Jane and the Lost City - Kirsten Hughes

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

Directed by Terry Marcel
UK / USA 1987

This adventure is taken from the popular British comic strip by Norman Pett that ran between 1932 until 1963. Jane (Kirsten Hughes) and her companion Jungle Jack Buck (Sam Jones) travel with a team of British adventurers to Africa and the mythical Lost City. Their mission is to find the fortune in diamonds before they fall into the hands of the Nazis, led by Lola Pagnola (Maud Adams). Also with Jane is the Colonel (Robin Bailey), a proper gentleman who is reminded of his "club" when he enters a centuries-old underground tomb.

***

This would-be romp based around the saucy exploits of the oft-déshabillée, cami-knickered heroine (Hughes) of the Daily Mirror's wartime 'Jane' strip cartoon is bad beyond the promptings of idle curiosity. Churchill stabs at a map of Africa and dispatches clipped-upper-lip Colonel (Bailey) and secretary Jane in search of much-needed diamonds to save the Empire at its darkest hour. A haphazard journey later, they team up with life-saving Yank Jungle Jack Buck (Jones), and trek through the veldt two comic capers ahead of evil Nazis Lola Pagoda (Adams) and hysterical Herr Heinrich (Carrott, a deep mistake), before reaching the cardboard Lost City presided over by Sheba the Leopard Queen, late of Roedean. Notwithstanding the spasmodic salacious shots of Jane's principal silk-clad joints, the film translates the innocent eroticism and tongue-in-cheek adventurism of the strip into a pile of puerile, enervative folie.

Excerpt from TimeOut Film Guide located HERE

Posters / VHS Covers

Theatrical Release: September 1987

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

DVD Review: Starz / Anchor Bay - Region 0 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Starz Anchor Bay - Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime	1:32:27
Video	1.66:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.4 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Subtitles	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Starz Anchor Bay Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.66:1 Edition Details: • Trailer (1:48) DVD Release Date: March 12th, 2001 Keep Case Chapters: 30

Comments:

This film shows more of the heroine's garter belt than her face. Yes, its pretty weak, but - at least - tries to encapsulate some of the saucy, cute, pin-up nostalgia of its comic-strip source and era. It should be given some accolades for the attempt. It might have actually worked better as a series.

The single-layered, anamorphic, transfer is from the early days of DVD. Anchor Bay render it in the 1.66:1 aspect ratio. It looks solid for SD - no invasive artefacts and the image is very clean. Some colors actually sport impressive depth.

Standard Dolby 2.0 channel - clean and clear with a score by Harry Robertson (Hammer go-to composer for such titles as The Vampire Lovers, Countess Dracula and Twins of Evil). It's fairly light here supporting the amusement. There are no extras, save a trailer, on the Region FREE, NTSC disc.

The film inferiorities aren't as bad as some critics make out. It's a young-man's wartime adventure - evil Nazis (Maud Adams as 'Lola Pagoda' should also evoke some fantasies), a 'lost' city in Africa and gratuitous 40's-style lingerie peeks. Not to be taken seriously at all - a cross between The Perils of Pauline and the, mostly, titillating cheesecake eroticism of Barbarella.