Supposedly based on a novel but it feels very much influenced by H Rider Haggard's She. This was the first movie made by Maria Montez after she left Universal, and is pretty much like the sort of film she made for them - with the crucial difference of it not being in colour. This is extremely frustrating.
Still, it's enjoyable in that junky way. Her real life husband Jean Pierre Aumont, who isn't very charismatic, is a French Foreign Legion officer who is discovered in the desert. He talks about Atlantis and killing his friend. It turns out he was lured to a lost kingdom of Atlantis ruled by a beautiful queen who has a liking for hunky men - she uses them and spits them out, with Henry Daniell as her pimp.
That's a campy set up and to add to the fun there's some exotic dances and scenes of Montez playing chess, and men being tormented by desire. Plus there's some stylish shots such as Aumont being covered in sand. Maria isn't very good - she's looking a bit old to be honest - but she does add to this piece's charm.
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