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The Lost Continent/The Reptile [1966] (REGION 1) (NTSC)


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I can live without "The Reptile," I wanted to revisit "The Lost Continent"
Review date: 2008-05-29 Rating: 8 out of 10

There really is no logical reason for packing "The Lost Continent" and "The Reptile" together was you get beyond the fact they are both Hammer films produced two years apart. After all, they are set in different centuries on different continents and to not have an actor or monster in common. "The Reptile" was filmed on the same lot as "The Plague of the Zombies," so that could have made sense as a pairing, but logic does not appear to be the rationale here. I mean, "The Reptile" was part of a double-bill with "Rasputin, the Mad Monk," which does not make a whole lot of sense either. However, this is really a moot point because I picked up this set because I wanted "The Lost Continent," a B-movie that made an impression on me when I was a kid and saw it in the theater. It may well have been the first Hammer movie I ever saw, because it was not until we returned to the United States that I became familiar with all those Dracula and Frankenstein movies with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing (better known today for bookending the "Star Wars" movies).

After a sappy theme song that makes is sound like this is some sort of a romance and a strange funeral aboard a ship sailing through a bunch of miniatures, we go back to the beginning with the rust bucket of a tub fleeing a third world port ahead of the authorities. Captain Lansen (Eric Porter) is in a desperate situation, both financially and legally, and this appears to be the case for all of the rest of the passengers onboard. However, there is a bigger problem on board in terms of the illegal cargo, which is this stuff that explodes when it comes in contact with water, which is a major concern when you are suddenly in a leaky ship in the middle of a violent storm at sea. Eventually we end up in the Sargasso Sea and a 1960s version of the Bermuda Triangle of lost ships. There the crew encounter giant creatures and a Spanish galleon.
Of course I want to say that "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition," but since you see conquistadors in the tracking shot that opens the narrative as we see a funeral being conducted aboard the ship, it is not that unexpected. It is Sarah (Dana Gillespie), the buxom wench walking on the killer kelp courtesy of snowshoes and a harnessed pair of balloons that is the signature image of the film.

With the virtue of several decades worth of hindsight, I think what made "The Lost Continent" work for me are the leads, because Porter and Neff neither look nor act like they are making a bad B movie. I have since since Porter in the original BBC production of "The Forsyte Saga," so clearly this was a step down for him, but you would never tell it from watching him. As Eva Peters, Hildegard Neff (which should actually be Knef), had played Trilby in a version of "Svengali" a decade earlier, and makes the most out of having left her ingenue days behind her. These are a couple of world weary people, so when they end up dealing with killer kelp, giant monsters, and fanatical priests, there is a dogmatic pragmatism that comes into play. I also have fond thoughts for Patrick (Jimmy Hanley), the bartender, not just because I find it hard to believe this tub has a bartender, but more importantly because you have to like a guy who refuses to abandon ship just because everybody else on board has done so. The special feature on Hammer films included shows several similar films about "Lands Before Time" that would have made more sense for pairing up in this DVD set, but enough of beating that dead horse.

For me "The Reptile" has a problelm with the title giving away the deep dark secret as to who is killing people in this remote little English town in Cornwall. There should be more of a "what the hell is going on here?" sense to the proceedings in this Gothic horror story. Captain Harry Spalding (Ray Barrett) inherits a cottage after this brother is murdered and moves in with his wife Valerie (Jennifer Daniel), where they discover that several locals have died because of mysterious snake bites. Dr. Franklyn (Noel Willman) keeps telling the Spaldings to leave and to leave his daughter Anna (Jacqueline Pearce) alone. Along with the information that the doctor was studying a snake cult in Borneo allows you to connect the dots in this one. The local eccentrics are Tom Bailey (Michael Ripper) and Mad Peter Crockett (John Laurie), the only ones in the village not to treat the newcomers like the plague. Again, if the title did not give away the game I might have enjoyed this one better, because everytime somebody wonders what's going on I thought: "Gee, do you think it mgiht be The Reptile?" There is a short documentary, narrated by Olvier Reed no less, focusing on the lady vampires in the Hammer films, which , of course, means it never talks about "The Reptile." To be fair, there is an obvious connection after the fact, but the documentary does make you wish you had seen any of those movies rather than this one.

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Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Eric Porter
Tony Beckley
Hildegard Knef
Suzanna Leigh
Nigel Stock

Creators:
Eric Porter (Primary Contributor)
Hildegard Knef (Primary Contributor)
Michael Carreras (Writer)
Anthony Hinds (Producer)
Anthony Hinds (Writer)
Anthony Nelson Keys (Producer)
Dennis Wheatley (Writer)

Director(s):

Recording label: Anchor Bay
Manufacturer: Anchor Bay
EAN: 0013131268294
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 2
Format: Colour, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC,
Release date: 2004-07-27
Universal product code (UPC): 013131268294
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Region code: 1
Running time: 188 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1966-04-06
Language: English (Original Language)

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