Plot
A creaky tramp steamer carrying an
assortment of shady passengers and a cargo hold full of illegal explosives heads
straight into a storm when the captain and passengers decide that they want to
get to their destination as quick as possible. The crew mutinies and abandon
ship when they find out what the cargo is and conditions begin to get
treacherous. The storm strands the ship and it's remaining crew and passengers
near a mysterious island, surrounded by weird-looking seaweed and populated by
descendants of Spanish Conquistadores.
Review
No review would be enough to
really describe just how bonkers this film is. It's just such a weird juxtaposition
of films, genres and ideas that it really sinks itself by trying to accomplish
too much. For a studio so associated with the horror genre, Hammer's 1960s
forays into fantasy worlds were curious but never good enough or endearing
enough to catch on with the public in main like their earlier horror outings.
But that's not to say there weren't some hidden gems in there. One Million
Years B.C. is better known for Raquel Welch's awesome two-piece fur bikini
but featured some cracking stop motion effects from Ray Harryhausen. She
was a bit of a tepid adventure but at least gave Peter Cushing something to do
other than stake vampires and create monsters. And here we have The Lost
Continent, a very obscure film which is very ambitious in it's intentions
but ultimately falls short because of numerous problems.
The scope of Hammer's intention with this film must be applauded. It's arguably
their most ambitious work ever and they clearly put a lot of effort into making
it look big budget. You've got the eerie island which is surrounded by deadly
seaweed, drenched in fog and harbours plenty of shipwrecks from various periods
in time - it's a superb set which really conveys the idea of this being a "lost
continent" and not just some random island. Even some of the costume design
ideas are so bizarre that it's hard not to give their designer credit. The
mushroom-like inflatable shoes that the Spanish conquistadores use to traverse
the seaweed are like nothing you've ever seen before. The first time you see
them in the distance, it looks like some weird monster heading the way of the
passengers. Not only is the seaweed hungry
and there are scores of religious fanatics are wanting to sacrifice the passengers but the island is
also populated by a variety of bizarre and even more deadly monsters. The
special effects are terrible and the monster models are ridiculous but the best
thing is that the cast treat everything seriously. So as completely pathetic as
the crab and the octopus look, the cast battle bravely against them and make
them look like a deadly threat. It helps that the creature designs are a bit
different with their colourisation too, once again giving the viewer the
illusion that this really is a lost world.
The film is entertaining when it
finally gets going and they reach the island (and all of the above stuff
happens) but it seems to take an eternity to
get there. Too much time is spent (badly) developing characters we don't care
about because we know most of them won't get out off the island alive. The
characters all have shady pasts too so it's hard to really find anyone to root
for. A lot
less of the backstabbing and bitching aboard the ship and more explanations
about what the hell was going on would have been fine. By the time they
reach the island, they don't seem to be trapped for long before they manage to sort
everything out into a neat little package and then escape as if nothing
happened. The finale is all rushed and you won't be able to catch your breath
before the film is over. It's as if there's a lot of random stuff happening and a really flimsy
story is patched together to try and work it all out. Did the film really need
the long sub-plot about the crew's mutiny early on in the film? The crew leave
the ship as they find out there's explosives on board. Shortly afterwards the
passengers then decide to abandon ship to save themselves. Then a bit later on
the passengers come across the ship again and go back on board. Wouldn't it have
been easier for them to have stayed on board? It would have saved some crucial
running time for more island action. The cast isn't particularly well known but do their jobs
well as the group of shady passengers. Eric Porter is brash, arrogant and highly unscrupulous as the captain.
There's eye candy on display in the forms of Suzanna Leigh (who plays a slutty
daughter) and Dana Gillespie (who plays one of the enslaved islanders and sports
arguably the most gravity-defying pair you'll ever see). Hammer veteran Michael Ripper is
on hand again for another small cameo. There's a few other faces that you may
recognise if you're into your older British films and it helps that there's no
really big names in here like Cushing or Lee. It gives the rest of the cast a
chance to shine and they all do a decent enough job. But this really is a film
based around it's weird and wacky ideas and characters are secondary throughout.
Verdict
The Lost Continent does have it's fair
share of problems but the ambition and scope of the film are way beyond what one
would expect from Hammer. It's bizarre, it's obscure and it's frustratingly
brilliant - there's almost too many ideas floating around here to make it work
but somehow it does. It's strangely compelling viewing and definitely a hidden
Hammer gem that's infinitely better than a lot of their more famous work.
