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The Lost Continent
The Lost Continent
	Film poster
Directed by	Michael Carreras
Written by	Michael Nash aka Michael Carreras
Based on	Uncharted Seas; by Dennis Wheatley
Produced by	Michael Carreras
Starring	Eric Porter; Hildegard Knef; Suzanna Leigh; Tony Beckley
Cinematography	Paul Beeson
Edited by	James Needs
Music by	Soundtrack ; Gerard Schurmann ; Songs; The Peddlers
Production; companies	Hammer Films; Seven Arts Productions
Distributed by	Warner-Pathé
Release dates	19 June 1968 (US); 27 July 1968 (UK);
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	Over £500,000

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 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 is 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

On board the tramp steamer Corita, Captain Lansen ignores a hurricane warning and a customs launch whose crew want to inspect his ship, as he is smuggling the explosive "Phosphor B" ('Phosphore Blanc', i.e. white phosphorus). His ship's passengers, a mix of rich and poor, also have reasons for leaving Freetown: Dr. Webster, together with his daughter Unity, for his indiscretions with patients; alcoholic conman Harry Tyler with a jacket lined with money; Eva Peters, a wife who has stolen bearer bonds to pay for the ransom on her son in Caracas, and lawyer, Ricaldi, pursuing Eva to retrieve those stolen 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, ruptures the bulkhead and power is lost. Some of the crew mutiny and take to a lifeboat. Chief Engineer Nick cannot repair the generator and Captain Lansen, fearing the ship may explode with Hurricane Wendy about to engulf them in a storm, takes the remaining crew and passengers into another lifeboat. In the ensuing chaos, Dr. Webster is devoured by an attacking shark.

The following morning, Lansen's lifeboat is adrift in a morass of sentient and carnivorous seaweed, which kills the cook. The lifeboat later bumps into the Corita again, and its passengers find the propellers of the tramp steamer fouled by the pullulating seaweed. Nevertheless, those in the lifeboat are forced to again take refuge in the doomed vessel. That night, Unity is attacked by a glowing-eyed Prehistoric octopus (an over-sized Keuppia), which kills Ricaldi when he attempts to rescue her.

Sarah, a native girl from a nearby island, then appears, walking on the morass of seaweed, prevented from sinking by air buoyancy balloons attached to her shoulders and pads attached to her feet. She is being chased by fur-clad barbarians but warns Captain Lansen of an impending attack. The crew and passengers defend the Corita, with the surviving barbarians returning to a dilapidated Spanish galleon, marooned nearby. Child leader "El Supremo", the princely descendant of Spanish conquistadors, 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 conquistadors. Whilst standing guard, on an outcrop of rock, the bartender is killed by a giant hermit crab, which in turn is attacked by a giant Paleo Scorpion. Sarah, Harry and the ship's engineer are then captured by the Spanish, taken to the galleon and brought before "El Supremo", though it becomes obvious to all that the one standing aside and clad in 'pointy-hatted' capirote Inquisitor's clothing, is "calling all the shots" (in the guise of God's Will). Captain Lansen confronts him, stating that they will not give in to his demands or ever stop attempting to get back home. Lansen then uses the explosives to destroy the galleon and rescue his crew/passengers. Inspired by Lansen's speech and attitude, "El Supremo" abandons his throne to join them, only to be stabbed by the cleric the moment he turns his back to leave. Stripped of his power, the plague-riddled priest succumbs to kneeling and prayer, while his monks succumb to frantic pipe organ-playing as the flames erupt all around them.

Lansen and his crew, along with those Spaniards who have decided to join them, head back to the Corita. The shrouded cadaver of "El Supremo", who never recovered from his stab wound, later receives a burial at sea, with Lansen reading the Rites from the Book of Common Prayer.

Principal cast

Eric Porter as Captain Lansen
Hildegard Knef as Eva Peters
Suzanna Leigh as Unity Webster
Tony Beckley as Harry Tyler
Nigel Stock as Dr Webster
Neil McCallum as First Officer Hemmings
Ben Carruthers as Ricaldi
Jimmy Hanley as Patrick, bartender
James Cossins as Nick, the chief engineer
Dana Gillespie as Sarah
Darryl Read as El Supremo
Victor Maddern as the First Mate
Reg Lye as The Helmsman
Norman Eshley as Jonathan
Michael Ripper as the Sea Lawyer
Donald Sumpter as Sparks
Alf Joint as Jason
Charles Houston as Braemer
Shivendra Sinha as Hurri Curri
Eddie Powell as The Inquisitor

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 Gerard Schürmann.^[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 an 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 opening titles have the song Lost Continent performed by The Peddlers, featured on their album Three In a Cell.

References

^ Bruce G. Hallenbeck, British Cult Cinema: Hammer Fantasy and Sci-Fi, Hemlock Books 2011 p176
^ "The Lost Continent (1968)". BFI. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016.
^ p.49 Huckvale, David Hammer Film Scores and the Musical Avant-Garde McFarland, 01/01/2008
^ Silverman, Stephen M (1988). The Fox that got away : the last days of the Zanuck dynasty at Twentieth Century-Fox. L. Stuart. p. 327. ISBN 9780818404856.