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.

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.

I will never get tired to discover this kind of movie from the fifties, adventure in desert, jungle, mountains, full of charm, even old fashioned charm. Splendid colors for a classic topic without any surprises, only the guilty pleasure of discovering, watching, enjoying. Reginald Le Borg is a film maker whose filmography deserves to be purchased; especially his second part of career: DIARY OF A MADMAN, DALTON GIRLS, BLACK SLEEP, WAR DRUMS. I repeat, don't expect anything exceptional, it is not Henry Hathaway's LEGEND OF THE LOST, but for moviegoers in love with old time adventure films,I highly recommend it.

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.

Opens with Robert Burton (William Lundigan "Santa Fe Trail") dictating into his recorder. He is giving the story of El Taxim, the Mayan Temple, but during this and other parts of the film, the sound is choppy and small portions are missing. This disc is part of a 50 film collection of "action classics" from Treeline/TCM, and much of the color is also faded and washed out . Burton meets up with Kathryn Williams, ( Peggy Castle, who made lots of westerns in the 1950s) who has been assigned as his photographer. Burton doesn't like the idea of having a female photographer along, but later decides she's not so bad. We also get to witness some interesting native Mexican festival rites which may or may not be authentic. Local native Juan Cervantes (Armando Silvestre, actor from Mexico who made many movies from the 1940s right up until 1999) promises to help her find the jungle to research a more primitive, traditional population, but of course this only causes more friction with Burton, her boss. Through Burton's stupidity, they lose supplies in a sandstorm; moving on, they stop at Juan's ranch before continuing on their expedition, with their singing band of helpers. At one point, they cross paths with a raccoon, and Kathryn asks "What's that?" One might think she would recognize a raccoon, on either side of the border...Then the troubles begin... and things get a little unbelieve-able, but I guess we're just along for the adventure. The travel to exotic lands would have been quite interesting before people did as much travel as they do today.