Appointment in Honduras

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.

It was with some interest that I read that Appointment in Honduras was shot in the Los Angeles Botanical Gardens serving as the Central American jungle. We should probably be grateful that RKO did spring for color and did not use the old King Kong set once again.

I can see the minds at RKO now (read Howard Hughes). Rita Hayworth is Harry Cohn's main meal ticket at Columbia, no getting here, but we can probably get Glenn Ford's services. Since they were such a popular screen team, we can team Ford with another redhead and see if the public will buy it. Ann Sheridan was past her best days and she'd work cheap, so the team of Ford and Sheridan was sent to the tropics.

Central America was in the news at the time. The Central Intelligence Agency had a big hand in overthrowing the government in Guatemala of Jacobo Arbenz. Ford's role is rather unclear in this film. At the end he identifies himself as a planter, but I suspect he's probably got some CIA involvement.

The film opens with Ford on a tramp steamer off Central America. He's got a mission of some kind and HAS to get off there, but the captain won't stop. So Ford's got some bad choices to make. He frees some convicts headed by Rudolfo Acosta to help him get ashore. They in turn take quarreling couple, Zachary Scott and Ann Sheridan along as hostages. Acosta's idea, not Ford's.

After that it's a competition between the steamy jungle and the steamier romance heating up between Ford and Sheridan. The two of them do their best, but they're not Ford and Hayworth. It's definitely not Gilda, it's not even Affair in Trinidad.

Some nice color cinematography of the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanical Gardens is the best thing about Appointment in Honduras. Maybe it might stimulate one to go there to see where a Thanksgiving beauty was shot.

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.

This movie has an interesting plot. A wealthy couple is taken hostage and taken through the jungle of Honduras by bandits and Corben, a man that tries to set the group to his hand with promises and lies if necessary. They don't only have to fight the dangers of a jungle, but there's also a strong film noir element going on with the characters. They are all different and have all different plans with their future, but have to put up with each other to survive the jungle. It's a bit like how the characters in Ford's Stagecoach are played out against/for each other. The movie feels somewhat dated since it's so obvious it is recorded in studios, but like most Tourneurs, it's fine for a late rainy night at home. APPOINTMENT IN HONDURAS couldn't get my attention throughout the whole movie though, but I'll keep the video tape still. 5/10

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.