Customer Reviews

Mistress of Atlantis

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This forgotten film of the early sound era was directed by G.W. Pabst, who is considered by many to be the greatest director of German cinema in his time, namely from the 1920s to mid `50s. His most famous contributions to the silent era of films were making Greta Garbo famous by directing her in "Joyless Street" and Louise Brooks in "Pandora's Box" and "Diary of a Lost Girl". With such outstanding classics of the 1920s to his name, one might have grand expectations of this 1932 sound film starring one of Germany's most stunning and mysterious actresses, Brigitte Helm. Yet the advent of sound brought other changes in movies besides an audible dialogue. A whole new structure and way of presenting a story had to be developed all over again, resulting in many films of the 1930s appearing to falter and stumble, especially when compared with the smooth and sophisticated films which reached its pinnacle of expressive beauty and artistry at the end of the silent era in 1929. Taking this into consideration, "The Mistress of Atlantis" feels more like what we today would call a B-Grade movie, but even as such it is still quite entertaining and offers several features that make this film well worth viewing.

First of all, it is actually a remake of an outstanding silent film made in 1921 called "Queen of Atlantis", directed by Jacques Feyder, the `French Film Master' (available from amazon.com in a set of three Feyder films entitled "Rediscover Jacques Feyder"). The film is based on a French novel which must be quite long and involving, as Feyder's version of "Queen of Atlantis" is nearly three hours long! This compact early sound film, however, is less than 90 minutes in length, although it does seems to leap over pivotal points in the plot, leaving the uninitiated viewer somewhat dazed and perplexed. Even so, it is an entertaining ride through the Sahara Desert where an officer of the French Foreign Legion awakens to find himself in a bizarre world of tunnels and mazes hidden somewhere in the desert. Legend has it that this is the lost city of Atlantis; a topic that was widely discussed a century ago with many suggestions and theories, placing the city in many places all over the world, including the mysterious Sahara Desert. Queen of this strange world is the exotic Antinea, played by Brigitte Helm who first came to fame in the classic German silent film, "Metropolis". Her striking features make her the perfect choice for the alluring and enigmatic Mistress of Atlantis, and even though her role is relatively small, she exudes a presence and power which make up for any of the film's shortcomings. Other aspects that are worth seeing are the unusual sets and an authentic-looking Saharan village. Interestingly, Pabst directed three versions of this film; German, French and English, in anticipation of international success, and this English version is in very good condition with only the usual background noise common in early sound films.

I'm a big Brigitte Helm fan, & for those of us who don't speak German, this is one of the few films available to us. While it's not quite in the "classic" category, it's ok; the creepy atmosphere reminds me of Carl TH Dreyer's Vampyr with perhaps a bit of Ed Wood thrown in for good (bad?) measure & was directed by the legendary GW Pabst. This early "talky" edition was actually shot 3 times: in German, English & French with 3 totally different casts other then Helm who stars in all 3.

I recently had the chance to compare this dvd with the print on Nightmare Worlds 50 Movie Pack Collection.

While both were obviously sourced from copies of the same (likely 16 mm) somewhat deteriorated print, the version on the Nightmare Worlds box appears to be a couple generations closer to the actual print & also has better audio, so I would recommend buying that version instead of this. To be clear the picture quality isn't great on that edition either, but it's better then this one, & it does have 49 additional films for just a few dollars more.

Hopefully we'll get a restored official edition one of these days.

This review is of the Alpha edition.

Do not waste your money on this Alpha Video version: The transfer is so bad that the only equivalent I have seen is an equally bad transfer of "Love From a Stranger", another movie which has been done a major disservice by a bad transfer.

I would like to think that some more discerning studio will take pity on the general public and release good versions of these movies, as I feel they both deserve a wider viewing by the general public. However, the current versions for sale of "Mistress" and "Stranger" are a nighmare to view and take totally away from the actors and plot line.

Okay, so this one was a bit of a shocker. I'm sort of self-styled connoisseur of grade "B" schlock films, and on late nights, have been working my way through the Mill Creek Collection of "100 Sci-Fi Classics" -- and it must be understood that the term "classics" is used quite loosely here. This collection is a hodge-podge of mostly awful sci-fi, adventure and horror flicks from the silent era through to the 1990's. There are no real bonafide classics here, unless one considers classically bad films like "Eegah" and "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" to be classics. Real classics don't tend to fall into the public domain, which is what all of these are.

So here I was, about midnight, mostly awake, but not enough to read a book or watch an actual good film. Out comes the Mill Creek collection, and "Mistress of Atlantis" was pretty much a random selection.

This film is an oddity for this collection. First off, it's definitely NOT a "B" film. Released in 1932, it quickly became evident that a lot of money went into the making of this. Schlock "B" grade movies are not shot on location in North Africa. This film is set in the Sahara -- and filmed in "The Haggar Desert in North Africa" -- although I'm not sure which country that desert is located in today, as I couldn't locate it with a web search or Google map, leading me to believe it might be called something else in Arabic, or that the name changed after the colonial era. The Africans who provide the backdrop to the adventures of two French foreign legionnaires who discover a lost city beneath the Sahara sands appear to be real Africans, not actors playing Africans. I say this as someone who spent two years of my life living and traveling on that continent. The on-location shooting and the apparent use of locals -- this is the real deal. Once we descend beneath the sands, we get some real decent looking sets too (apparently a Berlin sound stage) -- no paper mache and stock footage here.

This film sparked enough curiosity for me to look up some info on it. The filmmaker, G.W. Pabst was apparently well known for work with silent cinema, notably, "Pandora's Box" with the very sexy original femme fatale, Louise Brooks. "Mistress of Atlantis" was intended to be his breakout film in the sound era. The lead, the beautiful Brigitte Helm, was the lead in Fritz Lang's Metropolis, and was a big budget star in this film.

For all of the money and big name talent (for its day) thrown at this film, though beautiful and somewhat of a curiosity to look at, it's got very evident flaws. The story is a hard to follow, and midway through, it really starts to drag. I don't know enough about what the critical reaction to this film was back in the day, but if I had to guess, I'd say it was likely a big budget production with big hopes that instead ended up being a big flop (the "Ishtar" or "Heavens Gate" of its day perhaps?).

Consequently -- and I'm just noticing this as I write this review and look up additional information on the film -- the version on my collection clocks in at 87 minutes. Apparently, the original uncut version clocks in at an astoundingly long 212 minutes. That's a lot of missing film that might have answered some of the plot questions I had, but I'm also having a hard time imagining myself sticking through this muddled film for over 3 and a half hours. I most certainly wouldn't have attempted to watch this starting at midnight with that kind of running time.

That said, "The Mistress of Atlantis" is worth a look, if only for the on location 1930's North African footage. Although I ended up being surprised and suitably impressed, no doubt that feeling of being impressed was largely a factor of having gone into this knowing nothing about it and with very, very low expectations for real quality. Had it been recommended to me as a classic film, I'd probably be considerably more caustic in reviewing it. As is, I feel like I've discovered a bit of pearl -- a flawed pearl, but a pearl no less -- in a collection of discarded and moldering oyster shells.

In 1929, the great G. W. Pabst imported Louise Brooks, the Kansas City girl, to Germany, to star in the now classic "Pandora's Box", the story of a lovely vamp who spirits away a series of lovers. Not so different, Pabst's 1932 "Mistress of Atlantis" stars sultry Brigitte Helm in a similar role; but now she's installed miles below the sands of the Sahara. Did you ever see "She"?. "Mistress of Atlantis" opens with close-ups of Lt. Saint-Avit(John Stuart) chatting-away with a fellow soldier on top of their desert fort in the French Foreign Legion, near Algiers. Saint-Avit recalls his expedition(2 years before) to find the "Lost Atlantis", now sunk miles beneath the sands of the Sahara Desert(I didn't get that either..). In the expedition, Saint-Avit and his companion are attacked; then held prisoner. Pabst's cameras glide across the sands and into real locations in the Hoggar mountains. Towering, black-robed tribesmen and half-naked, sleek native women beckon. Saint-Avit is the prisoner of Antinea(Brigitte Helm), Queen of Atlantis, who lives in an underground palace; the halls are filled with the mummified remains of former lovers. Nice. Saint-Avit watches another captive, one of the Queen's former lovers. Discarded, he's now reduced to drinking binges and smoking kif. Saint-Avit and Antinea play chess. If Saint-Avit wins, he gains his freedom. If he loses, a more complicated fate awaits him...Pabst starred Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" discovery, Brigitte Helm, in "Mistress of Atlantis", highlighting her erotic charms. (See Helm in the classic,and hard to find, 1928 "Alarune", for a full display of her charms). Pabst's use of detail, editing, and symbolism are the basis of "Mistress of Atlantis". Not well received in it's time, "Mistress" was also released as "L'Atantide", and "The Lost Atlantis", and shot in German, French, and English; all at the same time. Released by Alpha Video, this PD DVD's quality is spotty and grainy, but watchable. The DVD features the Alpha Video catalog, and a trailer for the straight-to-video documentary, "Samuel J. Arkoff", who produced low-budget monster-movies for his AIP in the 1950's. Just three years after starring in "Mistress", German-born Brigitte Helm made her last film, "Ein idealer Gatte(An Ideal Spouse)(1935)". Helm married and retired to Switzerland, near Lake Como, in 1935. She lived out the rest of her life in quiet solitude, repeatedly refusing to talk about her film career at any time.