*POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
Palestine 1918: Major Horace Holly (Cushing) and his friends Leo Vincey (John Richardson) and Job (Bernard Cribbins) are preparing to return home to England after fighting in the war. However, their curiosity is aroused when they hear rumours of a hidden city in Africa's mountains of the moon. However, they are being lured into a trap by Ayesha (Ursula Andress) the cold blooded ruler of the hidden city who has the secret of eternal life because Leo Vincey is a dead ringer for the lover whom she murdered in a fit of jealousy centuries ago.
This is Hammer Films' version of the often filmed H. Rider Haggard fantasy. It is something of a curates egg because at times the script by David T. Chantler contains some of the most ridiculous dialogue you will ever come across like when Major Holly visits Ayesha's high Priest Billali (Christopher Lee) in his temple. The walls are encased with the skeletons of his predecessors and he remarks "They are all priests but they have a difference, they are dead I am alive." Yet at the same time the film has some genuine moments of power. For example, a beautiful young peasant girl from the hidden city called Ustane (Rosella Monteros) is in love with Vincey but ends up losing him and her life when Ayesha forces him to choose between them and he isn't strong enough to do it. The Cinemascope photography of Harry Waxman is excellent as is Robert Day's direction and Ursula Andress looks more stunning than she did when she came out of the sea in the first James Bond movie DR NO and all members of the cast do justice to their roles.
Sequel: THE VENGEANCE OF SHE (1967)
Palestine 1918: Major Horace Holly (Cushing) and his friends Leo Vincey (John Richardson) and Job (Bernard Cribbins) are preparing to return home to England after fighting in the war. However, their curiosity is aroused when they hear rumours of a hidden city in Africa's mountains of the moon. However, they are being lured into a trap by Ayesha (Ursula Andress) the cold blooded ruler of the hidden city who has the secret of eternal life because Leo Vincey is a dead ringer for the lover whom she murdered in a fit of jealousy centuries ago.
This is Hammer Films' version of the often filmed H. Rider Haggard fantasy. It is something of a curates egg because at times the script by David T. Chantler contains some of the most ridiculous dialogue you will ever come across like when Major Holly visits Ayesha's high Priest Billali (Christopher Lee) in his temple. The walls are encased with the skeletons of his predecessors and he remarks "They are all priests but they have a difference, they are dead I am alive." Yet at the same time the film has some genuine moments of power. For example, a beautiful young peasant girl from the hidden city called Ustane (Rosella Monteros) is in love with Vincey but ends up losing him and her life when Ayesha forces him to choose between them and he isn't strong enough to do it. The Cinemascope photography of Harry Waxman is excellent as is Robert Day's direction and Ursula Andress looks more stunning than she did when she came out of the sea in the first James Bond movie DR NO and all members of the cast do justice to their roles.
Sequel: THE VENGEANCE OF SHE (1967)