slates inadvertently ap­ pear onscreen are mo­ mentarily frozen, allowing closer scrutiny of these mis-takes and the some­ times complex, m u lti­ layer miniature tabletop sets they worked within. This remarkable footage shatters the myth that O’Brien had animated the dinosaurs alone, pre­ serving glimpses of his previously uncredited assistants and—on the occasional frame of a slate—their names. The IMG DVD alone
offers a “Production Still & Art Gallery,” featuring the original poster, colored lobby cards, and re­ lated imagery (including an enticing cover for SCIENCE & INVENTION “IN PICTURES” for May 1925, featuring a cover story on the making of the fea­ ture), and another step-through gallery of 16 “se­ lected images” from THE ANNOTATED LOST WORLD, including the curious shots of Conan Doyle himself disguised as Challenger, which first appeared as photographic plates lending verisi­ militude to an early hardcover edition of his novel. Roy Pilot, co-editor of THE ANNOTATED LOST
WORLD, also offers a fairly engaging running com­ mentary track; he knows his material, offering many informative bon mots from the annotated novel, but Pilot frustratingly omits as much choice material as he includes. This would not be objec­ tionable if the commentary weren’t so sparse (there are numerous gaps in his talk—at one point, a full 8m pass in silence!). Clearly, Pilot’s heart and expertise lies with the background and roots of the novel rather than the film’s cinematic legacy. Pilot discusses the literary, but not the cinematic, precursors (which would include Winsor McCay’s animated short THE PET, a “Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend” cartoon that predated THE LOST WORLD’S “giant-monster-ravaging-a-metropolis” climax with visionary zeal).7 For instance, he mentions KING KONG during the London rampage climax, but fails to do so when the Apeman begins to pull Malone up on the rope ladder, an image equally evocative of O’Brien’s classic monster creation. More to the point, Pilot cites Conan Doyle’s debt to the book EXTINCT MONSTERS (1905) by Edwin Ray Lankester—indeed, Lankester was the living role model for Challenger himself—from which
44
A recently discovered reel of animation outtakes included various random frames
of stop-motion animation pioneers at work— including this shot of Willis O’Brien himself bringing life to his Trachodon.
Conan Doyle drew both the written descriptions and visual reconstructions of the prehistoric mon­ sters inhabiting his novel; but O’Brien and Delgado based their work for the film on the paintings, drawings, and sculptures of American artist Charles R. Knight, often duplicating Knight’s er­ rors as well as his strengths.8 Regrettably, Pilot doesn’t mention Conan Doyle’s magnificent 1922 “sneak preview” of the dinosaur footage to Harry Houdini and the gathering of magicians, though this material is covered thoroughly in his book. Pilot’s audio commentary would undoubtedly have benefitted from a companion expert or interviewer to prompt further insights. Also unique to the DVD is a very welcome color
reproduction of the original 20-page souvenir booklet, which is a joy to behold. Neither LUMI or IMG offers a definitive selec­
tion of extras; one wishes that at least one of the showcases might have included a print, however poor in quality, of director Glen Lambert’s two- reel satire THE LOST WHIRL (1928; 19m 39s), produced by J.R. Bray and featuring spry stop- motion dinosaurs animated by Joseph L. Roop.9 A tantalizing detail of IMG’s “Animation Outtakes” reveals a production slate associated with the Trachodon footage in which O’Brien’s name is erased, and the name “Roop” is written in its place; indeed, J.L. Roop worked on THE LOST WORLD,
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