The People That Time Forgot (1977)

I don't think this movie is a war movie, but I read the book and watched the movie to do this review for my brother and I've decided to drop it here also.     

          With the success of “The Land That Time Forgot” (1975), Amicus Productions went on to its sequel.  It was the last move the British production company ever made.  The film brought back Land’s director Kevin Connor, but only Doug McClure from the original cast.  McClure made “At the Earth’s Core” in between.  “People”  features the same cheesy effects and simplification of the Edgar Rice Burrough’s plot as “Land”.. 

               The movie picks up where “Land’ left off with Bowen having stayed with Lisa on the island of Caprona.  A Major Ben McBride (Patrick Wayne, his father not being available) has outfitted an expedition to find his friend.  He has included the feisty photographer Lady Charlotte Cunnigham (Sarah Douglas, before appearing in “Superman” and “Superman II”).  She’s a feminist and he isn’t.  They fly off into the interior with a paleontologist named Norfolk (Thorley Walters) and a gunner/mechanic named Hogan (Shane Rimmer).  In a shocking example of effects critics be damned, a pterodactyl reappears in the sequel.  In a hilarious scene, the plane dogfights with the beast.  This results in the plane going down and in need of repairs.  While Hogan fixes it, the trio sets out to look for Bowen.  In one of the great entrances in B-movie history, they encounter Ajor (pop singer Dana Gillespie) and her cleavage as she escapes from a T Rex.  At this point, male viewers will forget Lady Charlotte is still in the film.  Ajor knows Bowen (who conveniently taught her English) and guides them to where he is being held captive.  The place is the Mountain of Skulls (it’s only a model) where the requisite sacrifice-consuming volcano is located.  Along the way, they will encounter dinosaurs, Samurai warriors, and a Jaba the Hut type villain.  The rescue of Bowen features a slapstick sword fight marked by Norfolk doing one of those circling the sword blade to make your opponent dizzy moves.  They are chased by the samurai through a landscape belching flame.  It looks like Tim the Enchanter showing off.

               “The People That Time Forgot” is a camp classic.  Some parts and effects are so ridiculous, they must have been kidding, right?  It is proudly low budget.  The makeup department was short-changed, although there was enough mist to keep Gillespie’s cleavage sweaty and whoever designed her costume deserves kudos.  (Special recognition to Patrick Wayne for keeping his eyes on Ajor’s face.)  She is the main reason for watching the movie, if you are male.  The costumes for the Narga warriors were apparently left over from a Kurosawa film.  If so, that was the only connection to him.  The effects are laughable, but the actors manage to keep a straight face.  Unfortunately, the biggest weakness of the film is the lack of dinosaurs.  This movie needed more pterodactyls!  The ensemble is fine and gets juiced when McClure appears towards the end.  Surprisingly, the movie stays firmly in the action genre as it eschews the expected romance angle.  The verbal sparring between Lady Charlotte and the male chauvinist McBride is kind of fun.  She is not offended that he is more interested in a cave woman than her.  “A genuine cave girl – she’ll suit you perfectly.”   I’ll leave it to ERB fans to argue that the movie influenced “Princess Bride” (rodents of unusual size and the Fire Swamp) and “Empire Strikes Back” (the dungeon Billings and Bowen are thrown in).  Probably a coincidence. 

               How close does it parallel the book?  Not much.  Burroughs starts the novel with Tyler’s manuscript which he tossed in the ocean at the end of the first novel.  His friend named Billings organizes an expedition to rescue him.  Billings flies alone into the interior and crashes due to a pterodactyl attack.  He meets the beautiful and scantily clad Ajor.  She does not speak English.  In their quest to find Bowen, they encounter more animals (not dinosaurs) and various tribes.  The movie does not bother with ERB’s imaginative rendering of a continent that is marked by geographical evolution.  The deeper into the continent, the more evolved the tribes Billings and Ajor encounter are.  And each is noted for its weapon of choice (e.g., club-men, hatchet-men, spearmen).  It’s all typical ERB pulp science fiction nonsense, but fun stuff.  In John Carter, he located his mockery of science on another planet.  In this case, this evolution that would make Darwin chuckle is on an island on Earth!  The movie does not even allude to Ajor being a special being who can have children!  That’s significant because virtually all inhabitants are adults.  This is mainly an excuse to get Billings and Ajor into several rescue situations.  And encounters with fiendish villains and heroic allies.

               I like to watch a movie before reading the book it is based on.  That’s what I did this time, anticipating that the book would flesh out the story by providing additional details.  In this case, that did not really happen because about the only thing the two have in common is the title and the locale.  Oh, and Ajor.  The movie is worth the watch just for the fun of it, but don’t use it to write your book report. 

GRADE  =  C