The Mistress of Atlantis

This is probably as far removed from any other tale of “Atlantis” as you will encounter as it places the kingdom under the desert rather than under the sea! It is accidentally discovered by two French Foreign Legionnaires who are lost in a sandstorm. “St. Avit” (John Stuart) and “Ferrières” (Georges Tourrell) consider themselves fortunate to have been rescued, but quickly discover that their host (Brigitte Helm) takes something of a black widow spider approach to her guests - an original definition of “for one night only”. Luckily, there are people in this kingdom who are prepared to help “St. Avit” escape, but even if he does manage to make it to safety, has she managed to permeate his mind? This isn’t really anyone’s finest hour in front of the camera, indeed Stuart is pretty wooden and Gibb McLaughlan’s slightly creepy “Count” has an unnerving ambiguity about it that makes his character quite nauseous to watch. Helm does own the role and the film, but again she plays a part that is just too reminiscent of H. Rider Haggard’s “She” - only without the occult sexiness or the mystery. To be fair to the production, it has ventured out of doors and the sandy scenery adds quite a bit to the film, but sadly it plods along without much by way of pace or characterisation and I was really quite disappointed by it’s rushed and underwhelming conclusion. It’s still worth a watch, but it really lacked any aura or mystique.

This is the 3rd, and most recent, in the three films I've seen by controversial director G.W. Pabst, after his extraordinary silent classics, 'Pandora's Box' and 'Diary of a Lost Girl', both starring legendary screen goddess Louise Brooks. It's the English-language version of 'L'Atlantide', itself a sound-remake of the '21 silent film by Jacques Feyder, and, by being mostly shot on location in the Sahara Desert, went against the grain at the time of shooting movies exclusively in studio. In Brigitte Helm, mainly known for her starring role of Fritz Lang's sci-fi magnum opus, 'Metropolis', he had a stunning villainous female, who would have made a great femme fatale, had she continued on the following decade in film noir. The script is nondescript and a tad melodramatic, and the other actors are decidedly pedestrian, but Pabst's visual elan and directorial genius shines through and lifts an otherwise drab picture. Worth your time if you're a fan of adventure films of the era, however.