I picked up this film on impulse, based on 3 things: a love of the original Arthur Conan Doyle story, a fondness for Michael Rennie, and Saturday afternoon nostalgia for movies like this.
Unfortunately, my child's memory of this film does not do well by me as an adult, for watching it again is a letdown on all three points.
Irwin Allen is Irwin Allen; "brassy" and "overblown" are part of his job description. Making the exploration party bigger makes for more character conflict, but also reduces the feeling of being but a few people in an alien land. Throwing a woman into the mix, that's Hollywood -- but I don't think Doyle would ever forgive him for the poodle... Nor do I.
Allen's biggest offense, however, is against the character of Lord John Roxton, here portrayed by Michael Rennie. In the book Roxton is an upright fellow who would never let a comrade down, a man who values courage and keeping of promises. (He sets up a pre-expedition test for young Malone, to see how he would react in the face of difficulty.) He is a man of strong convictions: "There are times, young fellah, when every one of us must make a stand for human right and justice, or you never feel clean again." Rennie is a marvelous actor who does his best with the part, but Doyle's adventurer is in Allen's hands done poor service. In the book, the guide Gomez's motive for revenge is that Roxton had killed his brother, a bandit slaver. In the movie, however, Gomez wants Roxton destroyed because his brother died on a previous expedition to the plateau when Roxton failed to join the party due to a dalliance with a woman. Rather than a heroic figure who helped end slavery in the region, Roxton is characterized as a dissipate playboy. This constitutes for me an unforgivable liberty with the original work.
All of the other actors try hard, but the characters have been reduced to the thinnest of cardboard. Claude Rains is fairly effective as Professor Challenger, though he seems to be uncomfortable with some of the physical demands of the role. Others who seem uncomfortable are the iguanas who are rightfully annoyed at being forced to parade about with horns and plates glued upon them. (Or forced to fight one another -- having an iguana fight a cayman was surely not P.C. even then!) Cheesy special effects and unlikely action are all part of the parcel, and I can accept those. What I find hard to accept is such a cavalier disregard for the elements which make the story an enduring classic.
I bought this on impulse; I wish now I had just rented it. Or, better yet, just left this movie in the realm of memory where it is richer and better served.
Unfortunately, my child's memory of this film does not do well by me as an adult, for watching it again is a letdown on all three points.
Irwin Allen is Irwin Allen; "brassy" and "overblown" are part of his job description. Making the exploration party bigger makes for more character conflict, but also reduces the feeling of being but a few people in an alien land. Throwing a woman into the mix, that's Hollywood -- but I don't think Doyle would ever forgive him for the poodle... Nor do I.
Allen's biggest offense, however, is against the character of Lord John Roxton, here portrayed by Michael Rennie. In the book Roxton is an upright fellow who would never let a comrade down, a man who values courage and keeping of promises. (He sets up a pre-expedition test for young Malone, to see how he would react in the face of difficulty.) He is a man of strong convictions: "There are times, young fellah, when every one of us must make a stand for human right and justice, or you never feel clean again." Rennie is a marvelous actor who does his best with the part, but Doyle's adventurer is in Allen's hands done poor service. In the book, the guide Gomez's motive for revenge is that Roxton had killed his brother, a bandit slaver. In the movie, however, Gomez wants Roxton destroyed because his brother died on a previous expedition to the plateau when Roxton failed to join the party due to a dalliance with a woman. Rather than a heroic figure who helped end slavery in the region, Roxton is characterized as a dissipate playboy. This constitutes for me an unforgivable liberty with the original work.
All of the other actors try hard, but the characters have been reduced to the thinnest of cardboard. Claude Rains is fairly effective as Professor Challenger, though he seems to be uncomfortable with some of the physical demands of the role. Others who seem uncomfortable are the iguanas who are rightfully annoyed at being forced to parade about with horns and plates glued upon them. (Or forced to fight one another -- having an iguana fight a cayman was surely not P.C. even then!) Cheesy special effects and unlikely action are all part of the parcel, and I can accept those. What I find hard to accept is such a cavalier disregard for the elements which make the story an enduring classic.
I bought this on impulse; I wish now I had just rented it. Or, better yet, just left this movie in the realm of memory where it is richer and better served.