Lost Races in the Cinema
Comprehensive list of "lost race"-themed films by Jessica Amanda Salmonson.
"KING KONG. 1933. Based on the novel by Edgar Wallace. Producer/director Merian C. Cooper wisely got stop-motional animator Willis O'Brien to help out, resulting in a classic that is still a powerhouse of a film after all these years. When we first meet Kong we also meet a tribal people in the Indian Ocean "way west of Sumatra" who worship Kong on Skull Island. As one of the characters states, the architecture of this island is "built so long ago that the people who live there have slipped back, forgotten the higher civilization that built it" -- so they are no mere oceanic tribe, but a degraded remnant of a Lost Race. Only a few of the many sequels & imitations retain the lost race element even in passing, but some few do. The original sequel Son of Kong (1933) for example does take place on Skull Island but the lost race that lived there among the prehistoric beasts seems to have moved away."
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"KING KONG. 1933. Based on the novel by Edgar Wallace. Producer/director Merian C. Cooper wisely got stop-motional animator Willis O'Brien to help out, resulting in a classic that is still a powerhouse of a film after all these years. When we first meet Kong we also meet a tribal people in the Indian Ocean "way west of Sumatra" who worship Kong on Skull Island. As one of the characters states, the architecture of this island is "built so long ago that the people who live there have slipped back, forgotten the higher civilization that built it" -- so they are no mere oceanic tribe, but a degraded remnant of a Lost Race. Only a few of the many sequels & imitations retain the lost race element even in passing, but some few do. The original sequel Son of Kong (1933) for example does take place on Skull Island but the lost race that lived there among the prehistoric beasts seems to have moved away."
More...
posted by John Michlig at 5:33 AM
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