In the early 1970s’ Amicus Pictures (Owned by Milton Subotsky and Max J Rosenberg) decided to pump so life into the declining British fantasy film industry by bringing the works of Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs to the big screen. The company’s rival, Hammer, had abandoned its standard horror films for features starring half naked women in an attempt to put more bodies in the seats and the time seemed right for Burroughs strait forward action tales to fill the void.
The first of the four Burrough’s stories to be produced by Amicus would be an adaptation of the short story “The Land That Time Forgot” which was first published in Blue Book Magazine in 1918. Milton Subotsky had first penned a screenplay for the film back in the early 1960s’ but this first draft was initially rejected by the late Burrough’s estate. It was under their prodding that the script was rewritten by Jim Cawthorn and Michael Moorcock. Their dialogue heavy, light on the action script however didn’t meet Subotsky’s approval so it was reworked yet again.
The film began production at Pinewood Studios in April 1974 with a mere $750,000 budget that had been put up by American International Pictures in exchange for the American distribution rights. This extremely low budget forced the film-makers to settle for cost cutting measures in the effects department. Hand puppets were used for the films dinosaurs in many scenes where costly stop motion animation had intended to be used. The effect looks primitive when compared to modern CGI effects, but for the time period in which it was created the effects in The Land That Time Forgot faired well against most rival productions.
Script problems and hand held dinos were not the only problems the production would face in its early stages. Originally Stuart Whitman was cast as the American engineer Bowen Tyler but Samuel Arkoff of AIP protested. Their next choice, Doug McClure, finally agreed to take the role after initially passing on it. McClure was billed as the perfect leading man by Kevin Connor. A reputation he had earned as the lead on the TV Western “The Virginian.” On the set however McClure earned another type of reputation after his tendency to hit the bottle caused him to miss a couple of days shooting and punch a hole in producer Johnny Dark’s office door. Despite this McClure was considered a nice guy by his costars. He even held the hand of a nervous Susan Penhaligon (cast as biologist Lisa Clayton) during the explosions of the films volcano erupting climax. John McEnry, who played the German U-boat Captain von Schoverts, was continually acting up on the set due to his belief that the production was beneath him as an actor. This lead to his voice being dubbed over by Anton Diffrin due to his demeanor and lackluster tone. Aside from this however none of the other off screen troubles manifested themselves in the finished product.
The films plot is a strait forward Burroughs adventure story. The survivors of a torpedoed allied cargo ship turn the tables on their attackers and seize control of their U-boat. The Germans manage to damage the ships compass and instead of steaming to a neutral port the group finds itself of the coast of the legendary island Caprona where time has stood still since prehistoric times. Forced to venture ashore in search of food, supplies and fuel the crew encounters a bevy of dinosaurs that intend on making sure no one escapes alive. As in all good adventure stories of this type just about everything and everyone the group encounters is set on doing them mortal harm and danger lies behind every turn. The groups focus is a simple a straight forward one. Keep from being eaten and figure out a way to get off the island before it consumed in a river of molten rock. Seems all good dinosaur flicks have to end in some kind of volcanic catastrophe and this film is no exception even though Moorcock had originally written it with a different ending.
The Land That Time Forgot (1975)
Amicus Pictures
Directed By: Kevin Connor
Written By: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jim Cawthorn, Michael Moorcock, Milton Subotsky
In the early 1970s’ Amicus Pictures (Owned by Milton Subotsky and Max J Rosenberg) decided to pump so life into the declining British fantasy film industry by bringing the works of Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs to the big screen. The company’s rival, Hammer, had abandoned its standard horror films for features starring half naked women in an attempt to put more bodies in the seats and the time seemed right for Burroughs strait forward action tales to fill the void.
The first of the four Burrough’s stories to be produced by Amicus would be an adaptation of the short story “The Land That Time Forgot” which was first published in Blue Book Magazine in 1918. Milton Subotsky had first penned a screenplay for the film back in the early 1960s’ but this first draft was initially rejected by the late Burrough’s estate. It was under their prodding that the script was rewritten by Jim Cawthorn and Michael Moorcock. Their dialogue heavy, light on the action script however didn’t meet Subotsky’s approval so it was reworked yet again.
The film began production at Pinewood Studios in April 1974 with a mere $750,000 budget that had been put up by American International Pictures in exchange for the American distribution rights. This extremely low budget forced the film-makers to settle for cost cutting measures in the effects department. Hand puppets were used for the films dinosaurs in many scenes where costly stop motion animation had intended to be used. The effect looks primitive when compared to modern CGI effects, but for the time period in which it was created the effects in The Land That Time Forgot faired well against most rival productions.
In the early 1970s’ Amicus Pictures (Owned by Milton Subotsky and Max J Rosenberg) decided to pump so life into the declining British fantasy film industry by bringing the works of Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs to the big screen. The company’s rival, Hammer, had abandoned its standard horror films for features starring half naked women in an attempt to put more bodies in the seats and the time seemed right for Burroughs strait forward action tales to fill the void.
Written By: Ken Hulsey Sources: Paul Bales / Avery Guerra
You can say what you will about some of The Asylum's other films, like "Transmorphers" and "Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus", but their remake of the 1974 Amicus film, "The Land That Time Forgot" looks pretty damn awesome.
The film, which stars, and is directed by, C. Thomas Howell, is a modern take on the original film, which is based on Edgar Rice Burrough's 1918 short story.
Here is my synopsis of the original "The Land That Time Forgot":
The films plot is a strait forward Burroughs adventure story. The survivors of a torpedoed allied cargo ship turn the tables on their attackers and seize control of their U-boat. The Germans manage to damage the ships compass and instead of steaming to a neutral port the group finds itself of the coast of the legendary island Caprona where time has stood still since prehistoric times. Forced to venture ashore in search of food, supplies and fuel the crew encounters a bevy of dinosaurs that intend on making sure no one escapes alive. As in all good adventure stories of this type just about everything and everyone the group encounters is set on doing them mortal harm and danger lies behind every turn. The groups focus is a simple a straight forward one. Keep from being eaten and figure out a way to get off the island before it consumed in a river of molten rock.
The CGI dinosaurs in this one look pretty good and the bits that we get to see in the trailer have me kinda stoked to see what the entire film has in store for us.
I really liked the fact that they included the German U-Boat from the original film in this remake. I was actually very pleasantly surprised when I saw it in the trailer.
Paul Bales of The Asylum was cool enough to supply us with the first images of the dinosaurs from "The Land That Time Forgot", plus the films trailer:
Written By: Ken Hulsey Sources: Paul Bales (The Asylum) / Avery Guerra
When it was announced that C. Thomas Howell was going to remake "The Land That Time Forgot" for The Asylum, fans around the globe perked up. The original film has always remained a cult classic, and just about everyone had two questions in mind, one, would the film follow the same storyline from the original film, and two, what would the dinosaurs look like? After all, the dinos are the 'real' stars of a movie like this.
Well, the fine folks over at The Asylum just sent us the first VFX shot from "The Land That Time Forgot" and surprise, it has a dinosaur in it. It will now be up to the fans to decide if CGI makes for more realistic dinosaurs than hand-held puppets, which were used in the original 1974, Amicus film.
Written By: Ken Hulsey Sources: The Asylum / Avery Guerra
I can remember way back in 1974 when the first commercials for "The Land That Time Forgot" aired on television. (That shows you how old I am...) I vividly recall the images of the dinosaurs and the exploding volcano. I also remember thinking how 'real' the dinosaurs looked. Yeh, they were only hand puppets, come to find out, but you have to remember that for the 70s, it was pretty good looking effects wise. They didn't have 'high-fangled' computer graphics back then boys and girls.
Anyway, I remember the film fondly and so do a lot of people who grew up in my generation.
It should come as no surprise that when I learned that C. Thomas Howell, and The Asylum, were remaking the film, my eyes and ears perked up.
Well the remake of "The Land That Time Forgot" is in full production as we speak, and a lot of people are eager to see what kind of film it's going to be. Will it follow the story from the original film, or will it be a new interpretation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs story that was first published in 1918?
Very little on that subject has been released as of yet, but The Asylum has just released the DVD cover art for the movie.
Kinda looks like the poster for "Land of the Lost". The tag-line kinda sounds like it too.
Let's wait and see, before we pass any judgements on this one!
Written By: Ken Hulsey Sources: The Asylum / Avery Guerra
The fine folks over at The Asylum just sent over a few photos from the first week of shooting their remake of the 1974 Amicus dinosaur epic, "The Land That Time Forgot."
C. Thomas Howell is both directing, and staring in "The Land That Time Forgot", alongside Christopher Showerman and Timothy Bottoms. The script for the film was reportedly written by Darren Dalton, who also wrote "The Day the Earth Stopped" for The Asylum.
No photos of any of the dinosaurs yet, but we have been promised images of those as soon as they become available!
It's hard to tell much from these early images, but so far it looks promising.
I'm honestly surprised that it has taken this long for someone to remake the 1975 Amicus classic, "The Land That Time Forgot." Well, it seems the The Asylum is ready begin production on just such a remake as early as next week. In typical style for the studio, which has made a name for itself copying other peoples movies, the info on this one has been under tight wraps for some time. Some information, however, has been leaked onto the net through various sources.
C. Thomas Howell will be both directing, and staring in "The Land That Time Forgot", alongside Christopher Showerman and Timothy Bottoms. The script for the film was reportedly written by Darren Dalton, who also wrote "The Day the Earth Stopped" for The Asylum.
It is unknown what, if any, changes Dalton has in mind for the story, which was originally written by Edgar Rice Burroughs for Blue Book Magazine in 1918.
The Asylum opted to remake "The Land That Time Forgot" instead of trying to produce one of their typical 'knock-offs' based on the upcoming movie "Land of the Lost."
It should be noted that Amicus ran into some trouble in developing the original "The Land That Time Forgot" film. The first script was initially rejected by the late Burroughs’s estate resulting in two rewrites.
Here is the synopsis from the 1975 film, "The Land That Time Forgot":
The survivors of a torpedoed allied cargo ship turn the tables on their attackers and seize control of their U-boat. The Germans manage to damage the ships compass and instead of steaming to a neutral port the group finds itself of the coast of the legendary island Caprona where time has stood still since prehistoric times. Forced to venture ashore in search of food, supplies and fuel the crew encounters a bevy of dinosaurs that intend on making sure no one escapes alive. As in all good adventure stories of this type just about everything and everyone the group encounters is set on doing them mortal harm and danger lies behind every turn. The groups focus is a simple a straight forward one. Keep from being eaten and figure out a way to get off the island before it consumed in a river of molten rock.
