Plunder of the Sun

"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.

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.

American Al Colby (Glenn Ford) arrives in Havana. Femme fatale Anna Luz (Patricia Medina) recruits him to help her and her collector husband Thomas Berrien to smuggle a small package into Mexico.

Glenn Ford is too calm and collected. It has two effects. It doesn't really fit the role and his calmness saps away the tension. He acts like he expects to be recruited. The story would work much better if he's an average tourist falling for Anna and getting pulled into something that is over his head. He rarely acts like he's in danger. It suppresses the tension.

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.

While much of Glenn Ford's early 1950s film output are unabashedly 'B' movies (he filled the same niche as Robert Mitchum did, at RKO), the movies are, by and large, very entertaining, and "Plunder of the Sun", shot in Mexico for Warners and John Wayne's Batjac Productions, is no exception. Directed by John Farrow, this action drama offers noir elements (an ambiguous hero, a 'fallen' woman, brutal violence, and an 'expressionist' use of light and shadow), John Huston-like characters (reminiscent of both "The Maltese Falcon" and "Treasure of Sierra Madre"), and an actually pretty accurate look at ancient Indian civilizations that built cities with pyramids when Europe consisted of little more than tribes.

Ford is Al Colby, a down-on-his-luck American recruited by rotund Thomas Berrien (Sidney Greenstreet-channeling Francis L. Sullivan) to slip a package through Mexican customs. When Berrien unexpectedly dies, a variety of characters offers Colby money, potential treasure, or his life, in exchange for the mysterious package, which he discovers contains part of an ancient document mapping where a hidden cache of priceless artifacts is buried. Seduced by both beautiful native girl Patricia Medina, who seems involved with all the 'major players', and drunken American 'party girl' Diana Lynn (doing a 'Gloria Grahame' impression), and 'educated' through beatings and genial lectures by the mysterious 'Jefferson' (scene-stealing Sean McClory), Colby teeters between succumbing to the vast wealth the document promises, and 'doing the right thing', and turning everything over to the Mexican authorities, who legally 'own' the artifacts. While Ford's portrayal lacks the subtle shadings of Bogart or Mitchum, he handles the moral dilemma quite well, and he certainly can take a beating!

With much of the action filmed at actual Aztec sites, in Oaxaca, Mexico, the film has an authentic 'feel', is fast-paced, and very watchable.

Certainly worth a look!