Legend of the Lost (1957)
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Movie Reviews of Legend of the Lost (1957)
Movie Review: A largely forgetable film with a few minutes of greatness at the end
Summary: 3 Stars
This lesser known John Wayne film is the poster child for what happens when a film is miscast. There are many reasons why this film is largely invisible among many better Wayne films, but the primary reason in my view is that there is absolutely no connection between the the three main characters. The actors couldn't relate to each other, and the result is a dry, stilted performance by all. John Wayne is horribly miscast in this role, he is too `American' and too closely identified with the American Western. He is not at all convincing as the `African adventurer'. The biggest problem with this film is Rossano Brazzi, though. He makes absolutely no connection with either Loren or Wayne. Other problems with this film include poor dialogue and a lack of clarity as to where this film was going (is it an adventure film? a character study of two men in a love triangle? a Christian-themed film?).
The basic premise of this film is a search in the desert for lost treasure in the Sahara. John Wayne's character leads Brazzi out into the desert in search of a lost city and lost treasure supposedly discovered by Brazzi's father several years earlier. Loren plays a prostitute in Timbuctu who joins the pair. Coming several years after the vastly better `King Solomon's Mines', this film shares several similar plot threads. In spite of the hyperbole, this really isn't much of an adventure film. It is more of a vehicle to get the Italian hottie out in the desert alone with two very different men and explore their reactions and underlying motivations.
The first 3/4 of this film are largely forgettable, but I've rated it at 3 stars because the film makes a dramatic recovery in the last 20 minutes. Brazzi is mostly gone, and it is in the last few sequences when we see some real connection between Wayne and Loren. Brazzi treated Loren like a prostitute, and Wayne treats her like a woman who deserves respect, no matter what she has done. Both Loren and Wayne discover themselves and each other in the final few sequences. Wayne has a great line about faith in God and faith in men. The bottom line is that this is a seriously flawed film on several levels, although the final twenty minutes make it worth the price of admission.
Movie Review: A VERY ATYPICAL JOHN WAYNE MOVIE
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a very interesting movie, however, it is not a very good movie in that the script, if they used one, moves very slowly going almost nowhere. One of the best elements of the film is the ancient Roman city of Timgad of 100 A.D.in modern day Algeria where the film was shot. The city is one of the best examples of the Roman grid pattern of cities and was originally brought into being as a frontier bastion against the mobile Berber tribes. The city yet today retains all of it historical charm that this film exibited.
I'm old enough that I saw this movie in a regular theatre when it was released back in '57, on that fact mainly I bought a copy of the DVD, would it still be as I remembered. Yes and no. The movie is entertaining, it isn't every movie that allows one a front row seat to the Sahara desert, and one that is in living color, too. Although in shooting the movie several sound stages were also used. I noticed too the unevenness of the movie, especially in the beginning scenes, when once in the desert the acting becomes smoother. Maybe they were more tired due to the prolonged heat and didn't have the energy to overact, as some of the earlier scenes come across as somewhat contrived and shrill.
The movie for me is better than a "3" and not quite a "4" rating, but given John Wayne's normal choices for making a movie, I give him credit for stepping out to do something atypical such as this. Sophia Loren is adequate in her role, with Rosanna Brazzi doing his normal fair job. The theme of looking for a "lost" city has been done many times and one would have wished they had built a little better script for this one to carry the story along.
Movie is well worth watching and is good entertainment. One cannot ask much more than that.
Semper Fi.
Movie Review: Poor Audio Quality
Summary: 3 Stars
The DVD uses the same master as the VHS release. The video is fine but the audio has been subjected to a sharp high frequency filter followed by heavy-handed dynamic noise suppression. Noise suppressors accelerate the natural decline in volume of a spoken word; trailing sibilants as well as softly spoken words are especially vulnerable and may be entirely eliminated. The result is clipped, abrupt speech which is not only uncomfortable to hear but often difficult to understand. Other effects of noise suppressors include pumping of background sounds, loss of background ambience and disappearance of low-level detail. In some cases, aggressive noise suppression can make a film unwatchable (try sitting through the print of "Jamaica Inn" which Turner has shown in recent years).
In this release of "Legend of the Lost," serious degradation of the audio from noise suppression makes the film very tedious to view. I watch it with subtitles to make it easier to understand what's being said.
As Criterion has demonstrated, it is possible to get good audio from older films, even those as far back as the thirties. Right now, too many studios seem to assign the audio portion of a DVD release to stone-eared individuals who think cranking up the high frequency filters and the noise suppressors is the way to make an older film sound like "Star Wars." The predictable outcome, as in the case of this release of "Legend of the Lost," is a seriously mangled, sometimes unlistenable soundtrack.
Movie Review: Good quality dvd and service
Summary: 3 Stars
The dvd arrived on time and in good condition. The quality of the dvd was good as promised. I'd recommend purchasing this dvd from this vendor.Movie Review: Duke in the Desert
Summary: 2 Stars
"Legend of the Lost" will appeal to John Wayne fans. Set in the 1950s in Africa (The Sahara around the city of Timbuktu), on the face of it the film revolves around archeology and treasure hunting. In reality, it is another Duke western, with the Duke wearing a modified cowboy hat, with a modified holster and six gun, riding a modified horse (actually a donkey he calls "Janet"), and stalked at times by modified Indians (actually Arabs on camels). This western theme is emphasized by the choice of director, the great Henry Hathaway.
Hathaway and Wayne worked together on 6 films, including "Shepherd of the Hills" (1941), "North to Alaska" (1960), and "Sons of Katie Elder" (1965). Hathaway specialized in westerns from his earliest films - "Heritage of the Desert" (1932), "Wild Horse Mesa" (1932) - to his later films - "5 Card Stud" (1968) and "Shootout" (1971). Along with John Ford and Howard Hawks, he was a master of the western, although curiously enough his only nomination for an Oscar was for "Lives of a Bengal Lancer" (1935). It was Hathaway who directed "True Grit" (1969), the western that won Wayne his only Oscar.
The great Ben Hecht (1894-1964) supplies the screenplay. Hecht had 6 academy award nominations and won 2 times ("Underworld" and "The Scoundrel"). Among his 150+ films are such memorable ones as "Scarface" (1932), "Front Page" (1945), "Notorious" (1946), and "Gunga Din" (1939). Westerns were not his forte. But he did have to his credit "Stagecoach" (1939) and "Duel in the sun" (1946).
Wayne's co-stars are Sophia Loren and Rossano Brazzi. There is a very brief appearance by Kurt Krasznar.
Sophia Loren was mostly a sex symbol when this film was made, although she had performed admirably in films like "Boy on a Dolphin" and "the Pride and the Passion" both of which came out in 1957. In 1960 she made "Two Women" for which she won an Oscar, and was nominated in 1964 for "Marriage Italian Style". Her acting in this film is pretty poor, but she is a pleasure to watch.
Rossano Brazzi (1916-1994) is best known for his musicals, including "Three Coins in a Fountain" (1954) and "South Pacific" (1958). He does a good job as a man searching for the lost treasure.
Jack Cardiff (1914-2009) is the cinematographer. Cardiff was nominated for an Oscar 4 times and won once in 1947 ("Black Narcissus"). His career spanned 70 years and involved more than 70 films. He worked in various genres on films like "Rambo" (1985), "Conan the Destroyer" (1984), "The Vikings" (1958), and "War and Peace" (1956). The photography in this film is exceptional, as one might expect with Hathaway directing and Cardiff shooting.
The film was produced by Wayne's own company Batjac. Wayne started producing his own films in 1953 and ultimately made 30 films, the most famous of which was "The Alamo" (1960) in which he starred. "Legend of the Lost" was their 7th film.
Wayne fans will enjoy the film. The Duke plays his usually hard drinking tough guy with a past, who ultimately is a good and decent man and when under pressure, will do the right thing. And you'll enjoy the scenes of the roman ruins in Libya and the great photography. But don't hope for any action and be prepared for endless trekking through the desert in search of water, which makes up nearly half the film.