Secret of the Incas (1954)

Secret of the Incas is a 1954 adventure movie from Paramount starring Charlton Heston. The movie was shot widescreen in Technicolor with some location shooting in Peru and looks spectacular and exotic. The subject is the search for a fabulous Inca treasure, lost for four hundred years. It’s a large gold starburst studded with countless precious stones.

The resemblance between this movie and the Indiana Jones movies is no accident. Secret of the Incas was a major inspiration for the Indiana Jones movies and Heston’s performance most definitely influenced Harrison Ford’s later performances. The whole look of Indiana Jones was lifted directly from Secret of the Incas.

Heston plays Harry Steele. Harry makes his living as a tour guide and taxi operator in the Peruvian city of Cuzco, high in the Andes. He makes out OK financially but he hopes to do much better. He’s not overly worried if he makes his fortune in a strictly honest way. Money is money and Harry likes money. Harry has an interest in archaeology although that interest is focused entirely on the financial rewards.

Harry might have stumbled onto something big. He has found a small piece of a larger stone carving. Put the two pieces together and you have the secret of the location of that Inca starburst.

What Harry doesn’t want is for Ed Morgan (Thomas Mitchell) to get involved. He’s an even bigger crook than Harry and he knows the stories about that Inca treasure. If Ed thinks there’s a chance of finding the starburst he’ll want in.

What Harry needs is a plane. A light plane. Of course he can’t afford to obtain one legally, but Harry doesn’t intend to obtain one legally. That’s where the girl comes into the picture.

The girl is Elena Antonescu (Nicole Maurey) and she’s escaped from behind the Iron Curtain. She has come to Harry for help. She needs to get to Mexico. She appeals to his better nature, she appeals to his sense of fair play, his sense of chivalry. She makes bedroom eyes at him. She cries. Harry isn’t interested. Those things don’t work on Harry.

Then Harry realises that Elena could be the key to getting hold of a suitable plane. There’s a Piper Super Cub that could be stolen with her help, and the owner won’t be in a position to do anything about it. Suddenly Harry is willing to help Elena. Elena isn’t stupid. She doesn’t trust Harry but she doesn’t have much of a choice. And maybe she can work on Harry so that he really will get her to Mexico.

Harry and Elena get to Machu Picchu, which is where the starburst is to be found. No-one has any chance of finding it there without that vital fragment of stone in Harry’s possession. Unfortunately there’s a major archaeological dig in progress there, under the supervision of Dr Stanley Moorehead (Robert Young). Harry was hoping to be able to find the starburst without having an audience watching him.

The locals still speak the Inca language, still think of themselves as Incas and still worship the old gods. They’re not likely to be thrilled about Harry’s plan to steal the starburst.

Thomas Mitchell gives a typically seedy sinister performance. Robert Young gives an equally typical straight-arrow nice guy performance. Nicole Maurey is OK as Elena.

But this is Charlton Heston’s movie. Harry Steele is like a cynical, selfish, dishonest criminal version of Indiana Jones but with the same daredevil spirit and the same resourcefulness. He’s actually a much more interesting and complex character than Indiana Jones. Heston is at the top of his game here.

The movie itself is like a grown-up version of Raiders of the Lost Ark and it’s much more cynical and much more honest about the motivations of those who search for hidden archaeological treasures. It doesn’t have the non-stop action of Raiders but in its own way it’s every bit as good. Highly recommended.

Heston made this movie in the same year that he made of the all-time great adventure movies, The Naked Jungle.

Secret of the Incas wasn’t the only proto-Indiana Jones movie. There was also Valley of the Kings, also made in 1954, and it’s very much worth seeing as well. And if you can’t get enough of 1950s treasure-hunting movies I also recommend Plunder of the Sun (1953).

Kino Lorber’s Blu-Ray release of Secret of the Incas looks lovely.