Sunday, May 5, 2024

Sven- The Land That Time Forgot (1974)

 

A German U-boat torpedoes a freighter, and picks up the survivors.  Bowen Tyler leads them to take over the boat, but the Germans smash the radio.  The crew gets lost, the Germans take over again, then the Allies take back over.  Eventually the sub ends up lost in the Arctic Ocean, and they find Caprona, or Caspak, if you will.  This unknown island is surrounded by high mountains and no beaches.  Good thing there is an underwater way in.  Once inside, the crew joins forces to get out.  They find dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, along with cavemen on various evolutionary scale.  Things go awry, and only Lys and Tyler live.  Tyler throws a thermos with his story into the ocean.

This was the first non-Tarzan adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs work.  It is probably the best one that Amicus did, though I do love At the Earth's Core quite a bit.  This is a good adventure movie, though almost all the humans die.  It does help to read the Caspak trilogy, since it sure explains a lot more of the evolutionary theory of the story.  I had forgotten the Ga-Lu were in the movie at all.  Sven did a great job with all the extra bits as well.

Next week- House of Frankenstein (already reviewed).

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