The Lost World (1992 film)

The Lost World

DVD cover
Directed by Timothy Bond
Produced by Harry Alan Towers
Written by Arthur Conan Doyle (novel)
Marion Fairfax (screenplay)
Starring John Rhys-Davies
Eric McCormack
David Warner
Nathania Stanford
Darren Peter Mercer
Tamara Gorski
Sala Came
Fidelis Cheza
John Chinosiyani
Innocent Choda
Brian Cooper
Charles David
Kate Egan
Mike Grey
Robert Haber
Release dates
  • 1992 (1992)
Running time
 99 minutes
Country United States
Language English

The Lost World is a 1992 film, based on the book of the same name by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The movie is set in Africa rather than the book's setting of South America, and the character of Lord John Roxton has been replaced with a female character played by Tamara Gorski.[1]

Plot

Set in 1912, the film opens on Edward Malone, a junior reporter looking for an adventurous assignment. Malone is sent to interview Professor Challenger, an explorer and researcher who believes he is on the trail of the "lost world," a mysterious place in Central Africa. Challenger has a picture of a cliff and a strange beast resembling a pterodactyl that is his only proof of the place.

The British scientific community finds his claims laughable, and Challenger struggles to gather an exploration team. He eventually takes Malone and Jenny Nielson, a wildlife photographer and the daughter of a rich American contributor to the sciences, who funds the entire expedition. A newsboy named Jim stows away on the trip, and the antagonistic Professor Summerlee joins them when he discovers Challenger has given him a blank "map".

Challenger arrives at a native village in Africa, where the team is joined by a female guide named Malu. They find the cliff from the picture and reach the top, but Gomez, the brother of a native who was killed on Challenger's first journey here, strands them with no way back down. Exploring the lost world to find another way home, the team finds dinosaurs, from a pair of anatosaurus to a pterodactyl rookery.

Jim, Malone, and Malu narrowly avoid being eaten by a dinosaur (presumably a Herrerasaurus), only to find that their camp was attacked and the rest of the team is gone. The three discover a gathering of native tribesmen who regularly sacrifice humans off a cliff to the carnivorous dinosaurs. While the 'skeleton men' sacrifice a man to a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Malone distracts the tribe while the other explorers and captured natives escape, and they retreat to the safety of a second tribe nearby. These tribe members tell the explorers about a time long ago when the medicine members of their tribe convinced some to worship the carnivorous dinosaurs, splitting the tribe in two.

The expedition team uses their modern knowledge and research to benefit the tribe with irrigation and horticultural benefits, and even the antidote to a prehistoric plague. The skeleton tribe's leader is killed, and the two tribes unite. The chief shows the team a hidden cave that will lead them back to their world, and has them promise that they will come back if they are ever needed.

Returning to the river, the team is ambushed by Gomez. Gomez is shot and wounded, but instead of killing him, Challenger leaves him behind, saying, "Let the jungle have him." Malu stays in Africa, and the others return home. The Royal Zoological Society in London rules that Challenger and Summerlee have insufficient evidence of their tale, until Jim reveals that he brought back a baby pterodactyl. The team is celebrated for their achievements, but when Malone, Jenny, and Jim discover the pterodactyl (named Percival), is unhappy being kept in a zoo, they release him, allowing him to fly back to the "lost world".

Cast

References

  1. ↑ "The Lost World". IMDB.

External links

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