Siren of Atlantis

Husband and wife team of Maria Montez and Jean Pierre Aumont star in this mix of adventure, horror and noir. Montez is stunning and along with her husband they make a beautiful couple. The plot is a bit convoluted and knowing that it was a troubled production, plot issues may stem from censorship or a surviving incomplete print.

The setting is a mountain range in the desert and the explanation for Atlantis ending up in the desert does make sense. The plot is very much like the novel She (I have plodded through the original novel...ponderous and victorian) and Montez is a natural for the part of the immortal queen. There are many interesting things in this movie one of which is Montez's giant seashell bed. Esquire magazine at the time did a color centerfold of Montez on her bed entitled Montez On The Halfshell.

This was an independent production, and a major studio or a producer such as Selznick or Howard Hughes might have done more with the property. By no means a perfect movie and not for everyone, it does have some very interesting aspects.