The black and white, stop motion, science fiction, action movie The Lost Continent was released in theaters August 17, 1951. It starred Cesar Romero as Major Joe Nolan in the lead role and Hugh Beaumont as Ward Cleaver Robert Philips, a minor role.
When a nuclear missile goes missing, Nolan, his crew, and a team of scientists go in search of the wayward missile. They track it down to a mysterious, uncharted island. They have to climb to the top of a mountain to reach the rocket, and the rock-climbing sequence takes up much of the movie. It became the source of critics' ire. The film could've been shortened considerably had this section been shorter and replaced with more action sequences. As one critic mentioned, you can see all the action in the trailer.
The men find the rocket in the midst of a lush tropical forest inhabited by dinosaurs. Many of the team become dinosaur food before they manage to retrieve the data from the rocket. Then, they have to climb back down the mountain and escape before the entire island blows up from a dormant volcano which has begun to erupt.
Joel and the bots skewered this one on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. I remember this being fun to watch, despite the lag in the middle. I'm reminded of Congo with Laura Linney and Ernie Hudson, where they had to escape from an erupting volcano. In both movies, they ran through an abandoned village and some had to crawl over a river of lava on a downed palm tree.
I think it's worth a watch.
