Note: Spoilers abound herein, in all versions of this story, but "L'Atlantide" is not really about plot, so it doesn't much matter. Read on if you're interested...As far as I know,"Journey Beneath the Desert" is the first color version of "L'Atlantide," a story first filmed in the silent era. The plot is very basic, and has similarities to H. Rider Haggard's "She," also filmed many times. "L'Atlantide" follows the story of Captain St. Avit, of the French Foreign Legion, who along with his best friend, Captain Morhange, come upon the lost city of Atlantis, which has ended up in the middle of the Sahara Desert when the ocean receded over centuries. Like a preying mantis, the ruthless but passionate and beautiful Queen of Atlantis, Antinea, has the habit of killing all her lovers off and encasing them in gold. She has quite a collection of gilded men. Ultimately, she pits St. Avit against Morhange (who has rebuffed the queen's advances of romance) and St. Avit kills his best friend out of jealousy. One of Antinea's handmaidens, Tanit Zerka, helps St. Avit escape from Atlantis, but she dies in the desert helping him. St. Avit arrives back at the outpost to tell his story, then crazed for the love of Antnea, returns to the Sahara in search of Atlantis, only to die in a sandstorm. That's it in a nutshell. Not much of a story, really, and the original French novel by Pierre Benoit isn't any better. Somehow, though, I am drawn to the atmosphere and lyrical quality of the films. The first filmed version of 1920 by Jacques Feyder (called "Missing Husbands" on IMDb, but originally "L'Atlantide") is slow and ponderous, but even so, is rich with visual splendor. It's main drawback is Stacia Napierkowska as Antinea. She is too old for the part and hasn't the physical appeal to seduce the men who are supposed to be entranced by her mesmerizing charms. The first sound version "L'Atlantida," was directed by G. W. Pabst ("Pandora's Box") and starring Brigitte Helm (Maria in "Metropolis") as Antinea, is a big improvement on the silent film. Good use is made of Antinea's beautiful spotted leopard that St. Avit finds sitting by her side when he first lays eyes on her. In the next filmed version, 1949's "Siren of Atlantis," the leopard has become a black panther and Antinea is played by Maria Montez. This version is even more visually sumptuous than the Pabst film, and in spite of what some have said about how bad Montez is in the role, I beg to differ. Her Spanish accent doesn't make much sense, but she come across as a lot more dangerous and manipulative than Helm did previously. Color would have helped this production, but it still is beautifully lit with many striking sets.Then in 1961, low budget director Edgar J. Ulmer and Giuseppe Masini, filmed the first color version in Italy with an international cast. Even Frank Borzage had a hand in directing, his final effort, apparently. Actress Haya Harareet, who two years before played Esther in "Ben-Hur," is Antinea. The other characters have name changes, but they function pretty much the same. St. Avit has been changed to Pierre, and is played by Jean-Louis Trintignant. There are quite a few other differences in "Journey Beneath the Desert." The handmaiden who saves St. Avit (Pierre) does not die, but Atlantis, Antinea and her people are destroyed by nuclear bomb testing. Yeah, modernized. This version is probably the campiest of the four I've seen, not helped by bad dubbing, but in spite of that it is the most beautiful visually. Being in Technicolor, it's richly atmospheric, and the costumes, particularly Harareet's many exotic headdresses are really something to behold. Harareet is also quite sexy. There is a bath scene that is far more seductive and erotic than a similar scene in the Liz Taylor "Cleopatra" of two years later. The spotted leopard is used more inventively here. In a sequence where the Morhange character (here called Robert) finds that a friend of his has been killed and encased in gold, his outburst causes Antinea's leopard to attack him. There is a wild fight (a real leopard, not a fake) and the man throttles the beast. In the other versions the leopard is just used as a threat that never happens, and the animal even leads St. Avit through the maze of Atlantis to Antinea's quarters. Color adds a lot to this story, and director Ulmer knew how to get the most out of little money. "Journey Beneath the Desert" is more an adventure film for young boys than the earlier films, but even so the psychological sexual tension the other versions put to good use is certainly on display here.One of the film's biggest assets is the score by Carlo Rustichelli. It's really a fully realized fantasy mood piece, full of seductive rhythms and colorful orchestration, making good use of an appealing female chorus. In fact, both earlier sound versions have great soundtracks as well, with Wolfgang Zellar ("Vampyr") providing a primitive but flavorful score for the 1932 version, and Michel Michelet composing a wonderfully melody score that includes exotic dances and choral arrangements for the 1949 film. The story of "L'Atlantide" is no great shakes. The appeal is just simply the exotic atmosphere and the visuals. If this sounds appealing, check them out. Both the 1932 and 1949 versions are available on DVD. Unfortunately, the 1961 film is harder to find, but worth some detective work to track down. There are also 1972 and 1992 versions, both of which I have not seen and are not available on DVD, but the soundtrack for the 1992 version by Richard Horowitz is wonderfully atmospheric and available.

This marks the fourth adaptation of Pierre Benoit's fantasy novel (but the sixth film since 3 contemporaneous versions were made in 1932 by G.W. Pabst in German, French and English!); it is only the second I have watched myself (after the 1932 English one) via a 93-minute print sporting French dialogue (though, according to the IMDb, the official language was either Italian or English and the running time 105)! For the record I also own the 1921 original, the 1932 French version and the maligned SIREN OF ATLANTIS from 1949; having said that, I have besides the unrelated George Pal spectacular ATLANTIS, THE LOST CONTINENT (1961; which I did catch years ago) and I would be interested in checking out 2 more adaptations: the 1972 made-for-TV one starring Ludmilla Tcherina and Bob Swaim's 1992 version featuring Fernando Rey and Jean Rochefort (an Italian TV screening of which I once had to abort because it was being shown way too late)! Anyway, I had long wished to see this French/Italian co-production (known in the U.S. as JOURNEY BENEATH THE DESERT), not only in view of the adventurous subject itself but also because two directors I greatly admire – Frank Borzage and Edgar. G. Ulmer – had been involved in the project (the former actually bowed out due to ill-health and was replaced by the latter). Besides, the cast was an interesting mix of old and new international talents like Israeli Haya Harareet (amusingly, her name does not appear on the copy I watched since the picture was blacked-out where it was supposed to be!), Frenchmen Jean-Louis Trintignant and Georges Riviere, and Italians Amedeo Nazzari, Gian Maria Volonte' (curiously enough, he would follow this immediately with Vittorio Cottafavi's popular and more traditional genre effort HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN aka HERCULES AND THE CONQUEST OF ATLANTIS!) and Gabriele Tinti. Since there were no major English-speaking stars featured, I opted to go with the French-language version from the two options available to me because, after all, two of its heroes emanated from that country! Besides, oddly enough for peripherally belonging to the peplum genre and being halfway a native production, it has never been shown on Italian TV! Interestingly, the plot has been updated here to coincide with the-then topical concern of nuclear testing; in fact, the film begins with a chopper bearing 3 geologists (Riviere, Trintignant and one Rad Fulton) flying over such a zone in the desert and, firstly, being ordered by radio to change routes and, then, trying to warn an apparently oblivious caravan passing beneath them of the danger they are running into. Forced down by a sand-storm and hilariously losing the chopper when it is blown off the edge of a cliff (while they are not!), the trio take shelter in some nearby caves. Later, they contrive to save the life of the nomadic leader (Nazzari) they had earlier come across – unaware of his murderous intentions, having had his men wipe out a number of escaping slaves via machine-gun fire! However, the group falls out with him soon after when they discover he is harboring precious minerals and has no intention of sharing; eventually, he takes them prisoners and they are made to witness a ceremony involving a snake dance in which the human participant is strangled by the reptile...but only so as to be reborn in the image of Antinea, ancient and legendary Queen of the equally mythical Atlantis (which Nazzari explains was not swallowed by the seas as the history-books have it but rather the sands of time)! So far so good: the film looks mighty fine (the production was designed by Ulmer himself, and he even co-wrote the script!) and features a wonderfully lush score courtesy of Carlo Rustichelli. However, it falters through Harareet's essential inexpressiveness and her unconvincing obsession – to Nazzari's outspoken chagrin – over the bland Fulton (Riviere is unceremoniously disposed of early on by being covered, inexplicably naked and with his head clean shaven, in gold!). Trintignant's own romance with Giulia Rubini (who, like them, had been one of several to be 'shanghaied' over the centuries and who has actually been promised by Nazzari to his lieutenant Volonte') is equally unbelievable: why Harareet does not take up with Trintignant herself (though she does induce him to carry out an attempt on Fulton's life!) who, being the scholarly type is clearly the most partial to Antinea's cause, makes for another baffling mystery! Besides, the sheer fact that we are never told just what goes on in Atlantis: they constantly work an underground mine but to what end…unless they are engaged in trading diamonds with the outside world which, however, would make their self-imposed 'exile' pointless? While rebellious slaves are confined inside a cage at the mercy of the currents, Fulton and Tinti manage to escape and subsequently battle it out with Nazzari and Volonte', with the former forced to shoot the latter when going against Harareet's wishes not to harm her lover!Typically, too, the over-confidence displayed by the people of Atlantis equates narrow-mindedness as they believe it can withstand anything, even The Bomb…but, of course, are proved wrong when the continent is summarily destroyed in the ensuing detonation; unsurprisingly, Trintignant and Rubini contrive to emerge from the rubble unscathed – having reached the safety zone in time – ready to start a new life together in the world above (and beyond) the desert. In the end, while the film does not to live up to expectations by honorably failing to deliver on its initial promise, the result proves nonetheless a stylish piece of hokum that is perhaps best enjoyed without thinking too much about it...

I had hoped for much more, especially with the talents involved, but with a silly story about the lost city of Atlantis beneath the Shara desert, I clearly expected too much? It's about a helicopter crashing near the opening to the lost city. There, a king and queen rule over the city of slaves.There are dozens of holes in the story, much too many to go into here, but here's a couple: Spoiler alert........................The pilot of the helicopter is caught trying to escape (to where?...how?....why?). He is killed (how?). He just turns up dead in some kind of wooden contraption.The cold-hearted queen is so teed off by the rejection of her young stud Robert that she drugs Pierre and has him kill his best friend (how?). The killing is never shown, just talked about.It's all so silly and poorly written and directed. Truly, it is a waste of time....and talent. The cast does a fine job, for the most part. They simply don't have anything to work with here.Note: I never realized how short Jean-Louis Trintignant is, but he is certainly a handsome man. Also wasted in this film are Georges Riviere, Rad Fulton, Gabriele Tinti, and several others. Shame.We tend to forget all countries have their clunkers. This is one of France's....cheap, poorly made...and downright silly.Unless you are a completest wanting all the films made by one or more of the cast, be aware that this is one you can live without.

The best version that I've seen of the story of a group of men who find Atlantis under the Sahara. Here the time is "now" and the men are flying in a helicopter across the desert when they are rerouted around an atomic test site. The copter is forced down by a terrible storm and they take refuge in the caves of some rocks. Eventually the end up in Atlantis where they get mixed up in court and romantic intrigue.There are a bunch of versions of this story. I've seen a few of them and they are either hampered by bad dubbing into English or by really bad acting (the 1940's version has a Queen who just awful). Here the acting and the dubbing are fine. The story, which can be very soapy is handled nicely and you get a nice balance with the adventurous aspects of the tale. The look and the feel of the film is clearly similar to the sword and sandal films that were running rampant on the screens of the world at the time and it really works here, it gives Atlantis a nice feel.Definitely worth a look see if you run across it, especially if you're a fan of the European adventure films of late 50's and early 60's.