On 20 June 2020, longstanding friend Mike
Playfair brought to my attention on YouTube an apparent featurette, just 30
mins long and dating from 1967, entitled Island
of the Lost, in which a family led by the father, eccentric anthropologist Josh
MacRae, played by veteran Robin Hood actor Richard Greene, become stranded on a
mysterious, hitherto-uncharted South Pacific island inhabited by various scientifically-undiscovered
but decidedly belligerent beasts and visited by a war-like native tribe from some
neighbouring island. Not surprisingly, they spend the remainder of the movie doing their utmost to escape back to civilisation, but not only do they have the afore-mentioned foes to face, this benighted company also have a temperamental volcano and some deeply unsettling ground tremors to contend with. This is precisely what happens, of course, if you don't hire a professional tour guide when visiting some far-flung location off the beaten track - sorry, but they really should have stayed at home!
Greene's principal co-star is Luke Halpin, playing MacRae's son Stu, and still remembered today from his time as a child actor in the hugely popular dolphin-starring 1960s TV show Flipper. Also present is Jose De Vega, playing a youthful native named Tupuna, who'd been abandoned on this island by his people as a coming-of-age test of his courage to survive there alone, but after being rescued by MacRae's family when they arrive and find him close to death, he becomes their friend and helper.
Anyway: as soon as I saw the scene in this featurette that includes a flock of carnivorous ostriches with horn-like head protuberances plus a bizarre saw-like ridge running along the centre of their back reminiscent of the prehistoric pelycosaur Dimetrodon's, I knew that I'd watched it before. However, I distinctly remembered it being part of a feature-length movie, one that I'd viewed many years ago on TV (and on at least a couple of separate occasions).
Sure enough, when I investigated further, it had indeed originated as a 92-min feature – specifically an American adventure-style monster movie directed by John Florea, produced and co-written by Ivan Tors (who had also produced the afore-mentioned show Flipper), and released by Paramount Pictures in 1967. Consequently, I have no idea why the greatly-truncated 30-min featurette was subsequently produced. The full movie was entitled Island of the Lost when originally released in the UK, but has since acquired various other monikers.
Island of the Lost was shot in the Bahamas and parts of Florida, so the tropical flora and lush scenery are natural – the decidedly unnatural fauna, conversely, are another matter entirely. Imho, the creature production quality in this film is abysmal – indeed, it's so bad that it's good! For in addition to its veritable Rhodesian ridge-backed ratites noted earlier here, where else could you find a pack of so-called sabre-toothed wolves that are actually Alsatians and huskies sporting a set of false fangs? I kid you not! At least their pet sea lion is normal!
In short, don't expect to encounter any Harryhausen-level
creations in Island of the Lost, but
in a sense that adds to this movie's charm. Also, it's refreshing to see a
cryptozoology-themed flick that is not of the prehistoric survivor/lost world
genre but instead features a locality containing entirely novel, wholly
unknown, undiscovered modern-day cryptids. True, in one scene anthropologist MacRae
proclaims: "There are things on this island we all thought were completely
extinct". However, he should be made aware that a creature can't be extinct
(completely or otherwise!) if it had never existed to begin with! And there is certainly
no presence as yet in the known fossil record of anything resembling the bizarre
beasts encountered on this particular island, that's for sure! Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable, fun film, offering a nostalgic return to those family-friendly adventure movies of half a century ago now that thrilled rather than chilled the more youthful sections of its audience, and for me was an absolute pleasure to chance upon again.
Indeed, after rediscovering Island of the Lost, albeit in its truncated featurette format on YouTube, I began searching straight away for the full-length original movie on DVD. Unfortunately, I was only able to find an American Region 1 version whose front cover picture depicts a teeth-snarling green-skinned humanoid entity of terrifying demeanour that never appears anywhere in the actual movie! An American NTSC-format videocasssette version that I also spotted online has a far superior front cover illustration (and which I have used as this present Shuker In MovieLand review's opening picture), as long as we ignore the fact that its portrayed pterodactyl and rhino-horned crocodile don't appear in the movie either!
Sadly, I have been unable to track a UK-compatible version of this film, i.e. either as a Region 2 DVD or as a PAL-format VHS videocassette, always assuming, of course, that it was ever released in either format here in the UK. Consequently, I finally relented and a while ago I purchased the American DVD (notwithstanding its misleading horror-themed front cover), as I do have a multi-region DVD player that can play it. So I have since been able to watch Island of the Lost in full for the first time in many years.
The above-mentioned featurette version of Island of the Lost no longer appears to be on YouTube. Instead, however, the entire movie (albeit of somewhat inferior visual quality) is presently available there for free viewing. So if you've never seen sabre-toothed versions of Man's best friend, not to mention Dimetrodontian ostriches, now's your chance to make up for lost time – just click here and all will be revealed!
And to view a complete listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE!
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