Jivaro

At Rio Galdez's remote Brazilian trading post live assorted outcast Americans and Europeans, including Jerry Russell, ex-engineer (Richard Denning), who became obsessed with the Jivaro headhunters' treasure, quits his job, ends up a drunk, dilly-dallies with local girl Maroa ( Rita Moreno), but still has dreams to get that treasure.

And he still gets letters from his nominal fiancée (Rhonda Fleming) in California, and unexpectedly the shapely, glamorous Alice Parker arrives, expecting to marry a rich planter. Rio (Fernandez Lamas), a jungle guide and bar proprietor, restrains from telling her that he's not a rich planter, but is a drunk and has gone into treacherous territory of the headhunters to find gold ...

Disillusioned, Alice is almost ready to fall into Rio's arms when news comes that Jerry is missing in Jivaro country. She feels obliged to join the group to head there, and bad guy Tony (Brian Keith) is keen to come along and naturally causes trouble when he wants the gold ...

Jivaro is a colourful adventure yarn, however the adventure comes in the last thirty minutes where the group headed by the charismatic Fernando Lamas heads into the land of the headshrinkers and you get rope collapsing, bodies with arrows strewn along the foliage of the jungle and one of them is quite gruesome as he hangs on the vines, an arrow through him. There's some nice action, but the first hour is quite solid with character depth, a nice buildup of the romance between Lamas and Fleming - plus there's slimy villainy from Brian Keith who has designs on Fleming, and then the gold. There's an energy through out the plot, the dialogue is engaging and it's good fun throughout.

Fernando Lamas and Rhonda Fleming starred in this Pine-Thomas Production set in the Amazon tributary source country in Brazil. Jivaro is not about the Jivaro Indians who are the native inhabitants, but rather about the danger they are to anyone else. Clearly they are not a people to be messed with especially on their own turf.

It's on his turf that Lamas trades with the Jivaro, at his trading post on one of the Amazon tributaries. Lamas also owns a boat that makes The African Queen look like the Queen Mary. And on it he brings a passenger in the form of shapely Rhonda Fleming who has come unannounced to the area seeking her fiancé Richard Denning who 'owns' a big plantation.

Denning barely owns the clothes on his person. He's a dissolute drunk who came to the area seeking fame and fortune and he's still seeking it in the form of ancient Inca treasure in some lost city deep in the middle of Jivaro country. He's writing lies to Rhonda and taking up with native girl Rita Moreno.

And Denning has up and gone into the Jivaro country before Fleming arrived. Fleming also has Lamas and Brian Keith both panting hot and heavy after her, Keith a lot more crudely.

Jivaro is a competent well made action film with a dash of romantic pentagon in the mix. The credits don't list where Jivaro was shot and I doubt Paramount spent the money to go to the Amazon head water country. But Pine-Thomas did a very good job in recreating it, they were good that way, made competent pictures that looked good and never strained Paramount's budget.

I'd give this one a look.

Exciting adventure in glorious Technicolor 3D with a team of adventurers all vying to find a treasure in the jungle where they clash against each other , take off the relentless natives , as well as the perilous wildlife. In Pedrone, a village along the Amazon River, the remote Brazilian trading post of Rio Galdéz (Fernando Lamas) is home to a variety of outcast Americans and Europeans, including Jerry Russell, a former engineer who becomes obsessed with the Jibaro treasure. The trading post proprietor Rio Galdes puts drunken American Jerry Russell (Richard Denning) to bed in his hut, then sails off on his boat to trade with the local headhunting Indians. Then, unexpectedly the redhead and shiny Alice Parker (Rhonda Fleming) arrives, expecting to marry an allegedly rich planter. Jungle Thriller ! Box-Office Filler !. Color! Adventure! Action!. All the Color and Adventure That Have Movies Great Make This a Must for Audiences Looking for Romance and Action !. Their Greed & Lust for Diamonds Was More Deadly Than the Perils of the Jungle. They survived the impossible...by doing the unthinkable. It's "Man against Man" and "Man against Nature" - Which One Will Prove More Deadlly ?

Thilling and moving film concerning an unstoppable chase to find a valuable treasure, while battling for survival, as the group of explorers are besieged by head-cutters Indians and some greedy people. The film is adapted to the realization of the 3D cinematographic system, that is why we see spears, arrows, bottles, statues and other objects thrown towards the public, for which they enjoy the three-dimensional effects, but on ordinary screens they create a somewhat ridiculous result. The whole piece of adventure teems with emotion , thrills , exotic atmosphere and being entertaining enough . It's a medium budget film with good actors , technicians , production values and pleasing results . The best scenes are a violent fight between Fernando Lamas and Brian Keith, the spectacular fall of the entire expeditionary group from a bridge into a river, as well as the immense efforts of the team have to carry out for their purports , forced to do anything and everything they could to stay alive . In the film there are noisy adventures , action pace , impressive struggles and beautiful landscapes. Regarding corrupt and ambitious people who will have to confront lots of risks until find a treasure and all of them will take on villains , savage Jibaro tribes and fighting each other. There's romance and fast moving scenes and that's why it is neither tiring, not boring , but bemusing. Special effects are passable , but other parts of the movie are never fully realized . It strives for being some inspirational but falls well short of being really inspired and marred for not being shot on location in the Amazon, but mainly in the studio and using too many film transparencies, matte paintings, and excessive stock footage. In spite of it , the movie is entertaining , though shot in fits and starts and obtained success enough. Stars the Queen of Technicolor, the shapely, glamorous Rhonda Fleming, and Fernando Lamas, who married another similar B-movie nymph: Arlene Dahl; along with a good plethora of secondaries, such as: Brian Keith who a a bit later on would take on roles as a starring, Lon Chaney Jr. , Richard Denning, Marvin Miller, Nestor Paiva and the very young and tireless Rita Moreno who today at 93 years of age is still performing.

Produced by William C. Thomas , who along with his partner producer William H. Pine at Paramount, collectively known as "The Dollar Bills" because none of their films ever lost money. The motion picture was mediocrely directed by Edward Ludwing and nothing special. Russian-born Edward Ludwig came to the U. S. as a child and was educated in Canada and New York City. He entered the film business as an actor in silents, then became a scenarist and screenwriter, and in the early 1930s turned to directing. Although most of his films were routine second features, he showed a flair for action pictures, a good example of which is a John Wayne war epic he made for Republic, The Fighting Seabees (1944), one of Wayne's better--and most successful--films for that studio. Edward made some decent movies, such as: The Black Scorpion 1957, Flame of the islands 1955, Big Jim McLain 1952, The big wheel 1949, Wake of the Red Witch 1949, Fighting Seabees 1944, The certain age 1938. In the late 1950s he turned to directing TV series. Jivaro(1954) rating: 5/10. Average but passable and acceptable.

Shamelessly, this DVD loses its image/sound synchronism abot 20 minutes after the film starts, and never recovers it. Unwatchable. To avoid. Miguel Marías

1953's "Jivaro" was shot in color and Widescreen 3-D on location in Brazil as "Lost Treasure of the Amazon" or "Valley of the Winds," produced by the Pine-Thomas unit at Paramount, remembered for their frugality as 'The Two Dollar Bills.' Fernando Lamas toplines as Rio Galdez, a tradesman and bar owner dealing in the upper reaches of the Amazon while discouraging talk of vast riches deep in Jivaro country, the land of headhunters, as a shrine to their victory over the Spaniards. Into this heated background comes Rhonda Fleming as Alice Parker, expecting to wed her long absent fiancee after two years of waiting in California, instantly an object of desire for fortune hunting Tony (Brian Keith), who also covets the hidden treasure. 3-D thrills are plentiful, enough to offset the expected love triangle, with spears, arrows, and other objects hurled at the camera, saving the dangerous trek through the jungle for the final third (the 'Valley of the Winds' certainly earns its nickname). Apart from the handsome leads, supporting cast members are only on screen a short time, including Richard Denning as Alice's doomed beau, Marvin Miller in brown makeup as a native chief, and Lon Chaney as trader Pedro Martines, around just long enough for some good natured sparring with Rio over a worthless crate filled with rocks. This was easily the least of Chaney's films for Pine-Thomas, previously doing major villains opposite Randolph Scott in "Albuquerque" and John Payne in "Captain China."