Eve (1968 film)

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Eve
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJeremy Summers
Screenplay byPeter Welbeck
Produced byHarry Alan Towers
StarringRobert Walker
Fred Clark
Herbert Lom
Christopher Lee
Celeste Yarnall
CinematographyManuel Merino
Edited byAlan Morrison
Music byMalcolm Lockyer
Distributed byAnglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors (UK) Commonwealth United Corporation (US)
Release date
July 1968 (New Orleans) (USA) (premiere)
Running time
94 min.
CountrySpain / UK / Liechtenstein / USA
LanguageEnglish

Eve (also known as The Face of Eve, Eva, Eva en la Selva, Eve in the Jungle, and Diana, Daughter of the Wilderness[1]) is a 1968 thriller film directed by Jeremy Summers and starring Robert Walker, Fred Clark, Herbert Lom, Christopher Lee and Celeste Yarnall.[2]

Plot[edit]

An explorer looking for a priceless missing Inca treasure in the Amazon jungle runs across a bikini clad and barefoot young woman named Eve, who is worshipped as a goddess by jungle natives. Eve is also being pursued by a showman who wants her for his freak show; by the natives who now want to kill her for helping a white man; and by an explorer, Eve's grandfather, who wants to silence her.[3]

Cast[edit]

Production[edit]

The film was a co-production between Britain, Spain, Liechtenstein and the United States, and location scenes were filmed in Brazil.[4]

When the director quit midway through filming, Spanish horror film director Jesus Franco was brought in to finish the job.[5]

The fur bikini worn by Celeste Yarnall was altered from that worn by Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C. (1966).[6]

Song credits[edit]

Lyric by Hal Shaperl, sung by Jago Simms.

Critical reception[edit]

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: " 'Say, Eve, you seen any good caves around here lately?' quips the intrepid white explorer to the blonde jungle girl in what one assumes to be the only intentionally comic moment of this exceedingly tedious trek along the Amazon. The sight of Eve emerging from her well-appointed cave in one of her quick-change bikini numbers and scattering the awe-struck headhunters with an imperious glance and a crack of her whip promises something on the lines of the happier days of Tarzan and Jane, but thereafter this splendidly improbable grande dame of the jungle is relegated to a minor role and the rest is crassly scripted nonsense padded out with a few library snippets of what passes for the local fauna."[7]

TV Guide called it a "very poorly done story of a Tarzaness."[3]

Dave Sindelar wrote in Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings: "it's a dull affair, especially during the long middle section where the hero returns to civilization, and any interest it does generate is more due to the presence of several familiar faces (Herbert Lom, Christopher Lee, Fred Clark) than anything that actually happens. One fun thing to do in the movie is to keep track of how many characters die as a result of their own monumental stupidity; I count at least three."[8]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Institute, American Film (1997). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the ... - Google Books. ISBN 9780520209701.
  2. ^ "Eve". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Eve". TV Guide.
  4. ^ "Eve (1968) - Notes - TCM.com". Turner Classic Movies.
  5. ^ Mann, Dave (20 October 2014). Harry Alan Towers. ISBN 9780786479825.
  6. ^ Louis Paul, Tales from the Cult Film Trenches, p. 310, McFarland, 2007, ISBN 0786429941
  7. ^ "Eve". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 37 (432): 105. 1 January 1970 – via ProQuest.
  8. ^ Fantastic Movie Musings & Ramblings. "Fantastic Movie Musings & Ramblings - EVE (1968)". scifilm.org. Archived from the original on 14 December 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.

External links[edit]