Il segreto degli Incas

This exciting picture deals with a ruthless adventurer called Harry Steele (Charlton Heston) wearing brown leather jacket, fedora, tan pants, over-the-shoulder bag, and wielding revolver and is hunting a priceless Inca jewel . As he searchers for hidden treasure in the Peruvian jungles . He is accompanied by a gorgeous drifter named Elena Antonescu (Nicole Maurey), a refugee fleeing from communists . She can help him get a plane and he can help her escape Peru for the relative safety of Mexico ; as she more than matches him as the feisty heroine who follows him through mountains , rivers , cliffs and all kind dangers .

Jungle thriller plenty of tremendous adventures , action , a love story , and wonderful scenarios . This is a 1950-style high adventure and driven along with enormous panaché , including enjoyable screenplay from Sydney Bohen and Ronald MacDougall . Hopper direction is uninspired , the Pine-Thomas unit in Paramount gave him his first chance at filmmaking , but his movies for them , though attractively set , all-action subjects such as this ¨The secret of Incas ¨and ¨Hurricane Smith¨ were not specially distinguished . Charlton Heston is pretty good as a rough adventurer ; here is a rugged as well as rogue young transformed into a intrepid man of action at the drop of his spectacles . Heston had played for director Hopper , two passable films : the historical Western ¨Pony Express¨ and ¨The private war of Major Benson¨ , a comedy about the relationship between a martinet commander and a very small cadet . Charlton Heston gets nice support cast from veteran Hollywood characters such as Thomas Mitchell , Glenda Farrell , Michael Pate , Leon Askin and Robert Young , in fact it was the final theatrical film of this veteran actor , who thereafter moved exclusively into television, where he enjoyed a highly successful career for over 30 years . The movie is often cited as a direct inspiration for the Indiana Jones franchise of films, with many of the scenes in Secret of the Incas bearing a striking resemblance in tone and structure to scenes in Raiders of the Lost Ark . Adequate special effects by the veteran John P.Fulton and and colorful cinematography by Lionel Lindon, though is urgent a perfect remastering . Being set on location in Cuzco , Peruvian jungles and Machu Pichu , Peru . Evocative Original Music by David Buttolph , including strange as well as hypnotic songs sung by Yma Sumac as Kori-Tica ,she is billed third on the posters .

The motion picture produced by Mel Epstein was professionally directed by Jerry Hopper , but with no enthusiasm . Hopper firstly worked for Paramount , them he crossed to Universal and immediately proved himself on more intimate subjects , particularly those with veins of comedy or sentiment . Hopper directed all kind of genres such as Western : Madron , Pony Express , The Bull of the West ; gritty Thriller : Naked alibi , The Atomic City , The square jungle ; Comedy : The private war of Major Benson ; Adventures : Alaska seas , The Sharkfighters , and The Missouri traveler, it was the best of Hopper's later movies before he became entrenched in television . As Jerry Hooper also filmed a great quantity of TV episodes such as Voyage to the bottom of the sea , The fugitive , Perry Mason , Shenandoah , Adams family , Caravan and Gunsmoke .

I have been to Cusco and Machu Picchu many times, and was surprised to see this movie was actually filmed in Cusco, Peru.In 1954 it must have been an incredible trip to make, as it was very remote. I thought at first they would use a small Mexican town to simulate Peru, but I was amazed that Heston was actually filmed in Cusco. However, I do not believe I saw a scene with him actually in Machu Picchu. Many background shots with him in front.But parts of the movie were filmed in Machu Picchu, so at least the crew and some actors must have made the trip.It is even hard to get to MP now , so in 1954 it must have been quite a journey. I was thrilled to see Cusco when I saw the movie this year for the first time. I actually think that Heston was the role model for Indiana Jones. The outfit he wore and the instant archeology that modern movies portray.

'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.

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.

"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.