She (1965)

Addressing the maxims that you should never touch an Englishman's hat without permission and that you should be wary of trusting a beautiful lady completely, Dir. Robert Day's version of the H. Rider Haggard novel She: A History of Adventure (1887) moves the setting decades forward to Palestine, 1918. Three Brits, Peter Cushing, Bernard Cribbins and John Richardson hunt for a fabled lost city wherein the titular high priestess She, a dubbed-over Ursula Andress in her nightie, holds dominion over the entire population.
The arduous traipse across the desert feels too brief, but it leaves more time for events within the exotic locale and the actors keep it mildly interesting.
She's showy royal garb is fantastic, making her look like an ancestor of the Sorceress from He-Man, but the film itself is less memorable.

2½ burning desires out of 5

Clash of the Titans (1981)

A heroic fantasy based upon the legend of Perseus and his beloved Andromeda. It's an impressive collection of Greek mythology set pieces stitched into a standard quest structure, directed by Desmond Davis but perhaps remembered most as the swansong of FX man Ray Harryhausen.
The opening is horrifying in its implication. It leads to Perseus (Harry Hamlin) being controlled like some kind of living action figure by the Gods, favoured by Zeus (Laurence Olivier) due to his being an extra-marital offspring of the wild-oats sowing beardy, but jealously despised by some of the others.
In essence, coming out as it did early in the decade, the film also feels as if it's being pushed and pulled from opposing sides: not as alluring as an actual 70s work but not yet full 80s in tone, it's personified best in Perseus' character. For me, Burgess Meredith and the stop-motion FX are the highlight.

3½ head-snakes out of 5

The Mountain of the Cannibal God (1978)

aka Slave of the Cannibal God

Sergio Martino delves deep into the jungle and takes a crack at the once burgeoning cannibal genre. On the search for her lost husband, the beautiful Ursula Andress enlists the help of a seasoned guide (Stacy Keach). Her allure seems to mesmerize not only the primitive natives but nearly every man in the film. It's not as repulsive as later entries like Cannibal Holocaust (1980) and Cannibal Ferox (1981), but it still manages to disgust with scenes of savagery and human peril. While the moments of wildlife in combat peppered throughout fail to progress the story, they add a touch of realism to the exotic setting. Martino never truly delivers on the explicitness promised in the title, yet nevertheless manages to produce a harrowing adventure film.

3 pig lovers out of 5