Professor Challenger, a celebrated biologist and anthropologist, reports to the London Zoological Society that he has discovered living specimens of supposedly extinct animals, including dinosaurs, on an expedition to the Amazon Basin and up a barely known plateau. Much to Challenger's dismay, he has attracted a few very unscientific people to join him on his second journey to the Amazon. This expedition group includes big game hunterLord John Roxton, newsman Ed Malone whose publisher advances $100,000 to pay for the expedition. The publisher's adventurous daughter, Jennifer and son David join the group at the head of the Amazon. Also, in the group is a Zoological Society bigwig, helicopter pilot Gomez and sidekick Jose Costa. First night on the plateau, a dinosaur wrecks the helicopter. As the expedition proceeds, Malone chases a primitive jungle girl through cobwebs to a giant spider. Roxton argues with the others, and jealousies over Jennifer leads to a fistfight between Malone and Roxton. They discover a diary of a previous explorer, Burton, who was lost on the plateau. Roxton is mentioned several times in the diary. Roxton reveals that he had visited the plateau years before, and claims the plateau holds a bounty of diamonds. At one point, Malone and Jennifer are separated from the others and have a near death encounter with two battling dinosaurs. Cannibals kidnap the members of the party but before they can become dinner the jungle girl leads them to a passage that leads down the plateau. Along the way, they encounter Burton, now living as a blind hermit. More obstacles: the cannibals are chasing them, spider plants, the "graveyard of the damned," and a dinosaur in a lava pit guarding the diamonds. During a volcanic eruption, they escape from the plateau carrying the egg of a Tyrannosaurus rex. The egg hatches when it is dropped by accident, and Professor Challenger decides to take the infant dinosaur back to London with them.
Featured cast
Michael Rennie as Lord John Roxton — An experienced big-game hunter who joins the expedition.
Jill St. John as Jennifer Holmes — The daughter of the owner of the Global News.
David Hedison as Ed Malone — A journalist at the Global News who volunteers to join the expedition.
In 1959 Allen purchased the rights to Doyle's novel for $100,000. He wanted to make the film with Trevor Howard and Peter Ustinov in support of Rains, as well as Victor Mature and Gilbert Roland. He hired Charles Bennett to help him adapt the book into a script and commissioned Willis O'Brien, who worked on the 1925 film, to do the models. He said he wanted to start filming on 15 October 1959. Allen eventually received financing to make the film from Buddy Adler, head of production at 20th Century Fox. Special effects for the film were rather basic and involved monitor lizards, iguanas, and crocodiles affixed with miniature horns and fins. Director Allen later stated that though he wanted stop motion models, he could only work with lizards and live creatures in accordance with the studio's budget.
Legacy
Irwin Allen utilized stock footage from this film for episodes of his various TV series, including Land of the Giants, Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. In 1966, Irwin Allen even tried to sell a TV series based on the film, as he had done with Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, but was unsuccessful. Stock footage was also used in the movie When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth.
