Treffpunkt Honduras

There are eight passengers aboard the ship when it puts in at port in Nicaragua: Zachary Scott, his wife, Ann Sheridan, five men bound for prison, and Glenn Ford, carrying money for a Honduran revolution. He's denied entry, so Ford frees the prisoners, and they escape into the jungle, headed for Honduras, carrying the married couple with them as, well, plot points.

Most of the movie is about getting through the jungle and its deadly fauna. Ford plays his role close to his vest so it's impossible to tell whether he's a good guy, or a bad guy. Either way, he clearly lusts for Miss Sheridan, Scott lusts for the cash he's carrying, and the escaped prisoners want the money, a gold mine Mr. Scott knows the location of, and to get out of the country,

Director Jacques Tourneur clearly views this as a job for hire, getting over the plot points, having DP Joseph Biroc point the camera to point out the lush jungle in the Los Angeles Botanical Gardens, and stages, and so forth. Scott, playing one of his weak-but-greedy characters, offers a good performance. Ford seems disengaged, and the Central American criminals, including Jack Elam, ham it up.

Steve Corbett (Glen Ford) is given a mission to find a former Honduras president who was recently deposed in a result of a coup d'etat in order to give him money that will help him to come back to power. In order to do that he is made to join a group of prisoners who were being transported on a boat, force the captain to take them to the shore and set them free, taking as hostages an American couple (played by Ann Sheridan and Zachary Scott) and embark on a dangerous journey through Central American jungle in order to fulfill his mission whatever the cost.

Though the film has it's interesting moments, such as location shots of the jungle and it's inhabitants, the story is weak with uninteresting characters not managing to convince one to care for them. 5/10

Director Jacques Tourneur was not only excellent in the horror element: CAT PEOPLE, LEOPARD MEN, NIGHT OF THE DEMON; western: WICHITA, WAY OF A GAUCHO; crime thrillers: OUT OF THE PAST ; but also in adventures: FLAME AND THE ARROW, ANNE OF THE INDIES, and this one, despite the obvious settings without any locations, but a simple studio lot in Los Angeles. This is full of charm, tension, character depiction, supporting roles which are exquisite to watch. Ann Sheridan brings her delightful touch to this men's tale, and Zachary Scott is as convincing as ever in the villain role. An important film in Jacques Tourneur's filmography.

Glenn Ford rocks as a sort of Jungle-Adventurer who battles everyone in the movie and is involved in ALL the action. I have been to all the countries they mention in the movie and agree with how rustic those areas are. Everybody who searches the jungle wants gold and treasure. Ford arms and leads a group of modern day pirates who don't trust each other and end up turning against everyone. Glenn Ford ends up with Ann Sheridan and all ends well.

On board a tramp steamer sailing of the coast of South America is Corbett – a mysterious man trying to get to Honduras. However with a revolution raging within its borders, the captain refuses to land there. Desperate to get his package to the leaders of the counter-revolution, Corbett frees some prisoners on the ship and takes control. Drifting close enough to the coast to make it into the delta and head up river, they take a rich American couple (the Sheppards) along for the ride as hostages. However none of them are really prepared for a jungle voyage that sees them face crocodiles, tiger fish, ants, pumas and the Honduran military.

When I started this film I was a bit put off by the stiff tone but I didn't know anything about the Honduran revolution and thought it would be interesting. Very quickly I found that this backdrop was no more than the background for a fairly standard jungle adventure film that sees all the usual stuff bring rolled out in regards animal attacks etc. The story is not that interesting on the surface and I did find it hard to really get into even with such a short running time; however it did have some interesting aspects at times that it could (and should) have made more of. Chiefly the power battle between Corbett and Reyes is too obvious for the most part and could have been written with more subtlety and intelligence – it produces some good stuff and a reasonable conclusion. The dynamics between Corbett and Harry Sheppard while Sylvia appears to long for the tough man over her own husband is very interesting but given too little time – but still made me wake up every so often.

Unfortunately the film tends to shy away from this stuff in favour of more crowd-pleasing stuff with all the usual animal attacks. Wrestling with pumas and shooting at stock footage crocodiles is not great fun but I did draw breath at the stock footage of a crocodile being picked bare by tiger fish. The effects for ants and flies are terrible by modern standards and may get some laughs but none of it is really exciting. The cast do OK when given the chance with the material but mostly they are pretty average. Ford is nothing special and is mostly just tough jawed and nothing more. Acosta's Reyes is by the numbers and his crew match him. Sheridan and Scott are more interesting and their tense interplay is interesting – sadly they are not the focus and they really could have bee better used than this.

Overall this is an average jungle adventure film with all the usual fare in a plot that doesn't really use its setting very well. The plot does allow some interesting stuff in the characters but these are not made the most of, leaving a film that is fairly enjoyable but is really nothing special and is certainly not comparable to the more famous films in the Jacques Tourneur back catalogue.