By Bruce Shawkey
"The Lost World" is a 1912 novel by Arthur Conan Doyle. Many movie adaptations have been made over the years. The one starring John Rhys-Davies has become a favorite that I've watched many times on my Amazon Kindle.
I like it for several reasons. First, there is the cast, starting with Rhys-Davies, who would go on to play "Sallah" in the Indiana Jones franchise. Then there is Eric McCormack, who would go on to play "Will" in the TV series Will and Grace. And then there is David Warner, who plays Professor Summerlee, who would go on to play Spicer Lovejoy, the sniveling Sergeant at Arms in the movie "Titanic."
But my favorite actor is Nathania Stanford, who plays Malu, a guide and interpreter in the movie. She is gorgeous. And as far as I can tell, this is the only movie role she has ever been in. They hired her from a modeling agency, and she does a very respectable job in the movie.
Other cast members include Tamara Gorski, who plays photographer Jenny Nielson. There are several other cast members, but these are the main ones.
The movie starts out in London, but mainly takes place in Zimbabwe, Africa. I'm sure this took up most of the movie's meager budget. The dinosaurs themselves are cheap-looking, and we see only their heads and feet. It is a far cry from the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, and it is said this movie was the inspiration behind the 1993 blockbuster and its numerous sequels.
I quite enjoy the movie because I get to see several actors in their early days, and I enjoy a good adventure movie.
Here is further information on the movie from Wikipedia:
The Lost World is a 1992 film, based on the 1912 novel The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The movie is set in Africa rather than the book's setting of South America, and the character of Lord John Roxton has been replaced with a female character played by Tamara Gorski (in her film debut). It was followed by a sequel the same year, Return to the Lost World, with the same director and main cast.
The bulk of the movie was filmed on location in the Mashonaland region of Zimbabwe. Many local actors were hired to play the native characters.
The film opens on Edward Malone, a junior reporter looking for an adventurous assignment. Malone is sent to interview Professor Challenger, an explorer and researcher who believes he is on the trail of the "lost world," a mysterious place in Central Africa. Challenger has a picture of a cliff and a strange beast resembling a pterodactyl that is his only evidence of the place.
The British scientific community finds his claims laughable. After receiving funding from the family of Jenny Nielson, a wildlife photographer and the daughter of a rich American contributor to the sciences, the "scientific community" agrees to organize an exploratory expedition under the leadership of the antagonistic Professor Summerlee. Summerlee agrees to Malone and Nielson coming on the expedition, but refuses to allow Challenger to be part of the expedition. With obvious reluctance, Challenger gives Summerlee a "map" to be opened at a road-end village in Africa at a particular date and time. The expedition departs. A newsboy associate of Malone named Jim stows away on the trip.
The expedition arrives in Africa where they are joined by a female guide named Malu and a Portuguese named Gomez. Summerlee opens the map from Challenger, finding it blank, at which point Challenger appears from nowhere leaving Summerlee no option but to accept his guidance on the expedition. Under Challenger's guidance they find the cliff in the picture and reach the top, but Gomez (who turns out to be the brother of a Portuguese who was killed on Challenger's first journey here) strands them with no way back down. Exploring the Lost World to find another way home, the team finds dinosaurs, from a pair of anatosaurus to a pterodactyl rookery.
Jim, Malone, and Malu narrowly avoid being eaten by a dinosaur (presumably a Herrerasaurus), only to find that their camp was attacked, and the rest of the team is gone. The three discover a gathering of native tribesmen (painted with symbolic skeletons) who regularly sacrifice humans off a cliff to the carnivorous dinosaurs. While the 'skeleton men' sacrifice a man to a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Malone distracts the tribe while the other explorers and captured natives escape, and they retreat to the safety of a second tribe nearby (who use clothes, not paint). During these events, Summerlee notes some oddities about the "ritual" vegetation necklaces that the sacrifices (themselves) were dressed in. The second tribe's members, through Malu's translation, tell the explorers about a time long ago when the shamans of their tribe convinced some to worship the carnivorous dinosaurs, splitting the tribe in two.
Summerlee deduces that the vegetation necklaces placed on the sacrifices provided some necessary nutrient or immunization to the dinosaurs which had protected these dinosaurs from the extinction that the rest of the dinosaurs suffered globally (this being a theory Summerlee had espoused previously). The expedition team uses their modern knowledge and research to benefit the tribe with irrigation and horticultural benefits, to produce the antidote to a prehistoric plague. Malu kills the skeleton tribe's leader with a slingshot and a rock, and the two tribes reunite. The chief shows the team a hidden cave that will lead them back to their world, and has them promise that they will come back if they are ever needed.
Returning to the river, the team is ambushed by Gomez. Gomez is shot and wounded, but instead of killing him, Challenger leaves him behind, saying, "Let the jungle have him." Malu stays in Africa, and the others return home. The Royal Zoological Society in London rules that Challenger and Summerlee have insufficient evidence of their tale, until Jim reveals that he brought back a baby pterodactyl. The team is celebrated for their achievements, but when Malone, Jenny, and Jim discover the pterodactyl (named Percival), is unhappy being kept in a zoo, they release him, allowing him to fly back to the "lost world".
Here is a composite of some of the cast members:
 |
| John Rhys-Davies |
 |
| Eric McCormack |
 |
| Tamara Gorski |
 |
| Nathania Stanford |
Here is another photo of Nathania Stanford, showing how f**king gorgeous she is:
"Return to the Lost World," is also a favorite. Neither movie received particularly good reviews, but I have enjoyed them both. The acting is actually pretty good, in my opinion, but I will admit the special effects are pretty cheesy.Return to the Lost World is a 1992 film directed by Timothy Bond and starring John Rhys-Davies, Eric McCormack, David Warner, Nathania Stanford, Darren Peter Mercer, and Tamara Gorski. It is a sequel to the film The Lost World, which was released the same year. Both movies are based on the novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, of Sherlock Holmes fame.
Plot
Belgian scientist Bertram Hammonds, along with Gomez, who survived being injured in the first film, arrives in the Lost World to drill for crude oil. He and his men begin capturing the natives for slave labor, throwing Chief Palala off the top of the plateau. He survives and is rescued by Malu and taken to a nearby village. Word reaches Edward Malone and Jenny Nielson in England, who remind Professors Challenger and Summerlee of the promise they made to Palala: that they would return to the Lost World should they be needed.
However the professors are having a feud. Challenger recently discredited Summerlee on a theory and now they aren't on speaking terms. With help from Jim, Malone and Jenny manage to bamboozle Challenger and Summerlee into coming along with each mistakenly believing they are commanding the expedition while the other is remaining in England. When they encounter one another aboard the steamship bound for Africa, they nearly come to blows. Upon arriving they are led to the base of the plateau by Malu, where she found Chief Palala.
Attacks by dinosaurs have set back Hammonds' work. His drilling crews accidentally tap into a volcanic pipe during a tyrannosaurus' visit, triggering a volcanic eruption that threatens to destroy the whole plateau. The initial eruption destroys the plane they arrived in. Fleeing, Hammonds and Gomez take Chief Palala's daughter hostage and threaten to kill her unless the natives show them how to leave. Suddenly Challenger and the others arrive, having come the same way they left last time, through the caves.
Challenger shoots and kills Gomez, and Hammonds is taken prisoner. After several adventures including clashes with the hostile drilling crew members, the group struggles to stop the erupting volcano. Challenger creates a new explosive, "Challengerite," with which to seal the volcano. Boxes of the explosive are put into a cave nearby but Hammonds chases Jim inside, not wanting them to set off the explosives. He tries to ply Jim with promises of wealth but Jim sets off the explosives, stopping the eruption and seemingly killing Hammonds in the process.
Afterward, Summerlee congratulates Challenger on the Challengerite, and they muse on how much longer they can keep the Lost World safe from human intervention.
Cast
John Rhys-Davies as Professor George Edward Challenger
David Warner as Professor Summerlee
Eric McCormack as Edward Malone
Nathania Stanford as Malu
There is a short scene where Malu takes a swim naked. We only see her from the rear, but she is beautiful and even captures the attention of Malone and I think even incites a little jealousy in Jenny Nielsen.
Darren Peter Mercer as Jim
Tamara Gorski as Jenny Nielson
Fidelis Cheza as Chief Palala
John Chinosiyani as Witch Doctor
Innocent Choda as Pujo
Brian Cooper as Policeman
Charles David as Mojo Porter
Kate Egan as Kate Crenshaw
Mike Grey as Mojo Porter
Robert Haber as Maple White
Filming for Return to the Lost World took place simultaneously with its predecessor The Lost World. The movie was filmed during 1991 in Zimbabwe
Plate from Doyle's original novel:
Comments
Post a Comment