|
Author
|
Topic: The People That Time Forgot (super 8 optical)
|
Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
|
posted September 27, 2005 11:42 AM
This was a film that I had some years ago and recently aquired a new copy of. This is one of those wonderful campy late night films and I had forgotten how much fun it could be.
This was the official sequel to "The Land That Time Forgot", a slightly better film and also available on super 8 optical sound, (Love to get a copy of that!) This film stars Patrick Wayne, Sarah Douglas and the Bussomy Dana Gillespie, (as the Cave Woman Ajur, drool drool, Yabba Dabba Doo!! ehem, excuse me!) I forget the name of the scientist who accompanies them, but he just happens to be the same man who was in the new version of "The Mummy", he played the short lived pilot who flies them over the desert in his Bi-plane!
Anyhow, these intrepid adventurers are going after Bowen, the only surviving cast member from the first film, sent on the expedition by Bowens parents. They arrive by ship and take of in an amphib, (which is what I think it's called, okay, large Bi-plane)
Upon clearing the mountians, they are attacked by a Pteridactal, (close-ups are quite good, long shots are somewhat lame). They crashland, and get thier plane moved by use of an oblivious Stegasaurus. They then beginn thier journey for Bowen.
Along the way, they meet up with the scantily clad Ajur, (drool) and she agrees to take them to the Naga's, a vile bunch that have kidnapped Bowen. They encounter assorted tribes and one that tries to offer them to they're Dinosaur god. They finally meet up with the Naga's who take them captive, throwing The two men in prison and prepare to sacrifice the two women to Naglomata, they're volcano god.
It's while in prison that they find Bowen in the next cell. They free him, and thenn go about freeing the two women. They escape just as the volcano starts to erupt, which leads to one of the laughable bits of dialogue.
Ajur : Naglomata! When he speak, all die!
When they escape, sadly, Bowen dies, (in a decent death scene), and they make it back to the plane and, upon a shakey lift-off, they escape, sadly, leaving behind all they're photo's and notes!
As stated before, this is one of those adventure films that, while they are setting out to make a serious films, because of low budget special effects and slightly corny dialogue, you can't take it too seriously. We must keep in mind, however, not to judge it too badly, as for it's time, the special effect weren't too bad and, believe it or not, this film was nominated for best fantasy film of the year. Keep in mind, this was the year of STAR WARS.
Speaking of STAR WARS, here's some fun little trivia, the large fellow who attacks with the immense sword in the big fight in the Naga's palace is none other than DAVID PROWSE!! Yep, Darth Vader himself! He's in a more scantily clad outfit so you get to see that he was actually a very buff fellow! No lines though, except for a death scream.
This is a very good optical sound print. The sound is the very adequete mono with decent high's and lows. Beautiful color with excellent contrast and the standard TV level quality sharpness.
But there is another plus to this super 8 optical print that no DVD, laserdisc or videocassete can boast! This was one of those films where they had assorted aspect ratio's all in one film. There are a number of more notable films that have this curious aspect to them, (Dr. Strangelove, Brainstorm ect), and this was all but abandoned by the early 80. This optical super 8 print has them. Honestly, I don't understand why, unless it's just to emphasize certian scenes and give them more punch, but it's interesting, none the less, and gives us the director's intention instead of just a large full screen look to the picture. I would highly doubt that this would be done especially for super 8, so it must have been the aspect ratio for this particular film.
Patrick Wayne (son of John Wayne) made a good living in the 70's doing these kind of adventure films, the best known being "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger" (also 1977) and he does an adequete job of it. Dana Gillespie is great as the cave woman Ajur, (hey wouldn't you like to travel back in time with that by your side?) She was, I think, playmate of the year either in 1977 or 76. Others in the cast make it a fun romp as well.
So, to end this, it's fun film to pick up if you can, there are still good copies drifting about and you can probably find one for a good price. Yeah, you can own the double feature on DVD, but hey, we're talking film here, and, as any of my fellow forum members know, you can't beat that!!
--------------------
"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
|
posted September 27, 2005 02:28 PM
Yes, this is the full feature on optical sound super 8. It's an airline print. "The Land That Time Forgot" was also released as a full feature print for the airlines as well.
There are super 8 magnectic sound versions of these, but, from what I've seen out there, "The People That Time Forgot" was released as a 400ft. version, magnetic sound, while "The land That Time Forgot" was released, magnetic sound, as a 2x400ft. version, a good digest, or so I've heard. The most common one of this title is a 200ft. version floating about.
If anybody has the 2x400ft. digest of "The Land That Time Forgot", could you do a review of it?
--------------------
"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
