"THE LOST WORLD."

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 185, 7 August 1925, Page 8

"THE LOST WORLD."

NATIONAL AND LYRIC THEATRES. Amazement, surprise, disbelief in one's own eyes—these are some of the emotions aroused by "The Lost World." which opened -with phenomenal success at the National and Lyric Theatres yesterday. Crowded and thrilled audiences were the order, and the marvellous film promises to break all records for the two theatres where it is beinjr shown. The picture makers have long promised "something really new —a second "Birth of a Nation , —a photoplay that will start a v ne«r chapter in film history." •The Lost World' , comes nearest to living up to these promises of any picture seen in a long time. School text books say that the last of the dinosaurs became extiiii-t at least 10,000.000 years ago. Yet on the picture sc-Teen these fearsome creatures of the Reptilian Age actually come to life —with a reality that makes one tremble for the safety of Bessie Love, Lewis Stone, Wallace Beery. Lloyd Hughes and the other film adventurers who find the huge creatures still alive in an unexplored area of South America. The amazement that these reptiles instil is equalled only by the curiosity as to how First National and Watterson R. Rothacker. the producers, were able to do it. This picture might be described as the one photoplay of universal appeal. Every class of movie patron will find a super-thrill in it For those who hanker for adventure the picture offers the hunting episode where Stone. Beery, and Hughes attempt to bag a 150.000-pound monster that doesn't mind elephant guns any more than bean-shooters. For the serious-minded student we have a picturisation of the earth just as paleontologists say it was millions of years before the first man. For those who like spectacles this movie contains what might be termed the most spectacular event the earth has seen in 15,000.000 years. A volcano sets fire to a forest representing thousands of acres. Scores of prehistoric monsters, such as the brontosaurus. triceratops, traehodon, diplodocus, aUosaurus and megalosanrus flee into an immense lake, while the human actors try to keep out of their paths. The producers say it took over seven years to produce this motion picture. * That is not surprising. Arthur Edeson, the highest paid cameraman in the motion picture industry, who had charge of the cameras for Douglas Fairbanks' "Three Musketeers" and "Robin Hood." was the principal cameraman on "The Lost World." The camera staff also included another star cinematotrapher in Fred Jackman.. who filmed "The King of Wild Horses'' and other notable features. The extensive research staff of the picture was headed by Willis O'Brien;