Secret of the Incas (1954)

The Worst Film Ever

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

I like the Incas and Machu Picchu; but this film is not even as good as the Donald Duck version that I once read in Comics and Stories. It just lies there dead in the water. A sleazy version of Indiana Jones by the not-so-great actor, Charlton Heston, who plays the aptly named Harry Steel, does not help. Nor does the casting of a heavy, Tomas Mitchell, as a fat old rival for a rare Inca treasure. Robert Young is ok, as is the B actress female lead. The photography is good, but the FOUR musical solos by the Inca singer (one would have been MORE than enough) led me have several gin and tonics to get through the film. Watch it ONLY if you love Inca stories, and get ready Fast Forward all the musical numbers by the Inca singer.

Harry Steele (Charlton Heston) is working as a tour guide of sorts in the Peru. However, his ultimate goal is the treasure he believes he can find high in the mountains at Machu Picchu. Into his life walks a woman with the answers to his prayers - a plane that can get him to the top of the mountain. But she brings something else - he falls for her. In the end, what will it be - treasure or love?As others have pointed out, the comparisons with Indiana Jones are more than obvious - dress, map room, search for treasure, etc. When Secret of the Incas focuses on the adventure and the search for gold, it's very good. Too bad melodrama too often gets in the way of a good time - but wasn't that the case in a lot of these 50s era adventure films. Charlton Heston is quit good here and very believable. Nicole Maurey, whom I don't remember seeing before, is a revelation. One of the real stars has to be the locations. The real life Peruvian sets are spectacular. Overall, not a bad way to spend 90 minutes.

Charlton Heston made two films in 1954, and both have a South American setting. Whereas the first, "The Naked Jungle", was filmed in the USA, with Florida standing in for the Brazilian jungle, the second, "Secret of the Incas", was actually shot on location in Peru. It is often regarded as an inspiration for "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and the Indiana Jones franchise. Heston's character Harry Steele is, admittedly, not a professional archaeologist; he is an adventurer who poses as a tourist guide but whose real reason for being in Peru is to find an ancient gold and jewelled Inca treasure. Legend has it that the Inca Empire fell when this object was stolen from the Temple of the Sun and that the Empire will be reborn once it is found and returned to its rightful place. Steele's costume, including a leather jacket and fedora hat, is similar to that worn by Harrison Ford in the Indiana Jones films, and at one point he even wears a light beard, something unusual in the fifties when Hollywood's leading men were nearly always clean-shaven. (Many people were upset when Gregory Peck appeared with a historically-accurate moustache in "The Gunfighter", a fictionalised biography of the Wild West outlaw Johnny Ringo). Although Steele he is the hero of the film, he is by no means wholly admirable. This was something of a departure for Heston, who normally specialised in playing the good guys. Christopher Leiningen, his character in "The Naked Jungle", may be rather stiff and lacking in human warmth, even towards his wife, but morally he is wholly upright. Steele is not. His initial intention towards the Inca artifact is to steal it; he is only the "hero" by comparison with his ruthless rival Ed Morgan. Only at the end does Steele have a change of heart. A subplot deals with his romance with a glamorous Romanian refugee named Elena Antonescu. We never discover Elena's full back-story, but she must have been a person of some consequence because the Romanian secret police have sent an agent all the way to Peru to persuade her to return to her homeland. "Secret of the Incas" is in many ways a standard action/adventure flick, but Heston always makes a very watchable action hero, and the striking photography of the Andean scenery lifts it above the level of the average fifties B-movie. it is often credited with popularising Machu Picchu as a tourist destination. 6/10

"Secret of the Incas" (1954) is, with out a doubt, a truly rip-roaring adventure movie. It shares uncanny resemblance too with "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and other Indiana Jones films. But I am not going to go into this with any depth, as another person, James Byrne, knows a lot more about it than I do. Having not seen it for along time, I can only remember the more memorable moments, such as: Harry Steele (Charlton Heston) nearly being killed by a sniper, who was under the orders of Ed Morgan (Thomas Mitchell), flying Nicole Maurey (Elena Antonescu) over to Machu Picchu, in Peru, and the exciting climax. For those of you who like fast moving adventure movies, with great performances, this is for you. It's such a shame that it has not come out on DVD yet.