The White Orchid

The location photography in Mexico is a noticeable plus in this adventure feature, which is watchable but just fair overall. The story follows a very familiar pattern, yet it opens up some good dramatic possibilities. The cast and characters don't always make full use of the opportunities, but there is enough to make it worth seeing.

William Lundigen stars as a diligent but rather small-minded archaeologist, who is reluctant to take a female photographer on an important and hazardous trip to a remote part of Mexico. Once the expedition is underway, he and the group's guide find themselves rivals for the photographer's attentions, which makes the hazardous situations they face even more difficult.

The combination of a love triangle with a hazardous quest is the kind of setup that can make for a fine movie, and this one gets enough out of the setup to be interesting, but it could have been quite a bit better. The dialogue is too bland to give the actors a lot to work with, and as the lead, Lundigen is believable but one-dimensional. Peggy Castle is attractive enough to make it easy to believe that the two males could make fools of themselves over her, but likewise she and her character remain one-dimensional. Armando Silvestre is somewhat more interesting as the guide.

On the plus side, the settings and the situation are interesting, and they offer a slight change of pace from the usual action film premises. Even with some of the color having faded from the print, the rugged scenery is often well worth seeing just for itself, and the outdoor photography adds considerably to the atmosphere. Overall, though it has some apparent flaws, it's not bad and it has some definite pluses.

This movie offers some good travel footage of Mexico, including the rarely visited (even today) Veracruz site of El Tajin, which despite the dialogue was built by neither the Toltecs, Aztecs, nor Mayans, but by Huastecan Indians of eastern Veracruz. I have seen this site and also the Voleadores flying from their high pole on festival days. Many reviewers have commented on the faded color quality. This film was almost certainly shot in the winter, when even the jungle is rather bare of leaves (dry tropical deciduous forest). Also, there is nothing close to being a desert between El Tajin and Chiapas, that must have filmed elsewhere. Description of vanilla orchid growth and artificial pollination is correct, although Mexico is the only place in the world where the natural vanilla bee pollinators live. I have this movie on a 20 Movie "Suspense" package from Mill Creek.

Robert "archaeologist" wants to record and study the lifestyle of an ancient civilization in the jungles of Mexico. The photographer elected to capture and record this historic moment is Catherine. A guide is needed to lead the expedition. Juan "a plantation owner" agrees to lead only because he has fallen in love with the "woman with golden hair." The aloof Robert fails in love with Catherine, but she first chooses "passionate" Juan. Robert ends up her second pick. The trio finally find the tribe but Catherine accidently leads to the death of the chief's son. She is to be sacrificed. At the end of this film the three battle the odds against the whole tribe.

Some good exterior scenes of plateaus and jungle landscape. The rest of the film suffers from the rather dullness of Robert. Even the love triangle theme fails to impact this film.

Peggy Castle was one lovely female...yessir. She was basically a dead ringer for Lana Turner. Unfortunately Hollywood already had Lana. Oh well. This film worked well for me. This is not your typical jungle adventure that looks to impress Tarzan fans first. No, this is a very adult Jungle adventure that should appeal to all of us who at one time or another have participated in the game of love.

Peggy Castle plays a photographer who skillfully plays one man off another in order to get what she wants. Of course it all blows up in a film noir kind of way and ends tragically. The little three way game of sexual one upmanship is directed well and reasonably well acted. The steam that Castle emanates goes a long way towards making this work. The color photography was nice, especially considering the great locales.

I enjoyed this quite nicely, in a weird way it reminded me of the second half of Gone With The Wind with the way the steamy melodrama unfolded. The action scenes that depicted the final events would have been better with slightly more authentic looking Indians. The rescue of the girl was highly improbable but the finale included an interesting little twist there with the unusual demise of the guide. I found this an interesting movie with very cool sexual undertones that kept me glued to my TV set. Unique...worth a look for a glimpse of Peggy Castle at her apex.

More a postcard of Mexico than a movie, despite which, actor William Lundigan stars as a straight-laced archaeologist who reluctantly takes stand-in photographer (Castle) along on an expedition where tensions grow as a love triangle evolves with local guide (Silvestre).

Interesting cast features the young Rosenda Monteros as Silvestre's scorned woman, the ill-fated Peggie Castle as the seductive snapper, and Latin heart-throb Silvestre as the bane of Lundigan's dapper but ultimately bland existence. The soap opera treatment services the romantic melodrama and sexual tension, leaving the action to compete for the sloppy seconds. At times, Lundigan looks like coitus interruptus personified, such are the provocative glances and horny exchanges between Castle and her Latin tease.

Despite colourful landscapes and an attractive cast, the film never elevates beyond B-grade fodder, incapable of conjuring any excitement or palpable tension, weighed down by inane dialogue ("merely a vampire bat") and a plot that prefers melodrama to action (60 minutes passes before the first glimpse of something more fervent than tent buddies on heat). The climax and conclusion offer some redemption, with a fiery Aztec encounter, but it's all too little too late to resurrect the picture from 'average' status.