Jane et la cité perdue

This film begins during World War 2 with both Great Britain and Germany locked in a death struggle and each one desperately needing money to finance their conflict. So, when a large deposit of diamonds is rumored to be located in a mysterious "lost city" in Africa, both countries send out a small party to retrieve them. Heading the British party is a bumbling Army "Colonel" (played by Robin Bailey) his servant "Tombs" (Graham Stark) and an attractive female employee named "Jane" (Kirsten Hughes). Not to be outdone, however, the Germans also send a party commanded by an SS officer named "Lola Pagola" (Maud Adams) who is extremely determined and ruthless. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to bring these diamonds back to Berlin. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a peculiar comedy which lacked the necessary humor to be very effective. Campy but not very funny. Likewise, there were repeated attempts at titillation involving Kirsten Hughes which weren't that impressive either. Even so, I suppose it wasn't a terrible film by any means, and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

Anybody unfamiliar with British comic strips of the 40s and 50s might find this movie trite and contrived, but that was the way the strips played. Lost cities, buried treasure, wicked Eurotrash countesses, etc. etc., all of the usual comic strip clichés are here. The movie's creators worked hard and generally succeeded in capturing the original strip's silly tone and obvious contrivances - Jane loses her dress about every other scene and has to cavort about in embarrassment in her lingerie, and her hunky Jungle Jack boyfriend gets hit on the head or chained to a wall and needs rescuing by his distaff partner almost as often. The cast play the silly lines and sight gags with appropriately straight faces, and the result is a fairly obvious but entertaining comedy of an older fashion, rather like a vintage Carry On movie but in color.

My introduction to the WWII character Jane was with the early '80s BBC TV series, which combined live action with drawings to create a retro comic-book style. The overall effect was kinda cheap, but it did feature sexy Glynis Barber in her silky underwear, so all was not lost. Jane and the Lost City dispenses with the stylised visuals, but retains the overall comic-book atmosphere, with preposterous adventure, OTT characters and deliberately corny jokes. Barber doesn't reprise her role, Jane played on this occasion by the also rather attractive Kirsten Hughes (who frequently flashes her gusset, bares her butt, and exposes her cleavage).

It's a good job that Hughes is so appealing, because without her pleasing physical attributes, Jane and the Lost City would be quite unbearable. I get that the film is deliberately camp, but it simply isn't very funny, with some truly terrible performances, Sam Jones making for a wooden hero, and TV 'funny-man' Jasper Carrott failing to launch a career on the big screen by playing three characters, all of them badly. It mightn't have been such a disaster if they had upped the adventure angle, but the budget was clearly too tight for any impressive Indiana Jones-style cliffhanger escapades. What we get is less Raiders of the Lost Ark and more Allan Quartermain and the Lost City of Gold (trust me, that's not a good thing).

3/10 for Hughes in her underwear, plus an extra point for Fritz the Dachshund - I'm a sucker for a sausage dog.

Jane was a very popular British comic strip that ran through the war years. Churchill hated it and wanted it banned, but it was too popular. The artist used to use the strip to make political points, and whenever it would be getting too dry for the readers, Jane would somehow lose her clothes.

The film version is played for camp, and brilliantly so by Kristen Hughes, Sam Jones (who also conveniently loses his clothes a few times in a nod to a later age), Maud Adams, and Elsa O'Toole as the Leopard Queen.

Yes, it goes over the top - it's meant to. Get giggly with a few friends and watch it.

I remember watching this year's ago on T.V. one quiet Sunday afternoon. This is one of those films that are so bad their good. I can't imagine why all involved thought this would be a good idea. It looks cheap and is terribly edited (there's a plane crash early on where you don't actually see crash). Every single performance is appalling though Jasper Carrot has to be singled out as worst offender (shouting your every line in a awful German accent just isn't acting). The whole thing is just so terrible you can't help but laugh at it, trying to guess what the next plot contrivance will be to allow Jane's clothes to be ripped off her yet again. I highly recommend this film and suggest you all try and watch it as soon as possible.