Finding Willis O’Brien’s Lost World with Nicolas Ciccone

Byrd and Matt are joined by silent film historian and film restorationist Nicolas Ciccone to discuss Willis O'Brien and Harry O. Hoyt's 1925 game-changer The Lost World. Nicolas had the experience of reconstructing the film with newly discovered footage for Lobster Films' upcoming blu-ray release (in addition to providing the audio commentary). This pre-King Kong dino-on-the-loose classic is the very first giant monster run amok film and the true great grandfather of the entire giant monster/kaiju genre. We discuss the making of the film, the differences between the original Arthur Conan Doyle novel and the film, the early career of Willis O'Brien, Obie's falling out with Herbert Dawley on The Ghost of Slumber Mountain, the casual racism in the film, the brand new extended cut, lost footage, the new restoration and more! Much of this film has been lost over the years, only available in truncated versions pieced together from various elements, and the upcoming blu-ray will be the most complete version seen since the 1920's. Flicker Alley will be unleashing Lobster Films restoration on 9/19/2017 with a brand new 2k transfer!