1969 - THE SOUTHERN STAR aka L'Étoile du sud)

The Southern Star is supposedly based on a book by Jules Verne although I doubt Verne wrote any bathing scenes for Ursula Andress back in 1884.

The plot has American George Segal who is engaged to Ursula Andress in pursuit of a legendary diamond in West Africa.   Through a lot of rather contrived plotting they are on the run from a corrupt police official and his officers.  Things come to head when everyone ends up at a camp run by a corpulent Orson Welles in another "where's my paycheck," performance.

 

This is not a great movie but I guess if you are in the mood to watch a movie shot on location in Senegal with lots of wild animals running around and Ursuala Andress doing a nude scene, this is the film for you.  George Segal plays it light and loose with an attitude of I know this movie is preposterous.  Orson Welles probably turns in the most amusing performance he was always a real scene stealer in other director's films.

The director was Sidney Hayers who had extensive experience in TV and film with action scenes.  The oddest thing about this film is the involvement of legendary cameraman Raoul Coutard.  Coutard has always been associated with the French New Wave working with Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut and later with Costa-Gavras.  I guess even Coutard had to make the house payment just like everyone else which can be the only explanation for his involvement in this film.

 The film was written by David Pursall and Jack Seddon. The running time is 106 minutes.