Legend of the Hidden City

Stilted acting, shoddy props, (some of the weapons used in the lost city itself, look as if they were fastened out of sardine tin metal, for example) terrible script, but good cutting, colour and content so long as you can ignore the acting, the cheap props and awful dialogue. This is a ripping yarn of a film, nearly two hours long and obviously cobbled together from a few episodes of the short lived Legend of the Lost City series, which came out of South Africa in 1996. Once you get into the flow of the film, it's a joy to watch, the 'camp' queen of the lost city really steals the show too, she is wondrously bad, I guess when she was not acting in this, she was probably a pecan pie baking mummy dreaming of a big break in pictures one day, unfortunately for her, this was'nt it! Watch it, it is so bad, it is actually good!

I saw the filmed version of this short-lived TV series from South Africa, released as THE LOST CITY. From what I can make out, it's a compilation of the first two or three episodes of this show, although they're put together seamlessly, much better than those cut-and-paste PLANET OF THE APES "films" from the early '80s for example.

Unfortunately, the editing is about the only good thing in this otherwise bargain basement children's show. Now, I know we have to view children's entertainment in a different bracket to adult viewing - after all, kids are notoriously easily pleased - but even so this is cheap-looking and rather silly stuff. It involves a group of youths who manage to walk their way out of a helicopter crash, only to discover that they're lost in the harsh African wilderness with little chance of survival.

Before long they reach the titular lost city, and embark on a series of escapades as they make both friends and enemies inside the city. This is tatty-looking stuff indeed, with pantomime acting and costumes that look like they've been made by your local amateur dramatic group. On the plus side, the pacing is pretty good and there's a nice multi-ethnic aspect to the cast, but that's about it.

This was one of those shows that seemed to star a host of British teens that get into some sort of magical and/or mystical adventure. So here's a basic run down. There are these teens that are the offspring of some archelogists/anthropologists that are looking for stuff in, I think, South America. They go for a chopper ride with this guy who's stealing artifacts, they get into a bit of a scuffle in mid-flight and they crash. The thief gets away in the jungle, and the teens are left to fend for themselves. The female teen falls from a cliff and the two guys assume she's dead and wander around, only to get caught by some people from "the hidden city". I don't remember the name of the city anymore. Anyways, the natives assume that they are "the chosen ones" and put them to the test. The evil queen hooks up with the thief and they plot against the teens, and eventually the long lost female reunites with the two males and it causes a stirr with the white male, who used to be going out with her, but has since hooked up with a princess.

Really now, it wasn't that bad of a show near the start, and the intro music was fairly good.

Vaishino sums it up quite well in his/her comment. But the actors are South Africans and the location is, not so surprisingly therefore, South Africa. Although a quite good show, towards the end I got a feeling that the makers were a bit troubled: "How to fill all those remaining episodes?" Even if there were many outdoor scenes, everything that takes place in the streets of the hidden city is shot indoors, which gives a somewhat theatrical feeling. On the positive side, I think should be mentioned the particular situation in South Africa in the mid-90s. The country had just started its journey away from apartheid and into democracy. This show treats the fact that people of different colours are friends as something natural. Overall, the young leading actors are good, especially Brendan Pollecut, who has shown his great capability also in later productions.