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best movie i've ever seen.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Joe January (Wayne), Bonnard (Brazzi) and Dita (Loren) are unlikely companions in an eternal triangle/treasure hunt in the Sahara desert, starting from Timbuktu, searching for Bonnard's father, and the lost city of Ofir.This film didn't please critics or (U.S.) filmgoers when it was first released, and whilst it is not a masterpiece, in hindsight it is difficult to see quite why it was poorly received. It is beautifully shot in the Libyan desert by Jack Cardiff, the script is OK and the actors give a reasonable performance. The direction and pacing I thought good, too.Maybe the poor U.S. audience reception was because few outside Europe knew who Brazzi and Loren were at the time, and didn't expect Wayne to be playing a little out of the usual character and location, alongside (to them) two relative unknowns.Some folk reckon that there is a lack of chemistry between Wayne and Loren, but maybe they are missing the point; Dita, (who is trying to reinvent herself) is initially repulsed by Joe, because she is reminded of her past. The characters are not meant to have natural chemistry.I'd argue that this is a film that is well worth watching and is certainly far from Wayne's worst film or anything.

Copyright 1957 by Batjac (John Wayne)/Robert Haggiag/Dear Film Productions. Released through United Artists. New York opening at the Capitol: 21 December 1957. U.S. release: 17 December 1957. U.K. release: 2 March 1958. Australian release: 31 July 1958. Sydney opening at the Plaza (ran two weeks). 9,757 feet. 108 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Ill-matched trio seek treasure in the Sahara.COMMENT: Despite wondrous location shooting in the Libyan Desert around Gaudames and Tripoli, and in the ruined Roman-built city of Leptis Magnor, this ends up as a rather dreary movie, which certainly partly deserves its poor reputation. Admittedly, it starts promisingly. Kurt Kasznar makes a good impression as a venal official and the bizarre situation looks like developing into an intriguing "unlikely partners" yarn of dangerous adventures and hair-breadth escapes. Alas, for this sort of caper to take off – especially as it involves only three persons – well-rounded characters are absolutely essential. And these the two scriptwriters signally fail to supply. But not only are the principals forced to enact one-dimensional stereotypes, one cardboard cut-out (Brazzi) is suddenly thrown away in the last 20 minutes and a different bit of paste-board substituted. Unfortunately, Brazzi cannot handle the sudden transition at all credibly. Not that we blame him.On the credit side, however, the movie cost $3 million and a lot of that investment is right up there on the screen in Jack Cardiff's superb Technicolor renderings of the exotic desert locations. Lavagnino's eerily atmospheric music score also helps allay the tedium.The action set-ups occasionally reveal traces of director Hathaway's customary vigor. His handling of the players, however, leaves much to be desired. Brazzi is excellent right up to the end of the Leptis Magnor sequences, Wayne is content to swagger around in much his usual latter-day style, but Miss Loren proves a big disappointment. She starts ably enough, but once in the desert, she contributes virtually nothing.

Scallywag desert veteran Joe January is bailed out of prison to act as a guide for Paul Bonnard. Bonnard is in Timbuktu to search for treasure in the Sahara, something his now missing father set off to do some time before. Along for the journey is Dita, a low moral woman who caught Bonnard's good will during a set-too in the town earlier. So January sets off with his suspicions on full alert, women and treasure!, has to be a recipe for trouble...surely?I can't dress it up, Legend Of The Lost is just about watchable for a few comic moments and it's decent enough production values. John Wayne {Jones}, Sophia Loren {Dita} and Rossano Brazzi {Bonnard} star in what on paper looked to be a real good thing. Three actors who can arguably lay claim to having a volume of fans to rival those of the Hollywood heavy weights past and present. Yet it doesn't quite come together, it lacks an adventure spark that the story clearly hints should be there. It's not helped by Brazzi and his inability to act, he is someone who continues to baffle me in how he managed to get mainstream cash work in the first place. Loren as usual, pouts and teases the men on screen and the boys in the audience, but do we care? Actually no. During her moments of peril, one can't help hoping that Duke Wayne will shoot her to ease all the suffering of the viewers.Ah, bless The Duke, for he be the one bright acting spot in the picture. In fine physical shape and clearly knowing that tongue in cheek is the best way to play this one, Duke enjoys himself and hopefully his fans can get a modicum of enjoyment from this badly casted piece. The location work in Libya is real nice {Jack Cardiff once again delivering fine photography}, with the desert sequences enhanced by the always pleasant Technicolor. But don't be kidded that this is a character study worth venturing into, for if it didn't have the star names attached to it, they would have burned the negative long before release. 3.5/10

John Wayne and director Henry Hathaway made seven films together, from 1941's "Shepherd of the Hills" to the Duke's Oscar-winning "True Grit", in 1969, and "Legend of the Lost" may be the weakest of the films ("Circus World" runs a close second). While it is easy to lay the film's failure on Hathaway, he was dependent of the material he had to work with, and Wayne's production company, Batjac, obviously blew most of the budget on the stars, the location, getting world-class cinematographer Jack Cardiff, and hiring Hathaway, to direct.The script, by the legendary Ben Hecht, and rising screenwriter Robert Presnell Jr., offers some intriguing moments, but certainly needed far more 'polishing' (Wayne's character, bitter, drunken guide Joe January, does an abrupt 'about-face' into a traditional Wayne hero, halfway into the film, about the time pious Rossano Brazzi loses his faith because of his father's lies...). The plot line loses credibility during several key scenes (Wayne and Loren march out after Brazzi in the heat of a Sahara day, with only a bagful of water? Uh, had Wayne been working as a desert guide for long?) Brazzi's whacked-out behavior and actions were so close to what had happened to his father that you'd think SOMEBODY might have seen what was coming, and taken precautions! As for Sophia Loren...she showed amazingly few physical effects from the blazing sun, or dehydration, and her character, a prostitute wanting to find a better life, displayed little growth (other than no longer using a frying pan on Wayne's head), and was, in fact, just a variation of the 'loose woman with a heart of gold' she played frequently (particularly in American films). As for the film's finale, with a dying Wayne and the miraculous appearance of a caravan, conveniently arriving in the nick of time...Clearly, a stronger rewrite was sorely needed! In a desert film, atmosphere is everything, and while Cardiff's panoramic desert shots are superb (some of the finest ever filmed, prior to "Lawrence of Arabia"), the limited budget becomes painfully obvious in the small 'indoor for outdoor' sets used in key scenes. The special effects budget must have been nil, as well; the bat scene, as swarms pour out of a well, is painfully artificial-looking. The fistfights are silly, as Wayne and Brazzi are obviously missing each other, no matter how impressive a sound each 'blow' makes. As for exotic Timbuktu...instead of looking mysterious, or even POPULATED, the film presents a sleepy little village where the prostitutes and dancers far outnumber the patrons (and average citizens, for that matter), with only two 'policemen' to control things (one of which is Kurt Kasznar, a chubby, greedy little prefect who holds Wayne in near-indentured servitude, to collect on fines...uh, Duke controlled by HIM? Not likely!) In the midst of all the silliness, there was one surprisingly uncensored scene with a potent sexual energy; during a sandstorm, Wayne, Loren, and Brazzi are huddled under a sheet; the sand, pounding against it, causes Loren to cry out, writhing, in pain and fear, and Wayne climbs on top of her to take the brunt of the storm. Her facial expressions and moans, as she squirms beneath him, and he stares at her face, convey far more eroticism than any 'love' scene in "Legend of the Lost", and is quite unconventional for any film from 1957 (especially a JOHN WAYNE one!) Could a more polished screenplay and a bigger budget saved this film? Who knows...but it would have made Henry Hathaway's job a LOT easier!