Exotic Adventure

Ms. Spenser was off for the weekend, so I tried another experiment in watching lots of maybe-not-so-great movies. I'll be blogging them in pairs, matched thematically. First, old-fashioned exotic adventure.

Secret of the Incas (1954) is known mostly as the movie where Charlton Heston acts as the prototype for Indiana Jones. Harry Steele (Heston) wears a beat-up leather jacket and fedora, acting as a tour guide and amateur gigolo in Cuzco. He picks out middle-aged Glenda Farrell (or she picks him out) as his latest conquest. 

But is real passion is treasure hunting. He's looking for clues to the hiding place of the great Inca gold sunburst, working with local scuzzball Thomas Mitchell (Uncle Billy from It's a Wonderful Life). Uncle Billy tells him of a new woman coming to town on a truck - that means she doesn't have any papers.

She turns out to be Nicole Maury, a Romanian refugee who is desperate to get to America. Since she doesn't have any money, you know how she's been paying her way. When Farrell comments that Heston is "changing horses in mid-stream", he grins at her and says, "Wouldn't you?" He is a cad.

The last act takes place in Machu Picchu, where we meet archeologist Robert Young, who is also taken with Maury. So Heston will have to steal the sunburst from under their noses. He knows where it is based on the old "light from a window reflected of the shiny thing placed in the secret spot" that Dr. Jones popularized. 

The movie also features vocal acrobat Yma Sumac both as a native servant and as singer on the soundtrack. That, plus the Cuzco and Machu Picchu locations would make this a great watch. But Heston is maybe too much of a heel to make it completely enjoyable.

The Indian Tomb (1959) is a Fritz Lang film, based on a book by his wife, Thea von Harbou. It is the sequel to Tigers of Enchnapur, which I couldn't find easily, so I skipped it. Prince Ramigani (Rene Deltgen) is in love with temple dancer Seetha (Debra Paget), who has run away with German engineer Paul Hubschmid. Deltgen wants him dead and her returned. 

While they are on the run, Deltgen's sister and her brother, another German engineer are brought in to build a tomb for the prince's lost love. When he finds out that she's not dead, just lost, and that she hates him, he wants out. But they are held captive.

The movie is filmed in India, including the water palace Jal Mahal. It's full of exotic locales and characters, but also (like Incas) a lot of brown face makeup. There are some tigers, but no tiger attacks (maybe in part 1?). Really, the biggest draw is Paget's extended dance sequence, where her costume is a strapless, backless bra and open-sided bikini. And it's not because she's a fabulous dancer. 

Both of these were more fun that I would have guessed, which is good enough for a bachelor's weekend.