The Lost City (1935 serial)
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| The Lost City | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Harry Revier |
| Produced by | Sherman S. Krellberg |
| Written by | Zelma Carroll Geo. M. Merrick Robert Dillon Eddie Granemann Leon D'Usseau Perley Sheehan |
| Starring | William 'Stage' Boyd Kane Richmond Claudia Dell Josef Swickard |
| Cinematography | Edward Linden Roland Price |
| Editing by | Holbrook Todd |
| Distributed by | Super Serial Productions Inc. |
| Release date(s) | 6 March 1935 |
| Running time | 12 chapters (240 min) |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
The Lost City is an independently made film serial produced in 1935 directed by Harry Revier.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The film took the premise of that year's The Phantom Empire but transferred the lost civilization, motif from the west to another popular serial locale, the African jungle. Scientist Bruce Gordon comes to a secluded area in Africa after realizing that a series of electrically induced natural disasters had been detected in the area. There he finds Zolock, last of the Lemurians, in a secret complex under a mountain.
Zolock had created the natural disaters as a prelude to his attempt to take over the world, holding a brilliant scientist, Dr. Manyus, there hostage with his daughter. He had also forced Manyus to create mindless "giant" slaves out of the natives as a private army and as the serial progresses we learn Manyus also turned another tribe, the spider-worshipping Wangas, into white burley haired midgets. The heroes escape Zolock, encounter the slave trading Queen Rama, and survive many harrowing adventures before returning to the Lost City and stopping Zolok's plan.
[edit] Cast
- William 'Stage' Boyd as Zolok
- Kane Richmond as Bruce Gordon
- Claudia Dell as Natcha Manyus
- Josef Swickard as Doctor Manyus
- George 'Gabby' Hayes as Butterfield
- Billy Bletcher as Gorzo
- Eddie Fetherston as Jerry Delaney
[edit] Chapter titles
- Living Dead Men (27min 48s)
- Tunnel of Death (20min 43s)
- Dagger Rock (19min 56s)
- Doomed! (12min 36s)
- Tiger Prey (19min 34s)
- Human Beasts (18min 25s)
- Spider Man (17min 04s)
- Human Targets (17min 39s)
- Jungle Vengeance (23min 16s)
- The Lion Pit (18min 24s)
- The Death Ray (13min 38s)
- The Mad Scientist (18min 25s)
[edit] Feature Length Versions
Sherman Krellber had the serial edited into four different feature versions over time, perhaps setting a record for feature versions of a serial. The first feature consisted of the first 5 episodes of the serial and the first reel of the fourth edited together, and supplemented with footage not part of the serial itself which drew the adventure to a loose conclusion; and the second was compiled from material in the first and last four chapters of the serial, omitting the adventures with the slave traders, the spider people and Queen Rama, but ending as did the serial. Both these features were made and released in 1935 and both were also called The Lost City. The first of these was also designed so that it could be followed over successive weeks by the remaining chapters in the serial.
In the early 1940s, Krellberg then created a new feature version which incorporated material from the adventures with the slavers, spider people and jungle queen, and released this under the title City of Lost Men. Finally, in the 1970s, he took the first feature version and clumsily edited in, at the end, most of the footage from the last chapter, creating what goes beyond a continuity gap and is rather a continuity abyss, and attached the City of Lost Men title to this feature.
It is not clear whether the last feature had any theatrical exposure or went directly to television. The first City of Lost Men appears to be lost, and videos and DVDs being sold under that title are sourced from film prints of this final feature. Since it incorporates the entire first feature version entitled Lost City, that film cannot fairly be said to be lost, although no separate video issue of that version under its own titles, is known. Video/DVD offerings of The Lost City as a feature are from prints of the second feature version described.
