Plunder of the Sun

I only decided to review this film after seeing other reviews that I feel had an unfair opinion of a honest work. The performances are excellent and the location and cinematography is beautiful. This film is very atmospheric and enjoyable in my opinion. Give it a look.

"Plunder of the Sun" is a very good and interesting story of adventure, mystery, crime and drama. It's an adaptation of a 1949 novel of the same title by David Dodge. That was set in Peru and the film adaptation is set in Mexico. Many in the fine cast contribute to the intrigue of the story.

Glenn Ford is Al Colby, an American adventurer. Francis L. Sullivan plays Thomas Berrien, a collector of ancient artifacts. Patricia Medina plays his wife. Diana Lynn plays Julie Barnes, Sean McClory plays Jefferson, and Douglass Dumbrille plays the American Consul.

The movie was shot on location in Oaxaca, Mexico. And, it also has some excellent scenes of archaeological sites in the area. Places like the ruins of Monte Alban and others are in scenes of the film. So, it also provides a little education in ancient history and geography. All those who enjoy mysteries should like this film.

David Dodge's novel is brought to the screen with Ford excellent as protagonist Al Colby. The script however, plays fast and loose with the novel, changing the locale from Peru to Mexico and now the search is on for Aztec artifacts instead of Incan. All things considered, this is a tightly directed and well acted tale. It has not been available for viewing as it seems to be tied up in litigation along with "Island in the Sky"(1953) and "The High and the Mighty"(1954)as the Wayne Family battles Warner Brothers and we are the losers.

First off this film has more style than I expect from John Farrow as a director, well photographed with style and camera movement. However the noir flashback structure and the various obvious Maltese Falcon knock off elements are pretty uninteresting this time around, pretty much every cliche you can think of comes up and seems to just get in the way of the real story starting. Much of the start is and a long long boat ride to Mexico. All these tiresome things, take up too much run time. Once the film finally gets to Mexico and some nice, but rather sparse, on location sequences it finally becomes interersting, as is the music by a Mexican symphonic composer. The actors do what they can with tiresome roles. Too bad they didn't actually make this mostly about the ruins and threat of ancient curses, which are pushed in all the promotional material for the film. Too bad the story doesn't do much with these possibly exciting elements. You could almost fast forward to when they arrive in Mexico and not miss anything.

A recent documentary, "John Farrow: Hollywood's Man in the Shadows", reveals that Farrow's films had distinctive themes and techniques including complex tracking shots, and a strong sense of redemption in his leading characters.

However when Diana Lynn gives Glenn Ford a sharp slap in "Plunder of the Sun", it actually struck me that slaps between men and women constituted yet another common theme in John Farrow's films. Gail Russell received a stringent correction via Alan Ladd's flying palm in "Calcutta". Then Alan Ladd was himself admonished in "Botany Bay" with a stinging open-hander from Patricia Medina. Later Anita Ekberg was on the receiving end of a mighty capillary-bursting whack in "Return from Eternity". Most surprising of all is the one Robert Taylor delivers to Ava Gardner's unsuspecting cheek halfway through "Ride, Vaquero!" They could have used the boxing concussion rule on a Farrow set.

With that said, other reviewers have compared Farrow's "Plunder in the Sun" to Huston's "The Maltese Falcon", We get Al Colby (Glenn Ford) the tough insurance investigator mixed up with a beautiful woman or two, and a Sydney Greenstreet-like character, the wheelchair bound Francis L Sullivan as Thomas Berrien. Then we have the hunt for a priceless treasure, in the case of "The Maltese Falcon" it was a jewel-encrusted statue, in "Plunder of the Sun" it is a package of pages of a manuscript that lead to hidden Aztec gold.

That's where the comparison ends because where "Falcon" is an enduring classic, "Plunder" receded into obscurity. I think the reason is simple, and it comes down to the main character in each film. Bogart's Sam Spade is tough, but he is an observer of the human condition, he makes tough decisions, but he is not without empathy. Glenn Ford's Al Colby is just tough; there is little real compassion in him, he comes across as cold.

And therein lies the secret to all the most successful cop and crime shows on the big or small screen across the decades. Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade set the tone. A little humour and a witty line à la Kasper Gutman (Greenstreet) can also make up for a lot, however a light touch is as elusive as Aztec treasure in "Plunder".

The one character I think delivers in this film is Patricia Medina as Anna Luz, Here's David Dodge's description of her from his novel: "She was Latin and pretty with big dark eyes, smooth dark hair, a bright skin and a slim figure".

The film is saved a little with a twist at the end. It also has great location work and Farrow could always deliver a solid noir mood with his low camera and deep shadows. Finally "Plunder" does have a good dramatic score by Mexican composer Antonio Díaz Conde, but he only used distinctive Mexican cues in a few places; like so much about the film, an opportunity was missed.