Harry Hoyt's The Lost World is about as thriving an adventure picture one might try to find in the silent film world of 1925. This doesn't mean that the film overall is an incredible landmark, only in part and only there on the technical side of things. But where it does succeed is taking a sense of bewilderment and danger with an unknown world- as one would find in print ala Arthur Conan Doyle's text- and transform it into something as 3-D as possible for the period. It's flaws are mostly in continuity and unnecessary plot points (or, actually, points that could make for a more compelling adventure movie, had it been longer or more focused in B-movie terms). One might wonder why there's even a love interest angle between Paula White (lovely and most-oft scared or in good-mode crying Bessie Love) and the news reporter in the midst of all of the mayhem in the jungle. Or what the deal is with that ape-man who meddles in the escape attempts- one of those classic cliffhanger moments- even as it is cheerfully campy. And given how primitive some of the production design is, it's a wonder they were able to get the actors and the models in the same shots! <br /><br />But when it does work it's classic dinosaur excitement, even when going past 80 years time. As the first stop-motion techniques used, it is extraordinary, just to see a fight between a gnarling brontosaurus and a small T-Rex-ish dinosaur, and preceding King Kong by eight years (and with many of the same crew including O'Brian especially) there's a sad quality to the dinosaurs like said brontosaurus as it wiggles all bruised and in tar at the bed of the mountain. Just seeing the stegosauroses all on the move in packs, or the first sudden image of the pterodactyl, is thrilling. It's crude and not without some jagged timing due to the nature of how silent film (when not properly restored like the DVD I watched), yet there's never a dull moment once the action starts rolling around; only Wallace Beery can add to the fun as his reaction shots as 'Challenger' are as classic as the dinos themselves. And the climax, like Kong, saves it from losing its focus once leaving the island. Only this time, as opposed to Cooper's film, we jump right away to the monster let loose in the city with a string of infamous images.<br /><br />It goes without saying that there's some irony in seeing the sequence put to music that was also used in the 'romantic' moments of Barry Lyndon. But Hoyt and company's success is like that of a new model of a hybrid-car; you're getting something you're used to, like a pot-boiler of a tale tuned with a little more class and spunk, and made fresh with stuff that's "new" and "out-there". Parts may look typical and even slow, but it's also alive in ways that many CGI action films of today (Eragon I'm looking at you) fall flat completely in comparison.