This is a superbly cast and well acted sci-fi adventure yarn based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's sci-fi fantasy of the same name. The main draws of this silent film are a well integrated cast of fine actors, all working with much chemistry with one another; and of course, Willis O'Brien's once-famous stop motion special effects where the dinosaurs tear at each other in several scenes (most quite short though). Of course the special effects now seem quite primitive, but during its time it was trailblazing, and some of it still works quite work, and without O'Brien's creative works the movie would never come into fruition.The movie had been subjected to cuts and has only been quite recently restored and re-edited to about 110 minutes of length which is as close as the original version as we could possibly see in the 21st century. The first one-third of the film, where human interests prevail and when the main characters are introduced, are expertly done. The main characters, the irascible Professor Challenger (Wallace Beery), the young, dauntless reporter Malone (Lloyd Hughes), damsel in distress Paula White (Bessie Love) and suave gentleman gamehunter Sir John Roxton (Lewis Stone), could hardly been bettered.Some people might be less interested in adventure and sci fi fantasy and might find the human interest ebb away after the party lands in Brazil and the Amazon. That is when O'Brien's stop motion animation takes over. Admittedly some of them may seem a bit primitive compared to the CGI we see in, say, "Jurassic Park". But taken in the context of the period many of the special effects are still quite amazing, not to say possessing much quaint cuteness to it.Sad to say I watched the older 93 minutes cut of the film but it still made an impression as a silent film classic, particularly the last reel when the Brontosaurus escapes to rampage London, prefiguring the apocalyptic scenes of "King Kong" six years later.

The first film adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel about a land where prehistoric creatures still roam.This early film is a great blend of humor and science fiction. On the one hand we have a pretty good humorous romance (I do not want to say "romantic comedy") of a young woman who wants her suitor to do something daring... and we shall see how this leads to some wild escapades.But the movie is much better known as the work of Willis O'Brien, who also created King Kong. The talent is evident here, especially once we see the T-Rex loose in the city. If O'Brien had a successor, it was of course Ray Harryhausen. And even more than in "King Kong", we can see here the sort of thing that Harryhausen would make famous decades later.

Monday November 16, 7pm, The Paramount, Seattle"Great guns! We can't get back! We're prisoners - - " A tenacious newspaper reporter fights for a spot on the controversial jungle expedition of a rogue academic. Based on the diary of his lost colleague Maple White, Professor Challenger (Wallace Beery) is determined to prove that dinosaurs exist on the plateau of a remote South American mountaintop. White's daughter Paula (Bessie Love) and renowned explored Sir John Roxton (Lewis Stone) travel along as observers, with hopes of finding the girl's father.Based on the Edwardian adventure novel of Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle, First National Pictures' The Lost World (1925) is an early example of the special-effects blockbuster in its truest sense. The star-studded cast featured radiant 1922 WAMPAS Baby Star Love, popular kind-hearted Hollywood villain Beery and the paternally sympathetic Stone. Legendary cameraman and Fairbanks favorite, Arthur Edeson shot the live action scenes, but the picture's most significant contributions belong to the ground-breaking, experimental animation of special-effects pioneer Willis O'Brien.

I really enjoyed this movie, I'm not going to lie. I really enjoyed the terrible, albeit costly and lavishly done special effects and the cheesy, all too predictable romantic yarn thrown in there. I have a lot of experience watching movies of all ages and types, and I don't make the mistake of comparing silent movies to talkies, since the dramatic form of the motion picture simply works better with sound. Therefore, judging this movie on its own merits and within the confines of silent cinema, it's a really solid adventure flick, good for the whole family. It definitely is dated and would seem really silly to most people coming in to it expecting an action film. Still, if you can put up with it, then have fun!