That was an excellent one.

Sadly Over-hyped

Captivating movie !

Absolutely brilliant

So at the end of the last movie Doug McClure put a message in a bottle and threw it in the water. What were the chances it could even make it through the cavern they sailed through to get to this place? Well pretty good it seems because it managed to float thousands of miles north and be found in England. So of course his friend decides he has to go find him and has no trouble doing so. Sadly this time they tried to add an element of comedy and it's extremely unfunny. So they crash land their crazy sea plane in this lost world and the plane is unmovable. So they tie their 500 foot rope to a dinosaur and have him drag it out. They brought a 500 foot rope? Of course.They even brought everything they would need to repair the plane, a tent, food I suppose(we never see them eat), some paint and even an extra coat. The first person they meet on the island is a cave woman with perfect hair wearing lipstick and eye shadow. And you see where this is going. The most interesting thing about this movie is all the similarities to Star Wars. They have a girl with her hair in two buns, a villain that is very similar to Jabba and that villain even has a weird tiny side kick like Jabba did. Plus there's dinosaur snake-like things that pop out of holes. A lot of coincidences considering this was released the same year as Star Wars. Weirdly, At The Earth's Core(another McClure mess) had a scene that was amazingly like the Rancor scene. But for the most part this movie is just a mess. It's worth seeing once if you saw the first one but have low expectations.

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.

Apparently this is a sequel to the earlier "The Land That Time Forgot" - which I saw many, many years ago but have to admit I don't remember very much of. Since this is a sequel, I guess it can be forgiven to an extent for not having much that's especially original in it. It's a typical story of a land filled with dinosaurs and "cave people" (including a stereotypical and very well endowed "cavegirl" - played by an actress named Dana Gillespie - who speaks surprisingly fluent English - having been taught by the man they're searching for - and spends most of the movie looking like she's about to burst out of her costume) as a search party heads in to find someone lost from the previous expedition. To give credit where credit is due, the sets were realistic and the dinosaur effects were pretty well done. The pterodactyl attack on the small plane near the beginning of the movie was actually quite believable - at least in the context of this movie. The cast was not particularly familiar to me. The most recognizable face (to me) was Sarah Douglas as "Charly" - a well to do photographer sent along by her family's newspaper to document the expedition. (I recognize her as Ursa - the villainess from Superman II a few years later.)There's nothing very spectacular here. It's not a bad time waster (although it seems to start rather abruptly) even though it's not an especially good movie. (4/10)

Before 'Star Wars' came along, '70's sci-fi movies were fairly bleak and pessimistic about Man's future, such as 'Zardoz', 'Soylent Green' and 'The Final Programme'. But there were one or two family fantasy movies about, such as the trilogy based on the novels of 'Tarzan' creator Edgar Rice Burroughs that began with 'The Land That Time Forgot' ( 1975 ). Produced by John Dark and directed by Kevin Connor, with American he-man Doug McClure as the lead, they were mocked in 'Red Dwarf', but four decades on still manage to work as entertainment, and were made on low budgets which makes them all the more remarkable.'People' begins with an expedition to the Arctic wastes to locate Bowen Tyler ( McClure ). The crew includes Ben McBride ( Patrick Wayne, son of John ), an old friend of Tyler's, Hogan ( Shane Rimmer ), an alcoholic pilot, Norfolk ( Thorley Walters ), a bumbling scientist, and Lady 'Charly' Cunningham ( Sarah Douglas, sporting a pre-'Princess Leia' hairstyle ), a crusading feminist news woman ( who is only there as her uncle's newspaper is funding the trip ). Taking to the sky in a plane, they are attacked by a Pterodactyl and are forced to land. According to Tyler's journal ( which was found in a bottle off the coast of Scotland ), this island is Caprona, and is inhabited by prehistoric monsters and primitive tribes people. Among the latter is stunningly sexy jazz singer Dana Gillespie as 'Ajor', who looks like she has fallen off the front cover of 'Cave Girl Monthly'. As you can probably guess, our heroes must battle both monsters and tribes people alike in a bid to survive. This was the 'Indiana Jones' of its day. The nice thing about these movies is that they are not camp, though they have humour. McClure does not show up until an hour into the picture ( a good thing some might say ) and then gets himself killed. As 'McBride', Wayne is no De Niro but does need to be ( he does look astonishingly like John Barrowman though! ). It was made in an era where heroes in movies did not suffer from angst, hence we are not treated to long-winded accounts of how McBride is racked with guilt over his brother's death ( or whatever ). The characters are one dimensional, and the film is better for it. Thorley Walters is, a ever, a delight to watch, and what can I say about Sarah Douglas except "Phwoar!". Mind you, she gets strong competition in the eye candy department from Gillespie.It goes without saying that special effects have improved leaps and bounds since this was made, but that's no reason ( not in my book ) to dismiss the movie as rubbish. Good effects don't necessarily mean a good movie. Dark and Connor made two more films together ( one with McClure ): 'Warlords Of Atlantis' ( 1978 ) and 'Arabian Adventure' ( 1979 ), both derived from original scripts by 'Dr.Who' writer Brian Hayles.If you decide to watch this, have a big box of popcorn handy ( just be careful you don't choke when Gillespie appears. Obviously they had not invented underwear on Caprona yet! ).