The Lost World (1960)

The boisterous, arrogant Professor Challenger (Claude Rains), a reputed biologist and anthropologist, dares the London Zoological Society to mount an expedition to verify his spectacular claim, without physical proof, that his previous expedition to the Amazon Basin found live dinosaurs. Apart from him and his 'socialite' counterpart, Professor Summerlee (Richard Haydn), the adventurous party consists of experienced discoverer Lord Roxton (Michael Rennie), the young reporter Ed Malone (David Hedison) - who got publicly struck down with Challenger's umbrella at his arrival - and Jennifer Holmes (Jill St. John), Malone's news agency's boss's daughter, who is allowed by her father to come essentially as one of the conditions for putting up the money. In Brazil they are joined by Jennifer's brother David (Ray Stricklyn) and local 'guide' Manuel Gomez (Fernando Lamas). They arrive by air, soon discover the dinosaurs and other creatures are real and dangerous ( their helicopter is incidentally destroyed by fighting dinosaurs), and the party is desperate to get off the isolated plateau. They learn Roxton knew about the fate of Burton White, an explorer whose diary they find, search for diamonds, and confirm that the local tribesmen are lethal guardians of the plateau's secrets. Additionally they learn Roxton accidentally killed Gomez' brother on a separate trip before this one, leaving Gomez hungry for revenge. During a volcanic eruption, they manage to escape from the plateau, carrying a Tyrannosaurus rex egg with them. The egg hatches when it is dropped by accident, and Professor Challenger resolves to take the infant dinosaur (here represented by a cosmetically altered gecko lizard) back to London with them.