Atlantis, the Lost Continent
Expense was clearly spared in every department of George Pal’s mystifyingly cheesy follow up to his 1960 hit The Time Machine. Pal had wanted to film Gerald Hargreaves’ fantasy play for years, but MGM only greenlit the project because of the international success of the Italian Hercules movies, and insisted on keeping the budget down. A sequence with Da Vinci-like flying machines was cut because there was no money to properly finish it. Paul Frees narrates the trailer and the movie as well as dubbing two of the supporting roles.
About John Landis
John Landis is the director of Animal House, The Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf In London, Trading Places, Coming To America, Kentucky Fried Movie, Spies Like Us, Three Amigos!, Into The Night and Michael Jackson’s Thriller, and the recent Burke and Hare for Ealing Studios, among many other films and television shows. His documentary Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project premiered on HBO and won an Emmy for Best Music, Comedy or Variety Special. He is also the subject of noted film critic Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan’s recent book “John Landis” and his own book “Monsters in the Movies’ was published to critical and popular acclaim in 2012.