It's the fourth weekend of the month and so time for another Book-To-Movie review! In a Book-To-Movie, we review a work of prose fiction and its movie adaptation. In an earlier  Book-To-Movie we reviewed Edgar Rice Burroughs' novella "The Land That Time Forgot" and its 1974 movie adaptation from American International Pictures (AIP). The novella is the first in the Caspak Trilogy of books. The second is "The People That Time Forgot" which AIP also released a movie of. That one was not as good as the first film, not even as good as other 1970s sci fi movies, and definitely not as good as the book. Although not a bad movie, the producers made several changes to the original story particularly in the worldbuilding, the plot and characterisation. 

The Novella

Published in 1918, "The People That Time Forgot" involves Tom Billings going on a rescue mission to search for his friend, Bowen Tyler, the protagonist of the first book. Tyler is believed to be somewhere in the mysterious region of Caspak which lies within a mountain barrier in the Antarctic. It’s an oasis of a prehistoric tropical landscape, yet one that a person may not want to escape to even from the freezing temperatures of the Antarctic. It's the home of gigantic man-eating beasts and hostile native hominids. These are the challenges that Billings must face in his search for his friend and with no foreseeable return to the outer world since his plane crashes and he has limited weapons and supplies and no comrade. That is, no comrade until he befriends Ajor, a native girl from a race of humans known as Galus. Together the two survive the dangers of Caspak while searching for Tyler. 

Although the characters are shallow as with much pulp fiction of the time, the relationship between Billings and Ajor is well-developed and even goes into romance. Yet Billings is unsure about it because of the difference in race and culture. Although of the Caspakian natives, her race is the most human of them. Maybe that's why Billings shows more open mindedness and willingness to work with her people than he does the other races of hominids who he seems to be more ready to kill than reason with when confronted by them. Yet, the relationship between him and Ajor is, although caring, sexist at least in language. Billings is always referring to her as "my little barbarian" which implies both sexual and race-based ownership and so slavery of a sort. 

Probably the most clever part of the story is the worldbuilding, and so the setting, of Caspak. In this book we learn more about Caspak than in the previous one. We learn more about its geography and the hominid cultures within it, namely that the region is divided between stages of evolution. But the story itself becomes simplified in that the lower the evolutionary stage a hominid or animal is from the more adverse it is towards Billings and Ajor. We don't know for sure if the author intended this as his own biasness since he could have been simply writing according to a formula of that time as the case was with most pulp fiction authors. But it does reflect the thinking of that era’s society. Still, the action and story itself are well-written, at least as escapist entertainment.

The Movie

Released in 1977, three years after the first movie, director Kevin Connor's "The People That Time Forgot" follows the basic plot of the book but many of the events and characters are changed. The love romance between Billings, renamed in the film as Ben McBride, and Ajor is omitted. When the rescue expedition reaches the barrier to Caspak, McBride doesn't win in talking several other members out of going with him into Caspak like he does in the book. He is accompanied by Prof. Norfolk, Charly, a photojournalist who is the only female character besides Ajor, and Hogan, who serves as a comic relief character. Eventually they meet Ajor who already knows Tyler and claims that he is prisoner of a race of people called the Nagas.

The Nagas are one of the fewer races that the expedition come across than Billings does in the book. The only others are the Bandlus and the Galus, who Ajor is the only one present in the movie.The expedition gets captured by the Nagas who are actually a more advanced culture than the Kro-lus of the book who they seem to replace. They are a medieval Asiatic people, although the actors who are seen playing them are Caucasian. Most of the Nagas shown are warriors dressed in full armor very similar to that of the Samurais of Medieval Japan. Since they are the main enemy in this movie that the heroes must confront, their characterisation is barely a step away from the racism of the book in spite of the civil rights movement of the earlier part of the decade and the preceding one.

Although still noticeably present, the sexist language of the novella is toned down a little in the movie. This is in part due to Charly’s response to McBride who is initially against her coming with him on the expedition. He says that he feels a “man's job” should be performed by a man in which Charly responds to by saying “The world’s a changing place.” This is a reflection of the women’s liberation movement of the movie’s time as well as that of its early 20th century setting when women demanded voting rights. 

Other changes to the story in this movie are in the worldbuilding and ending. The Caspakian geography is much more simplified in that the region’s evolutionary divisions are omitted. The change to the story’s ending is a volcanic eruption that the heroes must escape that’s not in the book. It comes across as very formulaic as far as 1970s and earlier sci fi movies go especially since the same event occurs at the end of the previous film.

Overall, the movie was good, with some good special effects. However, as with the previous film the creature effects are mechanical as opposed to costumed or stop-go animation, and so the monsters’ movements tend to be stiff and stationary. Yet their graphics are convincing for that time. As far as camera effects go, the shots of the landscape are really good especially in the airplane scenes.

All flaws aside, "The People That Time Forgot", is a good film in its own right. It’s one of those fun 1970s escapist sci fi movies that any kid or college student would have liked seeing during that period and that nerds like myself like watching today. The movie definitely conveys the pulp fiction style of the novella, although a little too much. It could have reflected more the advancement in minority inclusiveness of the ‘70s. Fortunately, most of our movies today aren't made as culturally insensitive as back then, thanks to sensitivity readers! That is, provided they’re not too sensitive.

Once again, the newsletter is going to be late. I will try to have it out by the end of next week. I had too many things going this past week, and a couple of days I was totally wiped out due to allergies and lack of sleep. I'll keep you updated on the newsletter progress at my Facebook page . If you're not subscribed to my author newsletter, you can do so here. It's free! Be here this Wednesday for the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop! 

Have you read Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novella “The People That Time Forgot” or seen its movie adaptation?

Until next time . . .