L'ATLANTIDE
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
This 1961 film seems to appear in the United States most frequently under the title JOURNEY BENEATH THE DESERT. It is based on Pierre Benoit's 1920 novel ATLANTIDA. That novel is heavily derivative of H. Rider Haggard's SHE. Both books had multiple silent adaptations and each was adapted into a film in the 1960s. (SHE was adapted also once in the 1930s.) Each is about a lost civilization found in Africa and ruled over by a beautiful but evil female tyrant. In this film three men crash a helicopter in the Sahara only to find that caverns underground hide the lost civilization of Atlantis. This desert was once under water and Atlantis was then an island, but the ocean receded and sands covered the city. Antinea, the evil queen of Atlantis, holds the men prisoner. They are desperate to escape knowing that the desert above their heads will soon be used for a nuclear test that will obliterate the lost city.
The Italian/French production of L'ATLANTIDE was directed by classic director Edgar G. Ulmer who earlier directed films like THE BLACK CAT and DETOUR. Nearly every aspect of this film falls short of its potential. The inexpensive sets are small and lack imagination. One unimaginative set just has a curtain as a background and a vase in the foreground. The musical score is weak and creates little emotion in the viewer. The model work is poor and frequently obvious. The men's costumes are unimaginative robes and the women's are just skimpy. The acting is of the quality of that of a Machiste muscle man movie. The dialog in the dubbed English version is at best uninspired and occasionally overripe. All of these factors make it hard to meet this film halfway. A film like this needs to grip the imagination but this one never quite achieves a feel of H. Rider Haggard it desperately requires. This rates a 4 on the 0 to 10 and a low 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@avaya.com
Copyright 2001 Mark R. Leeper
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