By today's standards, this is a pretty bad movie. However, for lovers of classic Hollywood films (particularly escapist adventure movies), this is a very rare treat--and thanks to Buster Keaton for saving a single copy so we can see this amazing flick today.
The film begins in Britain. An American young man (Randolph Scott) has been called back to his ancestral land to see his Uncle--a man he has never met. The Uncle is dying but wants to convey a strange story to him--a story about a distant relative who disappeared 500 years looking for a magic radioactive flame that has the ability to keep someone young forever. Scott is somehow convinced to leave with his Uncle's good friend (Nigel Bruce) in search of this odd flame. Along the way, they meet up with a nice lady (Helen Mack) and they head to the mountains to where this relative went centuries earlier.
Once they find this fanciful land, they and the audience are in shock to see amazing sets, weird and highly choreographed dancing, "King Kong"-like sets and a very bitter woman who is "She". It seems that She has been waiting for Scott to arrive...waiting 500 years for his return! Unfortunately, She is also a very bitter and nasty lady--and yet she offers him the secret of eternal life! The film is crazy to watch today because of the incredible scope and sense of silly escapist fun--something you rarely ever see any more (except, perhaps, with the Indiana Jones films). It evokes a fun time in film making when movies like "Lost Horizon", "The Cobra Woman" and serials were all the rage. Sure, the dialog is a bit heavy-handed and silly and the dancing is darn funny--but it's also very captivating and pleasant fun.
Oh, and the film's female lead, Helen Gahagan, later was famous as the woman Richard Nixon beat through a rather disreputable smear campaign. In response, she coined the term "Tricky Dick Nixon".
The film begins in Britain. An American young man (Randolph Scott) has been called back to his ancestral land to see his Uncle--a man he has never met. The Uncle is dying but wants to convey a strange story to him--a story about a distant relative who disappeared 500 years looking for a magic radioactive flame that has the ability to keep someone young forever. Scott is somehow convinced to leave with his Uncle's good friend (Nigel Bruce) in search of this odd flame. Along the way, they meet up with a nice lady (Helen Mack) and they head to the mountains to where this relative went centuries earlier.
Once they find this fanciful land, they and the audience are in shock to see amazing sets, weird and highly choreographed dancing, "King Kong"-like sets and a very bitter woman who is "She". It seems that She has been waiting for Scott to arrive...waiting 500 years for his return! Unfortunately, She is also a very bitter and nasty lady--and yet she offers him the secret of eternal life! The film is crazy to watch today because of the incredible scope and sense of silly escapist fun--something you rarely ever see any more (except, perhaps, with the Indiana Jones films). It evokes a fun time in film making when movies like "Lost Horizon", "The Cobra Woman" and serials were all the rage. Sure, the dialog is a bit heavy-handed and silly and the dancing is darn funny--but it's also very captivating and pleasant fun.
Oh, and the film's female lead, Helen Gahagan, later was famous as the woman Richard Nixon beat through a rather disreputable smear campaign. In response, she coined the term "Tricky Dick Nixon".