Second Childhood

By JAY COCKS

THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT

Directed by KEVIN CONNOR Screenplay by JAMES CAWTHORN and MICHAEL MOORCOCK

At least one wow, a couple of gee whizzes, several neats and a little derisive laughter for The Land That Time Forgot, the best Saturday matinee movie in much too long. It is an elaborate fantasy adventure with no bearing in reality whatsoever. The movie boasts a blond American hero with a jaw like a hammock (Doug McClure), a blonde British heroine (Susan Penhaligon) and a whole bunch of soldiers, most of whom are nice guys. This happy crew gets mixed up with U-boats, torpedoings, fistfights, a mutiny, icebergs, lost civilizations, dinosaurs, pterodactyls, swamps, jungle, quicksand, strange-looking creatures who are in the process of evolving into Man As We Now Know Him, a mysterious river, a note in a bottle, and no love stuff. Instant second childhood is guaranteed in less than 90 minutes.

The movie is based on a novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, who really knew how to heap on the plot. Burroughs may not have been much of a stylist, but any writer who can bring submarines and Brontosauri together deserves respect. Just for the record, Bowen Tyler (McClure) and Lisa Clayton (Penhaligon) are passengers on a ship that is torpedoed by Captain von Schoenvorts (John McEnery). Along with a few surviving British officers, Tyler takes over the German submarine (don't ask how; luck has something to do with it), which gets lost somewhere around South America. Water and supplies are necessary -- this is 1916, and subs are not capable of stay ing under for months. Bowen, searching for this sustenance, pilots the ship through a hole in an iceberg. No one can believe what is on the other side.

This is exactly the point, of course. Movies like The Land That Time Forgot are made in proud defiance of rationality, but require both technical facility and a little wit. Director Kevin Connor and his collaborators have all these qualities, and apply them with high spirits.

Apparently they never quite grew up, either.

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