6/10
Enjoy it just for the sets
16 February 2010
The dubbing although well done does nonetheless cause the acting to appear rather wooden. It would perhaps be better subtitled. The script and some of the characterisations were better than average. But the single thing which makes this film truly remarkable is the scale of the sets. A staircase which appeared to be perhaps 200 feet wide and rising perhaps 80 feet led into a building which towered above it AND went back perhaps 100 feet. The remainder of the building was not painted on glass because people could be seen walking between it and the camera. Tiny figures walked up the steps. Was the set really that big? It was bigger than anything seen from Hollywood yet it was only on screen for perhaps a minute. Another set had a vast colonnaded hall - with a ceiling perhaps 100 feet high.

Although handsomely shot in B&W, it was though a shame that the film was not in colour - Princess Balkis's eyes were supposedly "as blue as ultramarine" - here they were as grey as a foggy day in London
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