Hammer Films were at the peak of their success in 1968, having hit a box-office stride with their reworkings of the horror classics beginning a decade earlier with The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula/The Horror of Dracula (1958). The only other of Dennis Wheatley’s works on screen has been The Haunted Airman (2006), a BBC adaptation of The Haunting of Toby Jugg (1948). However, Wheatley deplored the abandoning of most of his book and refused to allow Hammer to continue with any other planned adaptations. However, the only other Wheatley work they adapted was the Satanism film To the Devil a Daughter (1976).

Hammer released The Devil Rides Out and The Lost Continent a week apart in the UK, clearly in the anticipation of sparking a boom of interest in Wheatley adaptations. Wheatley’s most famous work was The Devil Rides Out (1935), which Hammer Films brought up and adapted to the screen with The Devil Rides Out (1968) and remains one of their best films. These latter include Uncharted Seas (1938), the book from which The Lost Continent is adapted.

Less known are Wheatley’s historical adventure stories, spy stories and occasional ventures into the lost world theme. They also realise that the area is surrounded by ships from all time periods that are lorded over by the descendants of Conquistadors who maintain the Church’s iron control with the help of an Inquisition.ĭennis Wheatley (1897-1977) was a prolific writer and produced a number of books on the subject of Satanism, black magic and the occult. They find they are now in an area of the Sargasso Sea, surrounded by a living mass of seaweed that impedes their progress and is home to monstrous creatures.

Lansen orders them to abandon ship, although they are able to reboard after the hurricane quells. They head into the hurricane, at the same time having to deal with a mutinous crew, a fraying generator and a rupture in the hull that is flooding the compartment containing the explosives.

Moreover, he learns that the ship is also hauling a cargo of the explosive Phosphor-4, which is highly combustible when brought into contact with water. The first officer Hemmings is concerned when Lansen tears up notice of a hurricane warning and orders them to continue into its path rather than return to port. The freighter Corita sets forth bound for Caracas under Captain Lansen with a small handful of passengers aboard.

The lost continent movie