Smartorhypo
Highly Overrated But Still Good
Jonah Abbott
There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
Ezmae Chang
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
Richard Chatten
The most original moment of this glorified Mexican travelogue in colour is the opening scene which initially seems to be being narrated to us by William Lundigan, who then turns out to be dictating into a tape recorder. Unfortunately, with the appearance a few minutes later of gorgeous high-maintenance Peggie Castle to introduce herself as his photographer he responds with the usual boorishness towards women that heroes in these films always display and banality is the order of the day for the remainder of the film. Things actually get worse when Armando Silvestre enters the picture as their guide, since the two of them thereafter bicker incessantly over her. (She's wearing a wedding ring, but no one ever mentions that, including Ms Castle.) Peggie herself looks a treat as usual, especially after she changes into jeans and a blouse to go on safari (during which she continues to wear lipstick); but director Reginald LeBorg is perplexingly extremely parsimonious with close ups of her.The 'plot' however is just the glue holding together the Eastman Color footage of fiestas and Mexican scenery shot by Gilbert Warrenton and local cameraman Enrique Wallace (billed as 'Henry'). Lundigan is supposed to be a famous archaeologist who has written books and given lectures about the area, yet has to keep asking Silvestre to explain everything they encounter; and at the end demonstrates his respect for the local culture by burning their village to the ground (Miss Castle's photographic film making good firelighters).
mark.waltz
No wonder some people believe in the saying, "Stay in your own back yard!" Peggie Castle's magazine photographer longs to get a look at the natives of the land now known as Mexico who still live according to the old tribal customs far away from civilized society. She is sent to Mexico on assignment and finds herself not very welcomed by William Lundigan's archaeologist who expected a man to be tagging along to help record their findings. But after he agrees to take her, they enlist the help of quiet Mexican plantation owner Armando Silvestre who at first wants no part of their quest but agrees after some persuading from the seductive Castle. Their trek to his plantation is difficult enough with Castle encountering supposedly harmless iguanas and the group dealing with sand storms and excessive heat. Silvestre's love-lorn servant girl (Rosenda Monteros) is immediately jealous of Castle and pleads with Silvestre not to take them on any further but he refuses, having found himself falling in love with the beautiful blonde vixen. The attractions towards Castle from both Lundigan and Silvestre makes for a pretty rocky journey, but nothing as rocky as when they do find the natives which leads to a violent encounter.The story of the white orchid is explained by Silvestre as being made from the blood of two star crossed lovers, and this is a metaphor for the encounter with the seemingly peaceful natives who have traded with Silvestre in the past but don't trust outsiders. For good reason, it seems, because Lundigan's use of a gun and a fight between him and Silvestre changes the native's minds towards receiving North American outsiders. This is a story of nosy civilized people going where they shouldn't, much like how the cultured Europeans took over much of North and South America in an effort to convert what they considered pagans to Christianity. Obviously by seeing the civilization they live in, they are fine without outside help, and when one of the tribesmen is killed, it is justified revenge that one of the trio heading into the jungle is made a sacrifice. This brings on more destruction caused by the outsiders and one of the three must make a sacrifice of their own in order to save the others.Certainly I can understand a love of exploration and a need for a greater understanding of what happens outside the world close by us, so I can't fault the characters for their desires to explore. However, Lundigan's character seems to have no feelings outside his own lust for Castle and certainly has no appreciation for the privacy of cultures he has no real understanding of. Silvestre is quietly passionate, masculine rather than macho, and a much more desirable man in my mind, making me question Castle's taste in men. There is a fascinating scene of a carnival where Silvestre and five other men perform a flying stunt that has to be seen to be believed. This is a beautifully filmed adventure which has many life lessons that society still hasn't seemed to pick up on. The color on the public domain print which I purchased isn't as crisp as other color movies of the period which indicates that it needs some sort of restoration, but as an independent production, it is still extremely well made. Hopefully the survivors of the group in real life would come out of this adventure learning some major lessons, but something tells me probably not.
classicsoncall
For the life of me I couldn't figure out who the female lead was here even though I've been watching a half dozen episodes of 'Lawman' each week right up to the middle of the third season now. Most reviewers on this board rate her highly in the looks department in this flick, but you really need to catch Peggie Castle as Miss Lily Merrill opposite John Russell in the popular TV Western from 1959 to 1962. That's when she was really something to see.Well anyway, Miss Lily, er, Kathryn Williams plays a couple of amorous adventurers against each other in this somewhat muddled film. She portrays a photographer hired by archaeologist Robert Burton (William Lundigan) to record an expedition into an uncharted Mexican jungle to get the goods on a lost tribe of Toltec Indians. Rugged Juan Cervantes (Armando Silvestre) is schmoozed into serving as a guide for the expedition by the sultry Miss Williams. The men were nominally positioned as adversaries over the blonde babe but I never got the impression that this was ever a serious rivalry. A better one was John Wayne squaring off against Rossano Brazzi over Sophia Loren in 1957's "Legend of the Lost".The picture has some interesting sequences early on with that colorful dance and procession by the locals of Papartla town, and those human 'flying eagles' on the towering maypole whirling around. Even with all the jungle intrigue to follow though, I had to sigh over the lame save at the end of the story when it looked like Miss Williams was a goner. Whenever it's like a hundred against three and the three win, there should at least be a little suspense to the situation.Not much else to say about this flick except I can't sign off without mentioning a single great line of dialog when the expedition got under way. When the intrepid trio saw what looked like a temple in the middle of the desert, Professor Burton had to impress us with his knowledge - "It's just an optical illusion caused by the variation of the refractive index of the atmosphere and sunlight". He could have said it was just a mirage.
Tom Willett (yonhope)
Hi, Everyone, I wonder who put up the money for this travesty of a Mexican adventure. It moves along slowly then it changes pace by stopping and going backwards.This is sort of a documentary about some lost tribe in Mexico that looks like underfed Tonto impersonators. It has preposterous characters and situations. It held promise until the very beginning and then it started falling apart.A woman photographer is the lead character more or less, although I think the guy is supposed to be the star. The reporterette has connived her way into an assignment with William Lundigan in Mexico to cover something. He realizes she is a woman and therefore not capable of clicking a camera. So he beats up her boyfriend after she pretends to be in love with a guy who becomes their unwilling guide into the woods.The guide is actually an acrobat who is not supposed to have his picture taken. You talk about a great story. Then he tries to kill a deer but accidentally murders someone, but it's OK because they leave him behind to fight the whole village. They burned their pictures though when they set the film on fire to set all the huts on fire and escape from the Pyramid.The movie star's hair is not messed up after she sleeps in a tent and never takes a bath for several days. The three leads have great hair.If you want to see a movie with a strong intelligent female lead, this isn't it. Try Gone With The Wind, Double Indemnity or Sunset Boulevard.There is one big dance number on the Pyramid and a song sung by two guys with a guitar. The guys harmonized beautifully.There is a scene with a nice old reel to reel portable recorder. It is bigger than the iPods of today.I give it one thumb... on the "off" switch.Tom Willett
