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.

Several years ago I met a Production Assistant who worked on RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and was told an interesting story: that SECRET OF THE INCAS was indeed the inspiration for RAIDERS... but it went much further than that. The PA stated that George Lucas had seen SECRET years before and adapted the story into his own vision for Indiana Jones. Lucas screened SECRET -in secret- for Spielberg who immediately attached himself to the project. Here's where it gets interesting: Spielberg quickly negotiated the rights to SECRET and the contract demanded it be shelved and never released in the United States so there couldn't be any direct comparisons to RAIDERS. That's why even today you can't buy an official NTSC copy of SECRET; my region-free disc came from the U.K.! And the similarities between Heston's costume and Harrison Ford's some 30 years later were no accident, either: the PA told me that the RAIDERS creative staff were required to watch SECRET and use it as source material as much as possible to save production time/expense. And, it's clear they took a lot of notes! Others have mentioned the obvious similarities, but there's another really quick one that most people overlook: it's a little musical phrase on the SECRET soundtrack that is identical to one that John Williams used later on when he scored RAIDERS. Listen closely and it'll jump right out at you. Another coincidence? I'm not so sure! Further, Charlton Heston was famous for talking about his filmmaking experiences, yet he never directly -or publicly- mentioned SECRET... not even in his detailed autobiography, "In The Arena". He would only say that he once made a film high in the Andes where it was very difficult to breathe! Privately he allegedly had plenty to say: that he was contractually prohibited from mentioning his work on SECRET and that he seriously resented the fact that Spielberg had so thoroughly usurped his character and with little alteration turned it into the cult-status-cash-cow that Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones attained.

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?

An American adventurer in Cuzco, Peru, halfheartedly works as a tour guide, but his real interest is a priceless Incan artifact. He schemes to steal a Romanian official's plane to make it to the lost city of Machu Picchu in the remote high country of the Andes, where he's surprised to discover an archaeological dig is taking place. Robert Young plays the leader of the scientists.

"Secret of the Incas" (1954) is an adventure flick that became the blueprint for Indiana Jones in the 80s, the first film of course being the exceptional "Raiders of the Lost Ark." While Harry Steele (Heston) certainly dresses like Indiana Jones, he's not a noble professor; he's a cynical and avaricious treasure hunter, not to mention opportunist. In the last act there is a tomb sequence featuring a revealing shaft of light similar to the Map Room scene in "Raiders."

Being shot in 1953, this naturally has a quainter tone by comparison. The first 45 minutes, for instance, entirely take place in a remote Andes town with a lot of talk and little action, which might turn off fans of Indiana Jones. But I enjoyed Heston's towering presence and nonchalant mojo. His character, Harry Steele, is similar to Taylor in "Planet of the Apes" (1968), just fourteen years younger.

The Andes sequences are scenic and striking Peruvian vocalist Yma Sumac plays the role of Kori-Tica with a couple of extraordinary singing sequences. Meanwhile Nicole Maurey is sharp as the Romanian defector, Elena.

The film runs 1 hour, 41 minutes, and was shot in Peru at Cuzco and Machu Picchu with (obvious) studio scenes done at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. The studio sets are surprisingly well done and convincing enough.

GRADE: B-/B.

'Secret of the Incas' never really gets going, for me.

I adore that it was filmed on location in Peru, it gives us some beautiful shots of the South American country; most notably of Machu Picchu. That's where the greatness ends though. It isn't a poor film by any means, but nothing else springs to mind in a positive manner about it.

The cast are solid if a little mundane. Charlton Heston does a fine job in the lead role as Harry, with Thomas Mitchell supporting competently. The plot execution is what lets this down in my opinion, as it's an attractive premise but never feels like the majestic adventure that it should be.