''The Ghost of Slumber Mountain'' is a 1918 film written and directed by special effects pioneer Willis O'Brien, produced by Herbert M. Dawley, and starring both men. It is the first film to show live actors and

stop-motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames ...

creatures together on the screen and is often cited as a trial run for '' The Lost World''. An advertising tagline for the film read "These giant monsters of the past are seen to breathe, to live again, to move and battle as they did at the dawn of life!". The film attracted the interest of Watterson R. Rothacker, founder of the Industrial Motion Picture Company, who was so impressed by the film's special effects, he joined forces with O'Brien to create the dinosaurs of ''The Lost World'' (1925), a classic that advanced the development of special effects techniques. ''The Ghost of Slumber Mountain'' originally took up 3000 feet of film and three reels, equivalent to approximately 40 minutes. However, after the film premiered at the Strand Theater, manager Walter Hayes ordered Dawley to cut the film down to about one reel because it was too long. At one point, the film was cut down to 12 minutes by the producer, and for years this shortened version was the only one thought to exist, but it was eventually restored back to 19 minutes.Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 199. . The rest of the footage is presumed to be

lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography * Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland *Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

. The film is available as a supplementary material item on the 2017 ''The Lost World'' Blu-ray disc from Flicker Alley. The supplementary material includes ''The Ghost of Slumber Mountain'' in a new 2K HD restoration by the "Dinosaur Museum", although one source lists the film's running time at less than 14 minutes. The film as presented on the Flicker Alley Blu-ray runs thirteen minutes after the opening restoration credits are finished. Researcher Christopher Workman wrote "It has been suggested that the missing footage was deemed too homosexual in subtext, an idea borne out by a scene that did get restored....(in which) Jack tries to persuade Joe to remove his clothes and pose as a faun, but Joe refuses... because there are too many mosquitoes around." (Oddly, the actor who played Joe in the film is unknown.)

Barnum Brown Barnum Brown (February 12, 1873 – February 5, 1963), commonly referred to as Mr. Bones, was an American paleontologist. Named after the circus showman P. T. Barnum, he discovered the first documented remains of '' Tyrannosaurus'' during a career ...

, the renowned dinosaur hunter who discovered

Tyrannosaurus rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...

, was a technical advisor on the film. O'Brien based the dinosaur models used in the film on the paintings of

paleoart Paleoart (also spelled palaeoart, paleo-art, or paleo art) is any original artistic work that attempts to depict prehistoric life according to scientific evidence. Works of paleoart may be representations of fossil remains or imagined depiction ...

ist

Charles R. Knight Charles Robert Knight (October 21, 1874 – April 15, 1953) was an American wildlife and paleoartist best known for his detailed paintings of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. His works have been reproduced in many books and are currently ...

.Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 200. . Producer Dawley had hired O'Brien to write, direct, co-star and produce the effects for ''Slumber Mountain'', for a budget of $3,000. The collaboration was not a happy one, and Dawley wound up cutting the 45-minute film down to 12 minutes and claimed credit for much of O'Brien's pioneering effects work on the film. Dawley then used a lot of the cut effects footage in a sequel ''Along the Moonbeam Trail'' (1920) and his 1923 documentary ''Evolution''. O'Brien received very little financial reimbursement from the project.

Plot

Most of the full plot is unknown. Author and explorer Jack Holmes (Dawley) tells his two young nephews about an adventure he had in the woodlands around Slumber Mountain, near the Valley of Dreams. Jack and his partner Joe (along with their dog Soxie) find a cabin belonging to the late hermit Mad Dick, who Joe once saw carrying a strange

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to obse ...

-like instrument. That night at their campsite, Jack imagines a voice calling to him which leads him back to the old hermit's cabin. Jack searches the cabin and finds the instrument. Upon doing so, the ghost of Mad Dick (O'Brien) appears and instructs him to use it to look at the peak of Slumber Mountain. The device allows him to look back into the past, seeing a ''

Brontosaurus ''Brontosaurus'' (; meaning "thunder lizard" from Greek , "thunder" and , "lizard") is a genus of gigantic quadruped sauropod dinosaurs. Although the type species, ''B. excelsus'', had long been considered a species of the closely related ...

'' followed by a strange small winged bird eating a snake. Two ''

Triceratops ''Triceratops'' ( ; ) is a genus of herbivorous chasmosaurine ceratopsid dinosaur that first appeared during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous period, about 68 million years ago in what is now North America. It is one ...

'' fight before his eyes, then a ''

Tyrannosaurus ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosa ...

'' kills and partially eats one of the ''Triceratops''. The triumphant beast notices Jack and begins chasing him. Jack shoots the animal to no avail. Just as the creature is about to pounce upon him, Jack wakes up to find himself next to his still sleeping friend Joe at the campsite. It is then revealed that Jack had dreamed it all. The children then tackle him for thinking up such a good tall tale.

Cast

* Herbert M. Dawley as Jack Holmes, author/explorer * Willis O'Brien as Mad Dick, the hermit * Alan Day and Chauncey Day as the two nephews * Soxie the dog as himself

Prehistoric creatures featured

*''

'' *Giant Bird (possibly ''

Phorusrhacos ''Phorusrhacos'' ( ) is an extinct genus of giant flightless terror birds that inhabited Argentina during the Miocene epoch. ''Phorusrhacos'' was one of the dominant land predators in South America at the time it existed. It is thought to have ...

'' or '' Gastornis'') *''

'' *''

Reception

''The Ghost of Slumber Mountain'' was a box office hit, grossing over $100,000 on a $3,000 budget. The New York Times called the animated dinosaurs "remarkably lifelike". Variety stated "These dinosaurs....walk, twist, gaze and eat as we might imagine they must have in the long, long, long ago". The film is available as a supplementary material item on the 2017 ''The Lost World'' Blu-ray disc from Flicker Alley. The supplementary material includes ''The Ghost of Slumber Mountain'' in a new 2K HD restoration by the "Dinosaur Museum". What remains of ''The Ghost of Slumber Mountain'' was preserved by the

Academy Film Archive The Academy Film Archive is part of the Academy Foundation, established in 1944 with the purpose of organizing and overseeing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ educational and cultural activities, including the preservation of m ...

in 2012.

References

External links