ヘンリーライダーハガードの有名な原作では舞台はアフリカだったが、本作では、北極に謎の女王が君臨する王国があったというお話となっている。現在では、CGでしか再現出来ないスケールで描く大作で前衛的な宮殿の大セットと多数のエキストラを動員しての、謎めいた生け贄の儀式等が強く印象に残る。ストーリー的には、『失われた地平線』に似ているが、本作は、スケールで明らかに上回っている。女王を演じた女優の魅力も必見の作!後に『炎の女』としてリメイクされたが、物量では遥かに及ばない。
O.K. it was adjusted a lot.
Leo Vincey (Randolph Scott) all grown up is fresh back from the U.S. So he does not have to have an English accent. His dying uncle points to a portrait of a 500 year old Vincey in a Prince Valiant haircut that is the spitting image of Leo. Then with old sci-fi equipment in the background he is told a tail of radiation and a woman that will live for ever; Doctor Watson (oops) Horace Holly is standing by.
For readers that are familiar with the book, you are in for some laughs. Because the Vincey explorer was only five hundred years ago all the majors can speak English (or pigeon English). There is a native scene right out of Kong and a second with a sacrifice and a ritual dance. Can it be that this is the same director, Producer Merian C. Cooper, known for King Kong?
On a more serious side the eternal questions posed in the book were replaces with a love story made for two.
Helen Gahagan is a rather unique name so I looked it up in Ephraim Kats "The Film Encyclopedia"; turns out among other things She was married to Melvyn Douglas, was the author of "The Eleanor Roosevelt we Remember" (1963). A Democratic congress woman. And was defeated by Richard Nixon in her bid or a Senate seat.