interesting gallery of characters take a sea voyage on a tramp steamer led by Captain Lansen (Eric Porter). Some of them have their own sordid stories, like the Captain himself, who's in a hurry to unload some dangerous cargo in order to make a quick buck and retire rich. One hurricane and one mutiny later, and they end up stranded somewhere in the Sargasso Sea, where the water is infested by a particularly hideous, man eating variety of seaweed. There they come upon an island civilization, not to mention a crazed mollusk or two.The primitive special effects (Robert A. Mattey, who later supervised the creation of "Bruce" for the 1975 classic "Jaws", was in charge) add a great deal of schlocky charm to this Hammer production, certainly one of the oddest things that they ever made. Based on the novel "Uncharted Seas" by Dennis Wheatley (which you can actually see the character of Dr. Webster reading at one point!), it tells a fairly original yarn with a singularly weird atmosphere. The somewhat askew colour photography in the later parts plays a big part in this atmosphere, as well as some memorable images. The music score by Gerard Schurmann is supplemented by tunes crooned by a 60s group called The Peddlers. And the creatures on display are quite fun to watch.The actors are able to give incredibly straight faced performances in light of how nutty the story eventually gets. Porter is an interesting guy in that he's not quite the conventional "hero". Hildegard Knef, the lovely Suzanna Leigh, and Tony Beckley have the meatiest roles among the supporting actors. Nigel Stock, Neil McCallum, Jimmy Hanley, James Cossins, Dana Gillespie (whose breasts threaten to pop out of her costume at times), Victor Maddern, Norman Eshley, the always delightful Hammer good luck charm Michael Ripper, and Donald Sumpter all deliver enjoyable performances.Definitely a curiosity for fans of this great British studio.Producer Michael Carreras reportedly fired original director Leslie Norman, and took over in that capacity, also writing the screenplay himself using the pseudonym "Michael Nash" (the name of his gardener).Seven out of 10.

I thought this romp was somewhat in the vane or spirit of those Doug McClure movies where the U-Boat ends up in a pre-historic lost area of the globe and the crew has to deal with cave people, Dinosaurs etc.I certainly don't hold the feet of this film to any super critical standard since it dosen't seem to take itself seriously anyway. I agree with the one reviewer of the postings on this page that if you just suspend your disbelief somewhat that it's a quite entertaining film since it is quite imaginative in the visuals and the situation (albeit quite ridiculous) such as the Conquistadors stuck there for several centuries. The buxom balloon girl was most pleasant to look at and took to speaking English quite quickly (They have Berlitz books out there).I think a story like this would be a bit more easier to swallow if it had taken place in the 20's or 30's, but again, the movie does not seem to take itself seriously so who cares(Giant crabs are not to beyond the pale, but giant scorpians!).The cast plays it straight despite the absurdity, and that helps to suspend disbelief.The weird factor is very high which is the most appealing factor of this flick.I think there was a bit of 60's political angle of questioning of authority as the ship crew incited the lord kid to question his own blind obedience to the hooded inquisitor. There was a rapprochement between the crew of the ship and the conquistadors both standing in respect for the kid ruler in his burial at sea. So I suppose this could also be kind of a 60's version of 'can we all just get along' type decade influenced feature in this film.Yes! A beer and pizza film.

You know what a typical Hammer production looks like, and "The Lost Continent" definitely doesn't fit that picture. It doesn't feature any old Gothic castles or torture dungeons, any cloaked vampires or mad Barons and it doesn't even star Christopher Lee or Peter Cushing. Surely Hammer also produced other mythologist films and stories revolving on time warps, but "The Lost Continent" is an entire league on its own and the complete opposite to what you expect. Right after watching this movie, you can't even properly determine for yourself whether it's good or bad … just plain weird. "The Lost Continent" is an outrageously plotted but awkwardly coherent film with two entirely different main story lines rolled into one. The titular continent (although it's merely just a small island) actually doesn't get reached until the twenty last minutes and, before that, it is just a suspenseful thriller set on a boat. The ambiance on the ancient and leaky cargo ship is rather tense and sinister. The captain ignores safety warnings and advice from his personnel and the passengers prefer facing a terrible sea storm rather than to return to the coast, even though they have been informed about the potentially explosive cargo. Suffice to say these aren't normal tourists, but people with dark secrets or even fugitive criminals. There are a lot of intrigues going on-board, but the sea is mightier. The captain and his passengers have to abandon ship, but they recover another one slowly drift towards uncharted regions. There they encounter ravenous seaweed and a lot of other things that don't make the least bit of sense, like gigantic crab-creatures, a native tribe under the impression that the Spanish Inquisition isn't finished yet and a local girl with the most gorgeous pair of breasts in the universe. In order to set food on land, they have to put watery pillows on their feet and attach balloons on their shoulders, which forms another very ludicrous sight to behold. "The Lost Continent" is an incredibly silly film, but all cast members perform their roles with a poker straight face, like as if they were starring in the greatest & most budgeted epic adventure in the history of cinema. The effects and monsters designs are extremely dodgy and laughable, but also somewhat charming. The film hasn't got a real ending, but (fortunately?) Hammer never bothered to make a sequel. Crazy little Brit-film, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to open-minded fans of cult cinema.