The Lost Continent (1968 film)

The Lost Continent is a 1968 adventure film made by Hammer Films and Seven Arts featuring Eric Porter, Hildegard Knef, Suzanna Leigh, Tony Beckley, and James Cossins. The film was produced, directed and written by Michael Carreras based on Dennis Wheatley's novel Uncharted Seas (1938).[2]

The Lost Continent
Film poster
Directed byMichael Carreras
Produced byMichael Carreras
Written byMichael Nash aka Michael Carreras
Based onUncharted Seas
by Dennis Wheatley
StarringEric Porter
Hildegard Knef
Suzanna Leigh
Tony Beckley
Music bySoundtrack
Gerard Schurmann
Songs
The Peddlers
CinematographyPaul Beeson
Edited byJames Needs
Production
company
Distributed byWarner-Pathé (UK)
20th Century Fox (US)
Release date
  • 19 June 1968 (1968-06-19) (US)
  • 27 July 1968 (1968-07-27) (UK)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
BudgetOver £500,000[1]

The film sees the crew and passengers of the dilapidated tramp steamer Corita heading from Freetown to Caracas. While the passengers all have their own reasons for getting out of Africa, the captain of the ship is also eager to leave, as he is smuggling a dangerous explosive cargo. Whilst en route to South America the ship is holed and eventually what's left of the crew and passengers find themselves marooned in a mist-enshrouded Sargasso Sea surrounded by killer seaweed, murderous crustaceans and previously marooned descendants of Spanish Conquistadores and pirates.

Plot

Captain Lansen (Eric Porter) reads the last burial rites over a sailcloth wrapped body watched mournfully by a motley crew of seamen, pirates, Spanish ladies, armoured conquistadors and priests. As the shrouded cadaver is ditched overboard the captain asks "What happened to us? How did we all get here...?".

... On board the tramp steamer Corita, Captain Lansen first ignores a hurricane warning then ignores a customs launch wanting to inspect his ship, as he is smuggling the explosive Phosphor B ('Phosphore Blanc', i.e. white phosphorus) (which is explosive on contact with moisture/water). His ship's passengers, a mix of the rich and poor, also have various insalubrious reasons for leaving Freetown: Dr. Webster (Nigel Stock) and his daughter Unity (Suzanna Leigh) for his indiscretions with patients; an alcoholic conman Harry Tyler (Tony Beckley) with a jacket lined in cash; and Eva Peters (Hildegard Knef), a trophy wife who has stolen bearer bonds to pay for the ransom on her son in Caracas, with lawyer, Ricaldi (Ben Carruthers), after her to retrieve said pilfered bonds.

An accident nearly sets off the explosives and the authority of the captain comes to a head when an anchor chain slips a gear and ruptures the bulkhead and power is lost. Some of the crew mutiny and take to a lifeboat. Chief Engineer Nick (James Cossins) cannot fix the generator and Capt. Lansen, fearing the ship may explode with Hurricane Wendy about to engulf them in a storm, takes the remaining crew and passengers into a lifeboat. In the ensuing chaos, Dr Webster is soon devoured by an attacking shark.

The next morning the lifeboat finds itself adrift in a morrass of large sentient carnivorous seaweed, which kills the cook. The lifeboat later bumps into the Corita again and they find the propellers fouled with the pullulate seaweed but are nevertheless forced to take refuge in the doomed vessel once more. During the night, Unity is attacked by a huge glowing-eyed octopus, which kills Ricaldi when he attempts to rescue her.

Sarah (Dana Gillespie) appears walking on the morrass of weed, using buoyancy balloons attached to her shoulders and odd pads attached to her feet, being chased by a bunch of fur-clad barbarians. She warns the captain of an impending attack. The crew and passengers defend the ship, with the surviving attackers returning to a dilapidated large wooden Spanish galleon marooned nearby. Child leader "El Supremo" (Darryl Read), the princely descendant of the Spanish Conquistadores, along with members of the Spanish Inquisition had ordered the attack to steal their supplies.

Sarah attempts to return to her island but is tracked down by the Spanish conquistadors. Whilst settling down for a rest, on an outcrop of rock, the bartender is killed by a giant hermit crab, who's in turn attacked by a giant scorpion. Sarah, the ship's engineer, and Tyler are then captured by the Spanish, taken to the galleon and brought before "El Supremo", though it's soon obvious to all that the one stood beside clad in ominous 'pointy-hatted' capirote Inquisitor garb is calling all the shots (in the guise of God's will.) Capt. Lansen confronts him, states they'll not give in to his demands nor ever stop attempting to get back home; then uses the explosives to destroy the galleon and rescue his crew/passengers. Though, not before, inspired by Capt. Lansen's speach and attitude, the young kid abandons his throne to join them, only to get stabbed by the traitorous cleric the moment he turns his back to leave. Stripped of his power, the plague riddled priest succumbs to kneeling and prayer, his monks to frantic pipe organ playing, as the hell of flames erupt all around them creeping ever closer to the sounds of liturgical hymns and chaos.

Capt. Lansen and his crew, along with those Spaniards who have decided to join him, head back to the Corita and we return to the start of the film ... with the burial at sea now revealed to be the funeral of young child "El Supremo", who never recovered from his wound/stabbing. His previous sad death in Eva's arms reminding her of her own son's perilous predicament and uncertain fate - if they ever find their way home...?

Principal cast

Crew
  • Directed by Michael Carreras
  • Produced by Michael Carreras
  • Music by Gerard Schürmann and title song by The Peddlers
  • Special effects by Robert A Mattey

Production

A 175,000 gallon tank was constructed at Elstree Studios to shoot the sea scenes. The credits list Michael Nash — a pseudonym for Michael Carreras — as the screenwriter.

The production began under the direction of Leslie Norman, but he was soon replaced by Carreras. Hammer's musical director Philip Martell rejected the original film score by Benjamin Frankel and commissioned a new one from Gerald Schumann.[3]

This film was one of several Hammer movies that featured unusual characters and prehistoric creatures, following the tradition of One Million Years B.C.. It was rated X when first released.

Reception

According to Fox records the film required $2,025,000 in rentals to break even and by 11 December 1970 had made $1,100,000 so made a loss to the studio.[4]

Soundtrack

The film titles has the song Lost Continent performed by The Peddlers played over them.

See also

References
  1. Bruce G. Hallenbeck, British Cult Cinema: Hammer Fantasy and Sci-Fi, Hemlock Books 2011 p176
  2. "The Lost Continent (1968)". BFI.
  3. p.49 Huckvale, David Hammer Film Scores and the Musical Avant-Garde McFarland, 01/01/2008
  4. Silverman, Stephen M (1988). The Fox that got away : the last days of the Zanuck dynasty at Twentieth Century-Fox. L. Stuart. p. 327.
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