The People that Time Forgot ** (1977, Doug McClure, Patrick Wayne, Sarah Douglas) – Classic Movie Review 6,223

Doug McClure returns as Bowen Tyler in the 1977 British adventure fantasy film The People that Time Forgot. Patrick Wayne stars as Major Ben McBride who sets out to rescue his friend and finds a hidden prehistoric world of terrifying creatures.

Doug McClure returns as Bowen Tyler in co-writer/ director Kevin Connor’s 1977 sequel to their 1974 Amicus hit The Land that Time Forgot. It is based on the 1918 novels The People That Time Forgot and Out of Time’s Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the second and third part of his Caspak trilogy, which started with The Land That Time Forgot.

The 1977 British adventure fantasy film The People that Time Forgot is produced by Britain’s Amicus Productions and distributed in the United States by American International Pictures. 

It is a forgettable, dated-looking affair about Major Ben McBride (Patrick Wayne)’s 1919 expedition to an Antarctic mysterious island to find and rescue his friend Bowen Tyler (McClure) – unnecessarily, you might unkindly think –who vanished three years before. Naturally, or unnaturally, he finds a hidden prehistoric world of terrifying creatures.

To be fair, there are effective moments, it is attractively shot in Technicolor by Alan Hume. and there is some curiosity value in seeing singer Dana Gillespie playing cave woman Ajor.

But mostly the movie, based on the popular 1918 Edgar Rice Burroughs fantasy novels, just plods unconvincingly along, and this time the monsters and special effects are below par. A bigger budget would have helped.

Also in the cast are Sarah Douglas, Shane Rimmer, Tony Britton, Thorley Walters, John Hallam, Dave [David] Prowse as the Executioner, Milton Reid, Richard LeParmentier [Richard Parmentier], Jimmy Ray, Tony McHale and Kiran Shah.

The People that Time Forgot is directed by Kevin Connor, runs 91 minutes, is made by Amicus Productions, is released by American International Pictures (US), is written by Kevin Connor and Patrick Tilley, based on the 1918 Edgar Rice Burroughs fantasy novels The People That Time Forgot and Out of Time’s Abyss, is shot in Technicolor by Alan Hume, is produced by Samuel Z Arkoff, Max Rosenberg and John Dark, is scored by John Scott, and is designed by Maurice Carter.

Release date: 27 August 1977.

It was profitable. On a budget estimated at between $400,000 and $500,000, it earned $3 million at the box office. But sadly it was all over for Amicus Productions.

This is the last film they made before they folded. The company had already folded before the film was released so American International Pictures (AIP) took sole credit. Amicus started in 1962 with It’s Trad, Dad!

The cast

The cast are Patrick Wayne as Major Ben McBride, Doug McClure as Bowen Tyler, Sarah Douglas as Lady Charlotte ‘Charly’ Cunningham, Dana Gillespie as Ajor, Thorley Walters as Norfolk, Shane Rimmer as Hogan, Tony Britton as Captain Lawton, John Hallam as Chung-Sha, David Prowse as the Executioner, Milton Reid as Sabbala, Kiran Shah as Bolum, Richard LeParmentier as Lieutenant Whitby, Jimmy Ray as Lieutenant Graham.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6,223

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