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| Legend of the Lost | |
|---|---|
 1957 movie poster | |
| Directed by | Henry Hathaway |
| Screenplay by | Ben Hecht Robert Presnell |
| Produced by | Henry Hathaway John Wayne |
| Starring | John Wayne Sophia Loren Rossano Brazzi Kurt Kasznar |
| Cinematography | Jack Cardiff |
| Edited by | Bert Bates |
| Music by | A.F. Lavagnino |
Production companies | Batjac Productions Dear Film Productions |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 109 minutes |
| Countries | United States Italy |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,750,000 (estimated) |
| Box office | $2,200,000(domestic rentals)[1] |
Legend of the Lost is a 1957 Italian-Americanadventure film produced and directed byHenry Hathaway, shot inTechnirama andTechnicolor byJack Cardiff, and starringJohn Wayne,Sophia Loren, andRossano Brazzi. The location shooting for the film took place nearTripoli, Libya.
InTimbuktu, experienced guide Joe January (John Wayne) reluctantly joins a Saharan treasure hunting expedition led by Paul Bonnard (Rossano Brazzi), a man obsessed with confirming his dead father's claim to have found a lost city. Dita (Sophia Loren), a woman of dubious reputation, becomes infatuated with Paul and his willingness to overlook her past. She invites herself along, despite Joe's protests. During the tough, dry ordeal, Joe and Dita become attracted to each other, raising tensions.
Just as they run out of water, they stumble upon the ancient city and a well. There, they find three human skeletons, a woman and two men. It becomes evident that Paul's father had found his woman in the arms of his guide, killed them and then himself. There is also no obvious treasure to be found. Paul's faith in his father is shattered and he becomes drunk.
However; they find the treasure after Joe deciphers the clues left by Paul's father in his bible. They load it and prepare to leave in the morning. Paul makes an attempt to seduce Dita; she rejects him and he gets into a fight with Joe, who protects her. Joe and Dita wake up to find that Paul had sneaked away during the night, taking all the animals, supplies and treasure with him and leaving his companions to die.
Joe and Dita pursue him on foot and eventually catch up. Paul is unconscious from dehydration. While Joe and Dita dig for desperately needed water, Paul regains consciousness. He buries the treasure and attacks Joe from behind with a knife. Dita shoots and kills Paul. When they spot a caravan approaching in the distance, Joe and Dita are saved.
Legend of the Lost was directed byHenry Hathaway. Wayne and Hathaway worked together six times, beginning withThe Shepherd of the Hills (1941) and ending with Wayne's Oscar-winning role inTrue Grit (1969). Co-author Robert Presnell, nearing the end of his career at this time, was one of Hollywood's most successful screenwriters. None of this talent managed to keepLegend of the Lost from being harshly reviewed by critics.
Hathaway said the main things wrong with the film were the script and the casting of Brazzi ("he can't play evil... the more I worked with him the worse he got."[2])
Wayne liked the location work in Rome andLibya. The plot is vaguely similar to another of Wayne’s movies crossing theMojave Desert. The Roman remains ofLeptis Magna in Libya were used extensively as a location for the ancient city. In the script Wayne's character refers to 'Timgad' in sardonic reference to the apparent delusions of Paul's father, despite the fact this places a considerable strain on the geography of the plot. The lost city ofTimgad referred to in the film was actually theLeptis Magna ruins, a Roman city dating back to the 7th century B.C. near Tripoli, in northwest Libya, while "Timbuktu" was actually inZliten, Libya. Headquarters for the film were located inGhadames, where, according to the publicity material, citizens of the local villages were employed on set, as well as some nativeTuaregs, an ancient desert tribe.[3]
This film was Wayne's only collaboration on film with international cinema stars Sophia Loren and Rossano Brazzi.
The film was photographed by noted British cinematographerJack Cardiff inTechnicolor andTechnirama (a wide-screen process developed by the Technicolor Corporation).
The film wasnovelized in 1957 byBonnie Golightly.[4]
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