Very well executed

the audience applauded

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Copyright 15 August 1951 by Tom Productions, Inc. U.S. release through Lippert Pictures. No recorded New York opening. San Francisco world premiere at the Paramount: 19 July 1951. U.S. release: 17 August 1951. 7,533 feet. 82 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Hunting for a lost rocket, a small party of scientists crash-lands on an unknown Pacific island. NOTES: Shooting from 13 April to 24 April 1951 COMMENT: By the humble standards of both Mr Lippert and the Neufeld Brothers, this is not too trying a little offering. On the debit side (in no particular order) are Mr Sid Melton who labors painfully to garner a few laughs from trite material; animated monsters that look like drawing-board rejects from The Lost World (1925); and a mountain peak that is obviously rooted on a film studio floor. We could also add Hillary Brooke to this side of the ledger. One of our favorite stars, Miss Brooke is treated shamefully here. True, she looks lovely, but she has only one scene. Count it! One! I'll assign Cesar Romero to neither debit nor credit. He's competent enough, but I can take him or leave him. However, I like Chick Chandler and John Hoyt, and it's always good to see Whit Bissell making out as a scientist type. Although the monsters are pretty crummy, at least three or four of the excitements are grippingly presented by director Newfield and I very much the idea of presenting all the top-of-the-mountain footage on green-tinted stock.

Rock climbing. Those words will forever send a chill down my spine. The reason for that is I endured a so-called "adventure" film about a group exploring sent to a distant island to investigate a rocket crash. In order to get there, they have to climb a mountain. And that's it. 80% of the film is just rock climbing. Just rock climbing. Oh, and they run into some dinosaurs along the way but they have a total of 3 minutes of screen time. So the star of this movie is basically a mountain. God help us all.And to top it off, when they finally do reach the rocket, the most annoying character is finally killed off, a volcano starts to erupt, and they scale back down the mountain in TWO MINUTES!!!! Then they get on a rowboat and smoke some cigarettes. And that's it. That is how the film ends. WTF??!!! I just cannot express how much I hate this movie. The dinosaurs are a cruel insult because not only do they not do anything but remind me of better things I could be watching. The introductory sequences are so pointless; the characters become cardboard cutouts the minute they land on the island and the acting is so bland. Even the MST 3K boys had trouble enduring this one. I just don't see what can be gained from writing about this garbage further. If you watch the MST 3K version, do so at your own risk.Rock Climbing :shudder:

The "men stumble upon lost world" plot seems to be as old as movies themselves, maybe older. It's been used in The Land Unknown, The Mole People, Untamed Women, Women of the Prehistoric Planet, Slave Girls of the White Rhinoceros (aka Prehistoric Women), and countless other films. Here, Cesar Romero leads a group of guys up a mountain where they find...yes, a lost world.There's lots of talk at the beginning as the group decides to go up the mountain, then they climb, and climb, and climb some more. Somewhere along the way, Whit Bissell falls to his death, but no one seems to mind too much. Finally, the group of explorers reach the top, where they find themselves in a land of flying reptiles and dinosaurs. After a few adventures, the usual volcanic eruption sends the men back down, right to the end of this film.The plot unfolds in the standard way, and has the usual comic relief, in this case a guy who wears a parachute everywhere (which I found very annoying for some reason). The cast is pretty good, particularly Romero and Hugh Beaumont, who were old pros at this kind of thing. There's enough action to keep your attention, but don't expect any surprises--the movie is strictly standard.

A riveting adventure filled with joy, Lost Continent is probably best remembered for one thing: rock climbing.In one of the most amazing shows of padding out a film, this 83 minute feature contains about 20 minutes of pure mountaineering. Doesn't sound too bad until you realize that almost nothing happens during those 20 minutes than a bunch of guys walking from rock to rock.So what is this film? It starts as a political-military flick filled with disjointed semi-back-stories and speeches, runs right into the boring uncut mountaineering and finally ends up as it was advertised, as a fantasy-adventure.A good fantasy-adventure? Nope, not really, but it's not bad either. It contains all the flat one-dimensional characters and bad effects and filming of the 50's, but it's no worse than any of those. If you're really into these classic adventure flicks, the movie is worth watching once they're done rock climbing.