Dinosaurs! Silent film classic 'The Lost World' at Leavitt Theatre on Wednesday, July 16
Ground-breaking thriller, first to bring prehistoric creatures to the big screen, to be shown with live music; based on Arthur Conan Doyle story
OGUNQUIT, Maine—Before there was 'Jurassic Park' or 'Godzilla' or even 'King Kong,' there was 'The Lost World.'
The movie, a blockbuster hit when released in 1925, paved the way for Hollywood's enduring fascination with stories pitting mankind against dinosaurs and other larger-than-life creatures.
See for yourself when a restored version of 'The Lost World' is screened on Wednesday, July 16 at 7 p.m. at the Leavitt Theatre, 259 Main St., Route 1 in Ogunquit, Maine.
The screening will feature live accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based composer who specializes in creating scores for silent films.
Tickets are $15 general admission and available at the door.
The Leavitt is celebrating its 100th anniversary, having served the community continuously since 1925. To honor this long record, the venue has planned a season of vintage silent movie classics from 1925 with live music.
The series gives area film fans a chance to see movies from the pioneering days of cinema as they were intended to be shown—on the big screen, with an audience, and accompanied by live music.
'The Lost World' is a silent fantasy adventure film based on Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 novel of the same name. The movie was produced by First National Pictures, a precursor to Warner Brothers, and stars Wallace Beery in the lead role as Professor Challenger.
'The Lost World' tells the tale of a British exploration team that journeys to South America to confirm reports of long-extinct creatures still roaming a remote high plateau deep in the jungle.
The landscape they discover, filled with a wide range of dinosaurs and other fantastic creatures, was enough to astonish movie-goers when 'The Lost World' first hit movie screens in February 1925. Scenes of a brontosaurus on the loose in central London broke new ground in terms of cinema's visual story-telling possibilities.
Early viewers of the film were especially impressed by special effects breakthroughs that allowed live actors to appear simultaneously on-screen with stop motion models of prehistoric creatures. This led to rumors that the filmmakers had actually discovered living prehistoric creatures.
The film featured pioneering stop motion special effects by Willis O'Brien, who would go on to create the effects used to bring 'King Kong' to the screen in 1933.
Arthur Conan Doyle's novel and the movie version of 'The Lost World' proved so influential in the dinosaur genre that the title was borrowed by author Michael Crichton for his 1995 novel, and then used by director Steven Spielberg for 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park' (1997), the sequel to the original 'Jurassic Park' movie of 1993.
In 1998, the original 'The Lost World' (1925) was deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Despite the film's popularity, only incomplete copies of 'The Lost World' survived from its initial run in the silent era. In recent years, historians have been piecing together 'The Lost World' from fragments found scattered among the world's film archives.
The version to be shown at the Leavitt includes footage from eight different prints. At 93 minutes in length, it's the most complete version of 'The Lost World' available. The edition includes rare footage of Arthur Conan Doyle that has been missing from most prints since the film's original release.
To accompany the film, Rapsis will use a digital synthesizer to recreate the texture of a full orchestra. For each film, the score is created live in real time as the movie is screened.
Rather than focus on authentic music of the period, Rapsis creates new music for silent films that draws from movie scoring techniques that today's audiences expect from the cinema.
Following 'The Lost World' (1925) on Wednesday, July 16 at 7 p.m., other programs in this year's Leavitt silent film series include:
• Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025, 7 p.m.: "The Freshman" (1925) starring Harold Lloyd. Welcome football season with Harold Lloyd's blockbuster silent-era hit about a college boy who dreams of success on the gridiron. One of Lloyd's all-time best!
• Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, 7 p.m.: "Risky Business" (1925) starring Vera Ralston, Zazu Pitts. No, not the 1986 film starring Tom Cruise. In this silent-era 'Risky Business,' Zasu Pitts stars with Vera Ralston in a tale of a society girl's love for a country doctor in a film that is by turns harrowing, hilarious, and heart-warming.
• Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, 7 p.m.: "Phantom of the Opera" (1925). Long before Andrew Lloyd Webber created the hit stage musical, this silent film adaptation starring Lon Chaney helped place 'Phantom' firmly in the pantheon of both horror and romance. See it if you dare!
The restored 'The Lost World' will be shown with live music on Wednesday, July 16 at 7 p.m. at the Leavitt Theatre, 259 Main St. Route 1, Ogunquit, Maine; (207) 646-3123; admission is $15 per person, general seating.
For more information, visit www.leavittheatre.com. For more info on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.
Also check out other Entertainment events in Ogunquit, Music events in Ogunquit, Arts events in Ogunquit.
