Legend of the Lost (1957)

Director:

Henry Hathaway

Writers:

Ben Hecht (writer)
Robert Presnell Jr. (writer)

Release Date:

17 December 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure

Tagline:

Wayne Tangles with Loren...In the Adventure that's Hotter than 1000 Suns !

Plot:

American ne'er-do-well Joe January is hired to take Paul Bonnard on an expedition into the desert in search of treasure.

Plot Keywords:

Desert | Treasure | Lost City | Sahara | Prostitute

Cast

John Wayne	...	Joe January
Sophia Loren	...	Dita
Rossano Brazzi	...	Paul Bonnard
Kurt Kasznar	...	Prefect Dukas
Sonia Moser	...	Girl
Angela Portaluri	...	Girl
Ibrahim El Hadish	...	Galli Galli

Also Known As:

Timbuctù (Italy)

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

Italy | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Australia:PG | West Germany:12 (nf) | USA:Approved (PCA #18842) | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:G | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Batjac Productions

Trivia:

The Spanish title for this film was "Arenas de Muerte", which literally translates to "Sands of Death". The Spanish poster only features a closeup of the face of Sophia Loren and her name comes above John Wayne's. She was a much bigger star in Spain than Wayne was in 1957.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Wayne and Loren are wandering across the wasteland of sand, there are clearly footprints where there shouldn't be.

Quotes:

Paul Bonnard: Walking alone in the desert is wonderful. It's like walking on the face of a clock that's stopped.

underrated

This is a really underrated movie and i stayed away from it for so long because of all the bad reviews i've seen of it, like Leonard Maltin giving it only two stars. This was directed by Henry Hathaway and this was the first time John Wayne and Hathaway worked together and they would go on to make four more movies, including True Grit. The movie starts out with Rossano Brazzi looking for a guide to take him through the Sahara desert to find a lost city. Brazzi hires Wayne as his guide and Sophia Loren is a women who tags along, against Wayne's wishes. Wayne finds out Brazzi is looking for a lost city full of gold and thinks he is crazy and wants to turn back. It's a underrated movie and one of Wayne's better films.