The Face of Eve

This is yet another flick that has been unceremoniously slapped with Leonard Maltin's dreaded BOMB rating: it is not that I particularly disapprove in this case (though, as can be seen from my own assessment, I was not quite so dismissive) but the narrative here is somewhat busier than his a "jungle goddess saving a pilot" plot description would have you believe! Incidentally, this is one more case of a film whose print has been so ravaged over the years (presumably more through sheer neglect rather than overexposure) that the color has virtually faded away completely! I cannot think of any particular highlights in the film and any mild enjoyment to be had is down to star-spotting; disappointingly, neither is Eve's character really ever utilized as a form of female Tarzan, which is what I would have expected (curiously enough, the previous year saw the release of the Italian VIRGIN OF THE JUNGLE which did follow exactly that route)!

Anyway, the heroine is the grand-daughter of an eminent expatriate Englishman (played by Christopher Lee in an unconvincing aged make-up), who had survived a plane crash as a child and been raised like a wild creature (although by whom or what we are never really told)! She saves an American flyer (Robert Walker Jr.) from the clutches of both jungle beasts and native savages when the latter turns up the Amazon to look for his missing business partner. The obligatory villainous figure is portrayed by Herbert Lom who, although pretending to be on friendly terms with Lee, is really intent on defrauding him of the Inca treasure buried near his property!; in fact, Lee has a duplicitous Hispanic nurse in tow and, along the way, is about to kick the bucket…and maybe he does? – but not before reuniting with his long-lost heir.

The standard length of 96 minutes (though the IMDb lists its running-time as just 80!) is further padded out by a subplot which basically leads nowhere featuring another American presence, Fred Clark, as the proprietor of a saloon who, taking a leaf from Carl Denham's book, seeks to exploit Eve's exotic novelty to his clientele!; chanteuse Maria Rohm – as with a handful of my recent viewings, this is a Harry Alan Towers production – is Clark's star attraction and, at one point, she is seen nonchalantly crooning away as all hell breaks loose around her in the utterly gratuitous bar-room brawl!

This movie could have been much better,but I don't agree with the critic who called it a bomb. Celeste Yarnall was the best "jungle Girl" since Irish McCalla as the 1st TV Sheena, and Robert Walker Jr. was a nice choice to play the young male lead. Herbert Lom could have made an excellent villain if they had let him ham it up more. but Christopher Lee was more or less wasted as her grandfather. THe cast was good and the basic plot had been used before to good effect. The problem was that the middle of the movie was a waste of time. Odd because based on the ending they had obviously planned a sequel. Some good scenes and Ms Yarnall was far superior to Tanya Roberts in the big budget "Sheena", but if you aren't a fan of this kind of thing maybe you should pass it by.

So says Christopher Lee shortly before expiring,probably brought on for signing for this risible Harry Alan Towers production.It throws in a United Nations cast,all the better to sell the distribution rights to people who should know better.Almost entertaiingly bad

Treasure hunter Mike Yates (Robert Walker Jr. , early deceased Robert Walker's son) sets out in investigate a lost colleague . As Mike looking for his missing partner , who is disappeared in the Amazons , in Brazil , being lost under strange circumstances . Then two pals - Mike and José (José María Caffarel) - go out to find him , undergoing a hazardous voyage to discover clues of their colleague . Then , adventurer Mike stumbles across a gorgeous jungle girl named Eve (Celeste Yarnall) . Soon after , he comes across Eve's grandfather called Colonel Stuart (Christopher Lee) , who is being swindled by a nasty man (Herbert Lom) and a young girl named Conchita (Rosenda Monteros) who is pretending to be his granddaughter Eve . Colonel Stuart is hoping to find a cache of Incan treasure taken long time ago by the conqueror Francisco De Orellana and lost in the Amazon jungle and he assigns to Mike and José to find it . But the swindlers (Ricardo Diaz , Herbert Lom , Rosenda Monteros) also go after the lost treasure . Meanwhile , Mike Yates attempts to reunite Eve with her grandfather .

This Spanish/British/USA co-production results to be a simple , plain and clean fun . Amusing movie , plenty of action , cat-fights , thrills , colorful cinematography , lush landscapes , adequate score ; all meld together under Jeremy Summers's mediocre direction . A lighthearted romp for kids and teenagers about jungle adventures , concerning an expedition looking for a person who has presumably crashed somewhere in the Amazon . It belongs to ¨Jungle Girl¨ sub-genre that includes titles as "Golden Goddess of Rio Beni" by Eugenio Martin , "Kong in the lost jungle" or ¨Eva, La Venere Selvaggia¨ by Roberto Mauri , ¨Samoa , Queen of the Jungle¨ by Guido Malatesta , "Tarzana the Wild Girl" by James Read , "The Jungle Goddess" by Miguel Iglesias and ¨Sheena¨ by John Guillermin . All of them starred by sexpot , wonderful women as Gilliam Hills , Esmeralda Barros , Eva Miller , Femi Benussi , Tanya Roberts and Gina Lee Nolin as TV Sheena . It stars the beautiful Celeste Yarnall who has a decent cinematic career , including titles as ¨Born Yesterday¨, ¨Midnight kiss¨, ¨Scorpio¨, and ¨The Velvet Vampire¨ . Being a Spanish/Brit co-production here appears some notorious Spanish secondaries such as José María Caffarel , Ricardo Díaz and the Mexican Rosana Monteros who played in ¨The Magnificent Seven¨ . In addition , there shows up the prestigious American secondary Fred Clark and the Austrian Maria Rohm , married to producer Harry Allan Towers . This thrilling film packs adventures , emotion , fights and marvelous scenes from deep rainy forest that generate a lot of surprises and illusion . One of the most amazing entertaining film ever produced in the 6os dealing with Amazon adventures . This exciting film contains thrills , emotion , hard-boiled characters , adventure and action scenes of infighting between violent tribes that generate a lot of entertainment . It is a simple and predictable adventure spectacle , ordinarily directed by a British craftsman , Jeremy Summers .

Colorful cinematography filmed by Manuel Merino , Jess Frank's regular , though a perfect remastering is really necessary . Shot on location in Aranjuez, Madrid , Monasterio de Piedra where was filmed the falls scenes , Nuévalos, Zaragoza, Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range , La Pedriza , Madrid, and some brief scenes in Brazil . Enough Budget for a multi-country production formed by Ada Films , Harold Goldman Associates , Hispamer Film and Towers of London Productions/Harry Alan Towers . The motion picture was regularly directed by Jeremy Summers , and direction assistant Robert Lynn , but it has some flaws and gaps . Jeremy Summers is a good professional filmmaking from the 6os , though sparsely scattered and giving various entertaining as well as commercial films, specially known for his thrillers as ¨Danger MXB (81) , Five Golden Dragons¨(67) , ¨The Ghost of Monk's Island¨ (1967) ¨The house of 1000 dolls¨(67) and ¨Vengeance of Fu Manchu¨ (67)

One of my favorites! Why? It has a gorgeous woman in a leather bikini in the middle of the jungle. Ms. Yarnall is simply stunning. One of my favorite scenes is when the bad natives decide she needs to die. They converge at the bottom of her tree house, throw fiery spears in it and smoke her out. She slides down a long rope in the arms of the leader. Snug against him she has second thoughts. Reaching for her dagger at her hip the native grabs it first. Deciding not to plunge it into her he lifts her above his head and encourages the other thousand native to carry her back to their camp for torture. There's an nice ariel shot of "Eve" as the hoard carry her to their camp. She's swooning, helpless and oh so fetching.

Earlier Eve is bathing at a lake. Some natives rush her and try to strangle her. She stabs them and turns her whip on the leader. That set up the above scene.

Wild animals jump on her, she stretches provocatively, run around the jungle in next to nothing...does it get any better than that?