Atlantide

Maria Montez's biggest success was probably the film Cobra Woman". It was a terrific B-movie and really made her a star. Now, five years later, she's back with a very similar sort of film...but this time starring her real life husband, Jean-Pierre Aumont.

The story begins at a French Foreign Legion base somewhere in North Africa. After having gone missing for some time, Lt. Saint-Avit (Aumont) is discovered...barely alive and raving. Later, after he's had a chance to recover, he talks about having spend all that time in the lost city of Atlantis as well as that he killed his friend (Dennis O'Keefe) there. He then explains and there is a lengthy flashback sequence. What follows is a story about the queen of the Atlantians (Montez)...and what a manipulative and sadistic and beguiling woman she is.

The story is decent but lacks the crazy sets and originality of "Cobra Woman", though they were obviously trying to replicate the same type of tale. It's also funny because you only see about a half dozen of her subjects...again, probably due to the lower budge. It's enjoyable but slight....and perhaps might have been a bit better had they made the Queen not as insanely mean...and the Lieutenant not so in love with her...which didn't make a lot of sense.

By the way, early in the film someone mentions 'Arak'. If you don't know, it's an anise drink that tastes virtually identical to Greek ouzo.