It’s 1940, and the British are in dire need of funds to keep their war effort going. Fortunately, they’ve just received a report of a “Lost City” somewhere in Africa that’s sitting on a fortune in diamonds. Unfortunately, they don’t have information on it’s exact location. Time to call in a crack team of adventurers to find it before the Nazis do!

The “crack team” consists of The Colonel (Robin Bailey), his butler / assistant Tombs (Graham Stark), and our titular heroine Jane (Kirsten Hughes). Opposing them at every step along the way is a team of Nazis, led by Lola Pagola (Maud Adams), with her “muscle” Carl (Ian Roberts), trained assassin Heinrich (Jasper Carrot), and expert on Africa Dr. Schell (John Rapley).

If this sounds like a mashup of Raiders of the Lost Ark and King Solomon’s Mines, you win. I don’t know what you win, but you win something….

You might also notice that only one of those major characters has a proper, full name – and that name (Lola Pagola) is clearly a silly one. That ought to clue you in that the movie is a comedy. It’s actually based on a comic strip that was popular in the UK during WWII. Churchill is said to have hated it and wanted it banned, but it was too popular – especially with the troops, who evidently liked that Jane would frequently manage to have her outer clothing removed.

That happens here, too. Not so often that it becomes tiresome, but often enough to qualify as a running gag. One has to wonder what their budget was for tear-away clothing….

Anyway, soon after arriving in Africa (after surviving an off-screen plane crash that didn’t even dirty their clothing), Jane & Co. meet up with “Jungle” Jack Buck (Sam Jones), an American adventurer who will serve as their guide. By this time, you should have become aware that everyone is just a little bit on the “less competent” side of things. The movie is a comedy, after all. Not so incompetent as to make the movie a farce, but enough so that you have to wonder if there really wasn’t anyone else that could have been sent on the mission (on both sides).

I’ve mentioned before that there are movies that can be called “Idiot Pictures”. Although this one is definitely on the Dumb side, I don’t think it sinks that low. It knows it’s a comedy, but doesn’t waste time with forced jokes or winking at the camera. And it never really gets tiresome. It does have its worthwhile moments, like the “tango” scene in the bar at the cheap hotel that’s the base of operations for both teams.

Of course, thanks to a “fortuitous” bit of luck, the Good Guys manage to collect and return a nice amount of diamonds. The Bad Guys are all humiliated. And the cast gets to put another item on their IMDB pages. It’s all harmless fun. You might find it tedious, but I actually rather enjoyed it. It’s a movie where you really can leave your brain outside the theater and just relax.