A man (co-writer Herbert M. Dawley) ventures into the woods with his friend and a dog. The guy has a dream in which he encounters the ghost of an old hermit (director and legendary special effects artist Willis H. O'Brien) with a magic telescope that enables the guy to see dinosaurs back in prehistoric times. Told as a simple and straightforward little story by an uncle to his nephews sans any pretense, this picture manages to vividly capture a true sense of awe and wonder in an innocent and appealing way. Moreover, O'Brien not only makes good use of the sweeping valley location, but also maintains both a steady pace and a pleasant tone throughout. The stop-motion animation creatures all look pretty cool: A brontosaurus, a giant bird, a triceratops, and the ever-popular Tyrannosaurus Rex, which fights, kills, and eats the triceratops before chasing after our hero. In addition, O'Brien's special effects still hold up really well and are quite impressive for the period (O'Brien also deserves extra praise for his accurate rendering of the dinosaurs as large lumbering beasts). A fun vintage silent movie.

This early film, in my humble opinion, is one of the greatest surviving gems of early film. The stop-action dinosaurs are as good, considering the technology available, as the great Harryhausen figures in the 60's and 70's.I was a bit concerned when the film started that it would be really corny, and when the boys uncle tries to get his best friend to pose for a risqué portrait, I began wondering exactly what kind of film this would be. But my fears were unfounded, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The canoing scenes are reminiscent of a lot of early travel films, and the telling of scary stories around the campfire brings back fond memories of my own grandfather.As a grandfather now myself, who loves to relate scary stories to my young grandchildren, I absolutely love the ending scenes, and the reaction that the boys have to hearing this story from their 'Unca' ... well worth the watch - still as enjoyable as it was almost a hundred years ago.

Ghost of Slumber Mountain, The (1918) *** (out of 4) A man travels to Slumber Mountain where he encounters a ghost who takes him to a part of the island where dinosaurs rule. This short film by Willis H. O'Brien starts off very slow but when the stop motion starts up things pick up some. The highlight includes a T-Rex eating another dinosaur and then another scene where the T-Rex is shot in the head. O'Brien also plays the ghost in the film. If you're a fan of The Lost World or King Kong then you should enjoy this film.The movie is now available on a few public domain releases but the quality is pretty poor. Turner Classic Movies shows a restored print from time to time.

This short hasn't aged well-and I don't simply mean film stock aging either. The plot, the script and the idea are now creaky. Given that Willis O'Brien was part of the technical crew on King Kong some 15 years later, the stop-motion work in the last fourth or so of the film is really training for what he did on that film. It has a certain historic significance, but little else. Not even as a charming, if dusty curio. For ardent film buffs only, with the above caveats.