Anthropology professor George Challenger (Claude Rains), explorer Lord John Roxton (Michael Rennie) and an assorted team of thrill seekers and experts trek through a Venezuelan rainforest that they suspect may be home to living prehistoric creatures. Before long Challenger, Lord John and company discover a valley filled with vicious dinosaurs and oversize arachnids - unfortunately, their chopper breaks down, leaving them stranded in one of the deadliest environments on Earth.
An eager scientist tests his new formula for invisibility on an escaped fugitive. When the formula works the criminal runs off to terrorize a family he believes cheated him out of a fortune years earlier.
Gene Wilder takes his most unusual role, a naive 19th-century rabbi sent from his native Poland to the fledgling Jewish community in San Francisco, in this warm-hearted comic adventure. The trusting soul is easy prey for the con men and criminals who prey on the immigrants arriving in the Philadelphia port and the rabbi, beaten but unbowed, continues his trek West solo: broke, underequipped, and hopelessly lost.
George Lucas's fascinating, almost art-house, film just took a quantum leap into the digital future. Never has the world of THX 1138 looked as bright, clear, and antiseptic as it does on this remastered version. It is equally impressive how far Lucas and the camera crew push the widescreen 2.35 aspect ratio, particularly on a film that emphasizes minimalism. For those that fault the film as being "soundless," prepare yourself for a shock.
