"THE LOST WORLD."

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 184, 6 August 1925, Page 9

"THE LOST WORLD."

PREHISTORIC MONSTERS FILMED.

In these days of modern screen art, 2?£n\ r rts t 1 idea8 ' and trick-photography are brought to bear in producing unusual pictures, the screen-public become more or less used to nims, m which something really amazing is featured. It is therefore necessary, when producers wish to move them from a state of complacency, to give them something so very extraordinary that it makes them sit up suddenly, and take notice: A picture that achieves that dream of the producer is "The Lost World," a First National screen offering that can only be described as marvellous. ,Adapted from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's masterpiece of imagination, this film, which the management of the National and Lyric Theatres are offering this week, with pride, represents seven arduous years of research work—careful study of that prehistoric age in which such terrible animals as allosauri, diplodaic, brontosauri and pteradactyl existed. When one realises that these animals live again on the screen, and. indulge in their wild proclivities, chief of which is killing or attempting to kill each other, one appreciates the marvel which those responsible, have accomplished. Never before have such things been flashed upon a screen, and it will be a long time before another such picture will come to us again. "The Lost World" is an unexplored territory at the back of the Amazon, where, it is claimed by a professor, the prehistoric animals, whose names have already been mentioned, still live as they lived of yore. To prove or damn his story, a little expedition, led by the professor, set out, and reach the lost territory, where they enter the sinister country and find, only too well, that such animals really exist. It is these monsters that represent the wonder of the film—they set the audience gasping with amazement—they may even frighten a few. They are but fakes, of course, but 'they represent the most wonderful faking of the screen age. Mechanical though they are, they walk naturally, and breathe, their skins contract and retract as they turn, their bodies heave with exertion, their eyes seem quite real. The most thrilling scenes are those in which these monsters attack one another and fight to the death. Mechanical though they be, they show most deadly accuracy in striking in the vital spots of one another's bodies—they rend flesh, they jump on each other, lashing and snapping with the most terrible ferocity, and they writhe in the death throes with the greatest realism. There is one scene of a night when a volcano belches forth, and hundreds of the animals rush for safety, fighting and killing as they do. The climax is the most sensational imaginable. A gigantic brontosaurus is taken to London as a specimen, and escapes. .It runs riot about the streets, driving the terrified crowds before it, demolishing buildings, and. knocking over statutes. Finally it falls through a bridge across the Thames, and the last scene shows it making out to. see* A love story is woven against this amazing background, while the photography and beautiful scenes of jungle country, and sunrises are superb. A fine east, including Alice Joyce, Wallace Beery and Lewis Stone is starred. The box plan is at Messrs. Lewis R. Eady and Son, Ltd.