Steineded How sad is this?

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

arthur_tafero I like the Incas and Machu Picchu; but this film is not even as good as the Donald Duck version that I once read in Comics and Stories. It just lies there dead in the water. A sleazy version of Indiana Jones by the not-so-great actor, Charlton Heston, who plays the aptly named Harry Steel, does not help. Nor does the casting of a heavy, Tomas Mitchell, as a fat old rival for a rare Inca treasure. Robert Young is ok, as is the B actress female lead. The photography is good, but the FOUR musical solos by the Inca singer (one would have been MORE than enough) led me have several gin and tonics to get through the film. Watch it ONLY if you love Inca stories, and get ready Fast Forward all the musical numbers by the Inca singer.

alejandrogermanr I like all kind of old movies but The secret of the Incas is a waste of talent with actors like C. Heston, T Mitchell and R. Young. For those of you who like fast moving adventure movies, with great performances, this is NOT for you.The film is often cited as a direct inspiration for the Indiana Jones character. I did not see many scenes in Secret of the Incas bearing a resemblance in tone or structure to scenes in Raiders of the Lost Ark. I like Raiders...... and this movie is NOT similar at all.Throughout Secret of the Incas, the main character, Harry Steele, can be seen wearing the "Indiana Jones" outfit: brown leather jacket, fedora, tan pants, an over-the-shoulder bag, and a revolver (he never uses) and nothing else is similar. Two different character backgrounds and goals make them no similar at all.

James Hitchcock Charlton Heston made two films in 1954, and both have a South American setting. Whereas the first, "The Naked Jungle", was filmed in the USA, with Florida standing in for the Brazilian jungle, the second, "Secret of the Incas", was actually shot on location in Peru. It is often regarded as an inspiration for "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and the Indiana Jones franchise. Heston's character Harry Steele is, admittedly, not a professional archaeologist; he is an adventurer who poses as a tourist guide but whose real reason for being in Peru is to find an ancient gold and jewelled Inca treasure. Legend has it that the Inca Empire fell when this object was stolen from the Temple of the Sun and that the Empire will be reborn once it is found and returned to its rightful place. Steele's costume, including a leather jacket and fedora hat, is similar to that worn by Harrison Ford in the Indiana Jones films, and at one point he even wears a light beard, something unusual in the fifties when Hollywood's leading men were nearly always clean-shaven. (Many people were upset when Gregory Peck appeared with a historically-accurate moustache in "The Gunfighter", a fictionalised biography of the Wild West outlaw Johnny Ringo). Although Steele he is the hero of the film, he is by no means wholly admirable. This was something of a departure for Heston, who normally specialised in playing the good guys. Christopher Leiningen, his character in "The Naked Jungle", may be rather stiff and lacking in human warmth, even towards his wife, but morally he is wholly upright. Steele is not. His initial intention towards the Inca artifact is to steal it; he is only the "hero" by comparison with his ruthless rival Ed Morgan. Only at the end does Steele have a change of heart. A subplot deals with his romance with a glamorous Romanian refugee named Elena Antonescu. We never discover Elena's full back-story, but she must have been a person of some consequence because the Romanian secret police have sent an agent all the way to Peru to persuade her to return to her homeland. "Secret of the Incas" is in many ways a standard action/adventure flick, but Heston always makes a very watchable action hero, and the striking photography of the Andean scenery lifts it above the level of the average fifties B-movie. it is often credited with popularising Machu Picchu as a tourist destination. 6/10

Spikeopath Secret of the Incas is directed by Jerry Hopper and written by Sydney Boehm and Ranald MacDougall. It stars Charlton Heston, Nicole Maurey, Thomas Mitchell, Robert Young and Glenda Farrell. Music is by David Buttolph and cinematography by Lionel Lindon.Harry Steele (Heston) is an adventurer searching for a hidden piece of Incan treasure in the Peruvian lands. But others are interested in the item as well, for differing reasons...I have to wonder if I have just watched a different version to some other on line reviewers? I have seen quotes attributed to Secret of the Incas that range from rip-roaring action to ebullient adventure, odd, then, that it really is neither of those things. Oh it's fun enough, bolstered by a rugged Heston and a shifty Mitchell, but it's hardly action orientated. In fact it doesn't gather pace until the last twenty minutes. The dialogue is often twee, the characterisations atypical of the genre, while a shift in attitudes for our hero is sadly unsurprising. There's no bad performances, mind, just that what they are given to work with is bordering on the mundane.Where the pic scores highly is with its stunning Peruvian vistas, awash with Technicolour, it's high end photography from Lindon (Oscar winner for Around the World in Eighty Days). Also of note is Hopper's good use of extras, hundreds of them, he knows how to craft a good scene and keeps the pic interesting when the flaccid screenplay threatens to sink the interest value without trace. Correctly cited as one of the biggest influences on Indiana Jones (specifically Raiders of the Lost Ark), anyone who has seen both films will know "Incas" influence is great. They will also know why "Raiders" is so beloved by the action/adventure film fan, it's because it "IS" an action/adventure film of some substance. Sadly "Incas", as watchable as it is, is pretty run-of-the- mill stuff that finds decent enough characters struggling to find any action or indeed, any adventure. 6/10