This movie is actually pretty good for what it is (a romance novel basically) and provides an enjoyable, light romance with plenty of over-the-top adventure.
Shields is very charming in the role of a wealthy, American, 1920's socialite with a dare-devil attitude and absolutely no experience with "real life". The daughter of the Packard mogul before the car is an American standard, she enters a race across the Sahara desert in order to secure the company's future. Partway through the race, she winds up getting kidnapped by John Rhys-Davies and is dragged off to his tribe's camp in the desert.
Lambert plays the sheik of the tribe (Davies is his uncle and second in command), and is about to go to war with a neighboring tribe when Shields is captured. Instantly smitten with Shields, Lambert tries to take her from Davies, who refuses to give her up. Lambert threatens to take her as a wife so that he alone can lay claim to her, and thus begins a chain of events which ties not only his fate, but the fate of his tribe, to her.
Shields, who of course is angry at getting kidnapped in the first place, is not happy when she finds out what Lambert has planned for her. She gets herself, her friends and eventually the entire tribe into tons of trouble trying to get away.
The movie features horses, scorpions, jungle cats (er yes, but they are fun to watch), battles, romance, betrayal, kidnap, rescue and of course, a cross-country race.
I tend to prefer strong female roles, and this character was awfully naive, but I enjoyed watching it anyway. If anyone else had played the part, it might have been irritating, but Shields managed to be charming throughout and relatively believable for the breadth of the role. Lambert is quite handsome, and the close work and romantic lighting of his eyes is often mesmerizing. There are lots of silly moments, relatively good action (though, the falling rocks are a bit much) and really enjoyable music. Ignoring the picture quality and all the technical marvels we enjoy today, it's relatively well-shot and edited and easy to watch.
A good movie for a rainy day.
Shields is very charming in the role of a wealthy, American, 1920's socialite with a dare-devil attitude and absolutely no experience with "real life". The daughter of the Packard mogul before the car is an American standard, she enters a race across the Sahara desert in order to secure the company's future. Partway through the race, she winds up getting kidnapped by John Rhys-Davies and is dragged off to his tribe's camp in the desert.
Lambert plays the sheik of the tribe (Davies is his uncle and second in command), and is about to go to war with a neighboring tribe when Shields is captured. Instantly smitten with Shields, Lambert tries to take her from Davies, who refuses to give her up. Lambert threatens to take her as a wife so that he alone can lay claim to her, and thus begins a chain of events which ties not only his fate, but the fate of his tribe, to her.
Shields, who of course is angry at getting kidnapped in the first place, is not happy when she finds out what Lambert has planned for her. She gets herself, her friends and eventually the entire tribe into tons of trouble trying to get away.
The movie features horses, scorpions, jungle cats (er yes, but they are fun to watch), battles, romance, betrayal, kidnap, rescue and of course, a cross-country race.
I tend to prefer strong female roles, and this character was awfully naive, but I enjoyed watching it anyway. If anyone else had played the part, it might have been irritating, but Shields managed to be charming throughout and relatively believable for the breadth of the role. Lambert is quite handsome, and the close work and romantic lighting of his eyes is often mesmerizing. There are lots of silly moments, relatively good action (though, the falling rocks are a bit much) and really enjoyable music. Ignoring the picture quality and all the technical marvels we enjoy today, it's relatively well-shot and edited and easy to watch.
A good movie for a rainy day.