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Film Review - Secret of the Incas
7 years ago
Secret of the Incas is an adventure film from 1954, and available on YouTube in glorious 360p. https://youtu.be/20TAGRElvfE
Said to be one of the films that inspired Indiana Jones, it bares a few striking similarities to it that almost make Indie look like a rip off. This includes the appearence of the main character, and the inclusion of a scene where a reflected beam of light is used to locate treasure. Yet it's also a very different film, to the point that those looking for Indiana Jones 0.5 might be a bit disappointed. For example, there's no nazis in this.
The plot is fairly straight forward. Harry Steel, who apparently missed his calling as a FPS protagonist, is a charasmatic con man acting as a tour guide in ...some place. (Wikipedia says Peru) He wants to find the Incan Sunburst, a legendary treasure lost for years. He has the final peice of the stone map, but no way to get to the treasure. He gets involved with a woman (wikipedia says she's named Elena) who is trying to illegally cross the boarder. Adventure happens.
The film, while in colour, is very 1950s in terms of pacing and tone. There are long stretches of characters talking on a sound stage with few edits or cuts. The script is good enough that it doesn't matter, and makes a refreshing change from the hyper fast editing and over the top camera work of more modern films. Though there are a couple of scenes that drag on a bit. There's also a certain naivete to some of the characters, and the way the film hammers home specific points. A great example of this is when they need to distract some police. They do this not with wits and explosions, but by breaking a window and running away. Another is a scene where someone is told not all doctors are medical doctors.
The film is essentially split in 2 halves. The city half, and the treasure hunting half. I say this because it seems to take a while before the treasure hunting starts to happen. It does get there eventually though.
Ultimately, the film is ...ok. Average. Watchable. It's not a life changing masterpiece, but it was entertaining enough to keep me watching till the end. Though it's more note worthy for what it inspired, than anything it does itself. Recommended only if you're a fan of adventure films and want to see where they started.
Said to be one of the films that inspired Indiana Jones, it bares a few striking similarities to it that almost make Indie look like a rip off. This includes the appearence of the main character, and the inclusion of a scene where a reflected beam of light is used to locate treasure. Yet it's also a very different film, to the point that those looking for Indiana Jones 0.5 might be a bit disappointed. For example, there's no nazis in this.
The plot is fairly straight forward. Harry Steel, who apparently missed his calling as a FPS protagonist, is a charasmatic con man acting as a tour guide in ...some place. (Wikipedia says Peru) He wants to find the Incan Sunburst, a legendary treasure lost for years. He has the final peice of the stone map, but no way to get to the treasure. He gets involved with a woman (wikipedia says she's named Elena) who is trying to illegally cross the boarder. Adventure happens.
The film, while in colour, is very 1950s in terms of pacing and tone. There are long stretches of characters talking on a sound stage with few edits or cuts. The script is good enough that it doesn't matter, and makes a refreshing change from the hyper fast editing and over the top camera work of more modern films. Though there are a couple of scenes that drag on a bit. There's also a certain naivete to some of the characters, and the way the film hammers home specific points. A great example of this is when they need to distract some police. They do this not with wits and explosions, but by breaking a window and running away. Another is a scene where someone is told not all doctors are medical doctors.
The film is essentially split in 2 halves. The city half, and the treasure hunting half. I say this because it seems to take a while before the treasure hunting starts to happen. It does get there eventually though.
Ultimately, the film is ...ok. Average. Watchable. It's not a life changing masterpiece, but it was entertaining enough to keep me watching till the end. Though it's more note worthy for what it inspired, than anything it does itself. Recommended only if you're a fan of adventure films and want to see where they started.
