The Lost City (Super Serial Productions, 1935).Lobby Card (11" X 14") Episode 10 -- "The Lion Pit."
Full film: youtu.be/xP9oPMLnZ0o
archive.org/details/lost_city1
A scientist (Kane Richmond) tries to figure out what is causing a rash of unexplained natural disasters around the globe and deduces that the epicenter of the incidents is coming from the unexplored jungles of Africa. There, William "Stage" Boyd is using his high-tech "brain destroyer" to turn the natives into mindless brutes. Considered one of the more bizarre serials of the 1930s,
synopsis
The legendary so-bad-it's-good serial The Lost City manages to keep the audience on its toes for 12 full chapters. It all begins when Hero Bruce Gordon (Kane Richmond) invents a device to track the mysterious electrical disturbances which are causing turmoil all over the world. The invention leads Gordon to Central Africa, where he comes upon a gigantic "Magnetic Mountain" which shelters the lost city of Liguria. This art-deco dominion is ruled by mad scientist Zolok (played by William "Stage" Boyd with what one historian described as "alcoholic intensity"), who gleefully monitors the activities of his minions via television and who fiendish plans to create an army of zombie giants with which to rule the world. Zolok's reluctant assistant is the brilliant Dr. Manyus (Josef Swickard), who is being forced to cooperate lest harm befall his beautiful daughter Natcha (Claudia Dell). Manyus' chief claim to fame is a machine that will turn black people white -- prompting the sensitivity-challenged Gordon to exclaim "That's wonderful!" The story careens wildly from one incredible peril to the next, suggesting that the writers were making it all up as they went along. The film's most enjoyable character is renegade trader Butterfield (George "Gabby" Hayes), who goes from good guy to villain to good guy again, depending on the dictates of the script. Cheap, silly and overacted, Lost City is also a lot of good campy fun. The serial is also available in two separate feature versions, one of which is titled City of Lost Men.
THE LOST CITY (1935)Wow. Where do I even start with this one? THE LOST CITY is a completely outrageous serial that packs in more surrealistic situations and screwball characters than most comedies of that era. It's entertaining enough – I sometimes had the sensation of a bad acid flashback from the 1970s while watching it – but it sure is strange.
We start with the Earth being threatened by powerful electrical storms that are causing floods and earthquakes, with lightning bolts blowing up ships at sea and smashing apart buildings. Things look bad as stock footage rampages. But Bruce Gordon (Kane Richmond, SPY SMASHER himself) is on the job. This studly young electrical engineer is slaving over devices of his own invention, pinpointing the source of the storms on a small globe he has sitting in front of him.
Somehow, the disasters are all being caused by some force in the center of Africa. It's unexplored territory where no expedition had dared venture, but Gordon scoffs at the danger. Backed by wealthy citizens and the military, our hero sets out to save the world, dragging along his unenthusiastic assistant Jerry (Eddie Fetherstone). Their goal is the legendary Magnetic Mountain, a huge mass of iron.
As it happens, the real spanner in the works is a genuine Mad Scientist. In an hidden (and almost deserted) city of advanced design lurks the last surviving member of the race of Ligurians. This is Zolok (William "Stage" Boyd), a ranting laughing madman in a rather snappy Flash Gordon-type outfit. (Lightning bolts are a popular feature on Ligurian fashion.) Zolok is causing the disasters as part of his experiments, and if there's great loss of life and property destruction, well that's too bad. He's planning on world conquest anyway, so everyone should get used to catastrophes.
In addition to his electrical projects, Zolok is also fooling around with making brain-dead giant zombies out of the local natives. Evidently, the studio rounded up the tallest Black guys they could find and matched them with rather short men for contrast. It actually works pretty well. The scene where we watch four Giants carry struggling screaming natives down stairs and throw them in a cell is unsettling. The Giants walk with a strange lurch, too, shoulders thrown back and arms tensed out to the sides. Add some enormous bushy explosions of hair, dubbed-in panther snarls, and you've got an impressive army of henchmen. (I notice even the serial's hero has no luck slugging it out with the Giants; several times he is seized and throttled, unable to do much against them.) Sam Baker as Hugo is a particularly imposing Giant African killer zombie with a leopard shriek.
There are more complications to the situation than this. Even though he's the sole survivor of a race of geniuses, Zolok is relying on the expertise of his captive Dr Manyus for his gadgets. The doc is only co-operating to prevent harm to his daughter, who is also being held. (She is the least helpful of any serial heroine I've seen, who are usually a feisty and resourceful bunch of gals. Mostly she flutters her hands and screams.) Adding to the group dynamics are Zolok's two lieutenants. There's Appolyn, who had obviously been spending an hour a day with the barbells and wants to show the results in his little silver shorts and harness. Then we have Gorzo (William Bletcher in a five-pound wig), a hunchbacked dwarf with a deep and impressive voice that could have gotten him a good job in radio.
Still not enough characters in the cast. Going along with Bruce Gordon and Jerry are two assistant engineers, Colton and Reynolds. Add a shady trader named Butterfield (George Hayes, later "Gabby") and a broken-down beachcomber without a beach, the eyepatched Andrews. Now you've got a good assortment to be captured and have to be rescued, to betray each other or to be unexpectedly killed to show just how dangerous the situation is. Wait, add two more villains.There's an Arab slave trader Ben Ali, who thinks being able to produce enormous hulking zombies would be great for business (he contributes a desultory swordfight with Gordon). And finally, there's merciless Queen Rama (who knows where she came from, maybe one of the isolated pockets of ancient white civilization that Tarzan used to stumbled upon). She's a lustful scheming sort of sovereign, and it's too bad the actress wasn't a bit prettier, as it kind of takes away from the character's impact.
Wait, wait. One more ingredient for the stew. Zolok has for some reason transmogrified a group of natives into white-skinned dwarves, the "Spider Men" who trap victims in nets and jab at them with spears. Creepy little guys, alright. I generally dislike the use of midgets or dwarves to represent aliens or mythical beings in films, although I can see how convenient it must be for the filmmakers. The idea that Zolok can switch peoples' skin color back and forth is novel, though. Talk about a perfect secret identity for a crime-fighter or criminal mastermind!
Well, now we can settle back and watch this large assortment of oddballs interact with each other for twelve chapters. There's certainly enough going on to keep any cliffhanger fan entertained. The one area where THE LOST CITY is lacking, though, is stunts. I didn't see any spectacular dives or tackles or slugfests. (Bruce Gordon does have a cute two-inch punch that Bruce Lee would have envied; he hardly draws back his arm at all.)
And for a serial set in Africa, the expected attacks by lions, hippos, giant snakes, velociraptors and gorillas are mostly absent. But that's probably just as well as we've already seen all the available footage elsewhere.
The sets are terrific, plenty of sparking and crackling apparatus that looks like it should be doing something useful (donated by the inimitable Kenneth Strickfaden, who else?), futuristic hallways and rooms with numerous gadgets on the walls. a remote viewing television screen, a death ray that eats through metal and threatens the strapped-down Gordon almost exactly like Goldfinger's laser burning toward James Bond's crotch, that sort of thing.
I think I should mention the acting. It's way over the top. Most of the characters gesture and bluster and cower like they're in a silent film from ten years earlier, or on a stage playing to nearsighted audiences. Boyd as Zolok in particular really lays it on with a leaden hand. I've read in a few places he was known as a heavy drinker, and his performance does nothing to disprove that. In his final scene, as his world is crashing around him and he decides to blow the whole city up, Zolok seems genuinely befuddled and confused. It's oddly touching, though, as if he's in shock over how badly things have gone wrong.
The Lost City (Super Serial Productions, 1935).Lobby Card (11" X 14") Episode 10 -- "The Lion Pit."
Full film: youtu.be/xP9oPMLnZ0o
archive.org/details/lost_city1
A scientist (Kane Richmond) tries to figure out what is causing a rash of unexplained natural disasters around the globe and deduces that the epicenter of the incidents is coming from the unexplored jungles of Africa. There, William "Stage" Boyd is using his high-tech "brain destroyer" to turn the natives into mindless brutes. Considered one of the more bizarre serials of the 1930s,
synopsis
The legendary so-bad-it's-good serial The Lost City manages to keep the audience on its toes for 12 full chapters. It all begins when Hero Bruce Gordon (Kane Richmond) invents a device to track the mysterious electrical disturbances which are causing turmoil all over the world. The invention leads Gordon to Central Africa, where he comes upon a gigantic "Magnetic Mountain" which shelters the lost city of Liguria. This art-deco dominion is ruled by mad scientist Zolok (played by William "Stage" Boyd with what one historian described as "alcoholic intensity"), who gleefully monitors the activities of his minions via television and who fiendish plans to create an army of zombie giants with which to rule the world. Zolok's reluctant assistant is the brilliant Dr. Manyus (Josef Swickard), who is being forced to cooperate lest harm befall his beautiful daughter Natcha (Claudia Dell). Manyus' chief claim to fame is a machine that will turn black people white -- prompting the sensitivity-challenged Gordon to exclaim "That's wonderful!" The story careens wildly from one incredible peril to the next, suggesting that the writers were making it all up as they went along. The film's most enjoyable character is renegade trader Butterfield (George "Gabby" Hayes), who goes from good guy to villain to good guy again, depending on the dictates of the script. Cheap, silly and overacted, Lost City is also a lot of good campy fun. The serial is also available in two separate feature versions, one of which is titled City of Lost Men.
THE LOST CITY (1935)Wow. Where do I even start with this one? THE LOST CITY is a completely outrageous serial that packs in more surrealistic situations and screwball characters than most comedies of that era. It's entertaining enough – I sometimes had the sensation of a bad acid flashback from the 1970s while watching it – but it sure is strange.
We start with the Earth being threatened by powerful electrical storms that are causing floods and earthquakes, with lightning bolts blowing up ships at sea and smashing apart buildings. Things look bad as stock footage rampages. But Bruce Gordon (Kane Richmond, SPY SMASHER himself) is on the job. This studly young electrical engineer is slaving over devices of his own invention, pinpointing the source of the storms on a small globe he has sitting in front of him.
Somehow, the disasters are all being caused by some force in the center of Africa. It's unexplored territory where no expedition had dared venture, but Gordon scoffs at the danger. Backed by wealthy citizens and the military, our hero sets out to save the world, dragging along his unenthusiastic assistant Jerry (Eddie Fetherstone). Their goal is the legendary Magnetic Mountain, a huge mass of iron.
As it happens, the real spanner in the works is a genuine Mad Scientist. In an hidden (and almost deserted) city of advanced design lurks the last surviving member of the race of Ligurians. This is Zolok (William "Stage" Boyd), a ranting laughing madman in a rather snappy Flash Gordon-type outfit. (Lightning bolts are a popular feature on Ligurian fashion.) Zolok is causing the disasters as part of his experiments, and if there's great loss of life and property destruction, well that's too bad. He's planning on world conquest anyway, so everyone should get used to catastrophes.
In addition to his electrical projects, Zolok is also fooling around with making brain-dead giant zombies out of the local natives. Evidently, the studio rounded up the tallest Black guys they could find and matched them with rather short men for contrast. It actually works pretty well. The scene where we watch four Giants carry struggling screaming natives down stairs and throw them in a cell is unsettling. The Giants walk with a strange lurch, too, shoulders thrown back and arms tensed out to the sides. Add some enormous bushy explosions of hair, dubbed-in panther snarls, and you've got an impressive army of henchmen. (I notice even the serial's hero has no luck slugging it out with the Giants; several times he is seized and throttled, unable to do much against them.) Sam Baker as Hugo is a particularly imposing Giant African killer zombie with a leopard shriek.
There are more complications to the situation than this. Even though he's the sole survivor of a race of geniuses, Zolok is relying on the expertise of his captive Dr Manyus for his gadgets. The doc is only co-operating to prevent harm to his daughter, who is also being held. (She is the least helpful of any serial heroine I've seen, who are usually a feisty and resourceful bunch of gals. Mostly she flutters her hands and screams.) Adding to the group dynamics are Zolok's two lieutenants. There's Appolyn, who had obviously been spending an hour a day with the barbells and wants to show the results in his little silver shorts and harness. Then we have Gorzo (William Bletcher in a five-pound wig), a hunchbacked dwarf with a deep and impressive voice that could have gotten him a good job in radio.
Still not enough characters in the cast. Going along with Bruce Gordon and Jerry are two assistant engineers, Colton and Reynolds. Add a shady trader named Butterfield (George Hayes, later "Gabby") and a broken-down beachcomber without a beach, the eyepatched Andrews. Now you've got a good assortment to be captured and have to be rescued, to betray each other or to be unexpectedly killed to show just how dangerous the situation is. Wait, add two more villains.There's an Arab slave trader Ben Ali, who thinks being able to produce enormous hulking zombies would be great for business (he contributes a desultory swordfight with Gordon). And finally, there's merciless Queen Rama (who knows where she came from, maybe one of the isolated pockets of ancient white civilization that Tarzan used to stumbled upon). She's a lustful scheming sort of sovereign, and it's too bad the actress wasn't a bit prettier, as it kind of takes away from the character's impact.
Wait, wait. One more ingredient for the stew. Zolok has for some reason transmogrified a group of natives into white-skinned dwarves, the "Spider Men" who trap victims in nets and jab at them with spears. Creepy little guys, alright. I generally dislike the use of midgets or dwarves to represent aliens or mythical beings in films, although I can see how convenient it must be for the filmmakers. The idea that Zolok can switch peoples' skin color back and forth is novel, though. Talk about a perfect secret identity for a crime-fighter or criminal mastermind!
Well, now we can settle back and watch this large assortment of oddballs interact with each other for twelve chapters. There's certainly enough going on to keep any cliffhanger fan entertained. The one area where THE LOST CITY is lacking, though, is stunts. I didn't see any spectacular dives or tackles or slugfests. (Bruce Gordon does have a cute two-inch punch that Bruce Lee would have envied; he hardly draws back his arm at all.)
And for a serial set in Africa, the expected attacks by lions, hippos, giant snakes, velociraptors and gorillas are mostly absent. But that's probably just as well as we've already seen all the available footage elsewhere.
The sets are terrific, plenty of sparking and crackling apparatus that looks like it should be doing something useful (donated by the inimitable Kenneth Strickfaden, who else?), futuristic hallways and rooms with numerous gadgets on the walls. a remote viewing television screen, a death ray that eats through metal and threatens the strapped-down Gordon almost exactly like Goldfinger's laser burning toward James Bond's crotch, that sort of thing.
I think I should mention the acting. It's way over the top. Most of the characters gesture and bluster and cower like they're in a silent film from ten years earlier, or on a stage playing to nearsighted audiences. Boyd as Zolok in particular really lays it on with a leaden hand. I've read in a few places he was known as a heavy drinker, and his performance does nothing to disprove that. In his final scene, as his world is crashing around him and he decides to blow the whole city up, Zolok seems genuinely befuddled and confused. It's oddly touching, though, as if he's in shock over how badly things have gone wrong.