Secret of the Incas

As another review noted, it's kitsch and camp. There's also appeal in seeing Heston in an early role and having as a villain the absent minded uncle from It's a Wonderful Life. TV's Marcus Welby also shows up, equally stiff playing a lonely archaeologist. There's also a white Australian in really bad tanning makeup playing an Indian named Pachacutik.

The biggest appeal for me and many others is its glimpse of Peruvian Indians. IOW, whenever Heston and the other white actors step aside and let us see a bit of the real Peru. Large parts of the film show Quechua Indians, esp three great musical numbers from the legendary Yma Sumac.

Other parts are pretty revealing of the colonial mentality of the times, incredibly ignorant parts that make anyone who knows anything about Peru laugh out loud: Pachacutik as an Indian name? That's like an Italian calling himself Tiberius.

Machu Pichu as a "lost" city in 1954? When it already had thousands of visitors a day.

A hokey prophecy that "Incan" Indians have been waiting on? That's just as fake as the 2012 hoax.

Calling them "Incan" Indians is like calling Italians "Caesars." That's the title of emperors.

And also, Heston's Spanish is incredibly bad. His pronunciation is so impossible to understand it becomes a dialect unknown in Heaven or Earth.

So whenever someone white speaks in the film, don't rely on it as truth about Peru or its Natives. The other scenes, yes, definitely worth seeing.

ETA: I'm glad of the strong reactions to my review, both the downvotes and the higher than I expected number of up votes. Good to know some others feel the same.

The sunlight coming into the cave reflecting off the golden 'mirror' that Heston holds that then reveals the location of the treasure of the Incas remains in my mind as one of the most persistent movie memories from when I was nine years old in 1954 watching the film at the Bing Theater in Springfield, MA. Years later, Steven Spielberg seems to have been influenced by that image and includes a similar scene in "Raiders of the Lost Ark". I can't help but think that Mr. Speilberg must also have seen the "Secret" fresh on the big screen when he was a child. And I cannot find the movie at any, as yet, visited video store to rent it and thereby return to the marvelous scenes of the Andes and the stirring sounds of singer Ima Sumac's four-octave range present at least once in the film. All other movie book references to Heston's work seem to omit this forgotten 'gem' of an enjoyable film that filled one memorable Saturday afternoon at the neighborhood cinema.

Good action story of archaeologist-explorer (Heston) in search of lost fabled treasure of gold in ancient city of the Incas. Filmed partly on location in Peru, with a good script, fair direction, and strong performances by a good cast. This is the movie that gave George Lucas and Steven Spielberg the idea for their INDIANA JONES movies and character; compare Heston to Harrison Ford's character; he's got it down to the fedora, khakis, and whip! The scene in the cave with the light beam focused on the Inca treasure is impressive, and very similar to Indy's Map Room scene in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981). Great locations, adventures, in beautiful Technicolor, but lacked the sure hand of a great director. One can easily visualize Heston as Indiana Jones in this film; he worked in this one immediately following George Pal's "THE NAKED JUNGLE" in 1954, just two years before Cecil B. DeMille made him a superstar as Moses in "The Ten Commandments" (1956). Vibrant, eerie mood music is featured by the stunningly amazing Peruvian singer Yma Sumac, a descendant of the Incas, who had a major singing career in the Fifties and remains a cult figure today. Highly recommended. Why isn't this out on video?

The main reason to watch Secret Of The Incas is for a glimpse at Peruvian Indian culture, something like it was before Pizarro and the Spaniards got there. The location cinematography in the Peruvian Andes is stunning as well as the sequences depicting the remnants of the Incas. Otherwise though Secret Of The Incas is a potboiler adventure flick set in an unusual vacation.

For a guy who played such noble heroes in film, Charlton Heston plays one of the more disreputable roles in his career as Harry Steele who urges all to call him Harry. He's an American stranded in a really backwater part of Peru and living off the tourists providing all kinds of services. When we first meet him he's getting paid from Marion Ross for some really special interest. Later on the married Glenda Farrell attracts his attention, but he discards her for Nicole Maurey, a refugee from behind the Iron Curtain that the Romanians want back although the film never really explains why. So much so that their consul Leon Askin is giving it his personal attention though I think his interests are really personal as are Heston's.

But Askin does have a private plane and Heston knows how to fly so he and Maurey take off for an even more remote part of Peru where they believe an Inca treasure is buried. It's a yellow sunburst made of gold and expensive jewels. Like the Maltese Falcon worth the hunt. But a dig organized by archaeologist Robert Young is in the way. And an even bigger low life than Heston shows up and declares his interest in the treasure and that's Thomas Mitchell.

The color cinematography also does justice to Nicole Maurey's beauty as well as the Peruvian landscape. Thomas Mitchell creates an interesting portrait of an aging crook, living by his wits in a racket he should have gotten out of a long time ago. But his way of living is the only thing he knows. Heston's motivations for turning good guy are not really ringing true, though he doesn't turn quite so good. I will say some adult themes are explored and hinted at here that would not have passed Code muster five years earlier.

Paramount lifted this one a bit from its true origins by location cinematography and some A list players in the cast. But Secret Of The Incas is really just your average potboiler adventure story.

"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.