Jane and the Lost City

To its credit, many of the supporting roles are played so well, we almost have a decent Indian Jones type movie.

Everything everyone says here is true, which just shows how subjective enjoyment of a film can be. Comparison is made to the Carry On films, which is close ... but the Carry On films really relish their everything-is-about-sex undertone, while Jane And The Lost City prefers the innocence approach. Yes, Jane loses her clothing half-a-dozen times, but it always feels a bit out of place -- as if they really wanted to go Indiana Jones, but were saddled with this pinup-girl concept.

For me, there were just enough good comic moments to sustain through the ones that fell flat (mainly Jasper Carrott's endless mugging). I've seen my share of not-very-good jungle films; this ranks just about right, with the occasional clothes-ripped-off seemingly punched in for novelty. I think it would have been funnier to make that a more central concept -- even to play with audience expectation by having it almost happen, then partially happen, then not happen when you expect it to, then happen to someone else, etc -- you see? A running gag should be explored for all of its possibilities, not just the same gag used as window dressing, then sold as main attraction.

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.

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.

The idea of the pin-up poster was never a bad thing. It was very helpful for the morale of homesick soldiers, stuck on the front lines, fighting for their lives, during WWII. Jane grew out of that era and was the creation of a British author. She too was created to help morale during the terrors of WWII and even the wars that followed that. We flash to 1987 and British filmmakers, along with New World Pictures, decide to reboot Jane, with this really bad effort. In Jane and the Lost City (1987), Jane (Kirsten Hughes), is basically working for the British government, helping her friend, the Colonel (Robin Bailey), protect diamonds from the bad-guys. Jane's super-power is her clothes fall off, just in time, which distracts enemies (and sometimes friends, if need be), until she is able to escape or attempt to apprehend them. It's not dirty. It's not in poor taste. Jane and the Lost City (1987), has a PG rating, so that tells you that there is nothing to fear about the pin-up nature of this IP. It's everything else in Jane and the Lost City (1987), that makes it bad. I wanted to rate this film, even lower than, a "4", but in my book, any film rated less than four is unwatchable and I want people to see Jane and the Lost City (1987), in order to believe it, so I stayed at "4". You won't.

PMTM Grade: 4.0 (F+) = 4 IMDB.

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.