The collected stop-motion animation sequences from Sam Newfield’s 1951 feature Lost Continent. Edward Nassour was the animation supervisor on this film, and may have animated some of the sequences himself – there isn’t much information published about the making of this film. As far as I know, this is one of two stop-motion features with Edward Nassour’s involvement (the other is The Beast from Hollow Mountain, from 1956).
In Lost Continent, a group of scientists and military men voyage to a mysterious plateau in search of a lost rocket, where they discover a lost world teeming with dinosaurs. The plateau scenes are tinted green to emphasize the eerie prehistoric jungle, and perhaps to mask some seams. Lost Continent enjoys a terrific cast, including Cesar Romero, Hugh Beaumont, and Acquanetta.
The dinosaur effects in this 1951 feature are strictly tabletop animation – the stop-motion puppets are shot in front of a painted backdrop with miniature set pieces. I don’t think there’s a single rear-projection setup or matte in the picture. The arthritic inflexibility of the Triceratops in battle (3:00) makes me wonder how the dinosaur models were built. Too much sponge in the body, perhaps? On the tabletop diorama, they look like toys.
The scene of the charging Brontosaurus at 0:41 in the clip echoes the vastly superior Stegosaurus charge in King Kong, as does the hapless explorer stuck in a tree.
There’s nothing impressive about these dinosaur effects, but they’re interesting in context with Ed Nassour’s next stop-motion project, the much more ambitious The Beast from Hollow Mountain.