tobitz Posted April 12, 2008 Share Posted April 12, 2008 Okay, does anyone know if this is any good? I realize it's not an unknown movie, just one that I know nothing about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredCDobbs Posted April 12, 2008 Share Posted April 12, 2008 It's not great, but it's an interesting mystery and adventure film. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046196/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredCDobbs Posted April 12, 2008 Share Posted April 12, 2008 I'm thinking about flying to Cuba to search for Anna Luz and the other 9 pages of the manuscript. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tobitz Posted April 13, 2008 Author Share Posted April 13, 2008 Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronxgirl48 Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 Just saw it; hilariously bad! Glenn Ford acts all terse and cynical as though he were in a better movie (like GILDA), casually beats up the baddies like an insurance investigator must in his job, insults women (at the ruins, to Diana Lynn: "These ancient people threw their maidens off a ledge, but you don't have anything to worry about") and their decorating: to Patricia Medina of her apartment: "Not a bad place, if you're an Aztec mummy". (nightwalker, you'll love this film!) Amazingly, Diana Lynn looks and sounds just like Gloria Grahame; she is a tramp but because she's sweet little Diana Lynn she needs to TELL us this (in the third person) "Julie's a tramp!" If it was GG, we'd already take that for granted. As Diana takes off her arm bracelet (yes, she wears one) and her long earrings and comes hither to Glenn, he whirls herr around for a look in the mirror, then exclaims, "Would anyone want to kiss THAT?" This is tough love at its "B"-est. In order to translate a manuscript, either "an expert or a specialist" must be found. Let me see, aren't they the same thing? In the movie's most ridiculous moment, at the ruins, blonde-haired archeologist-turned-psycho Sean McClory hears a serendipidously arrogant remark by a British tourist about the Aztecs: "Busy little bees, aren't they?" and has his inspiration: "Ah! That's right! Little people -- little steps!" and therefore he and Glenn can better find the hiding place of all that treasure. Glenn's voice-over only highlights the mediocrity of the noir elements, especially his rumination over What It All Means as he's knocked out cold. Patricia Medina is alluring and mysterious and we don't know if she's double dealing Glenn or not. Does a curse of the Aztecs play a hand at the finale? It could be argued this movie is a curse. Wonder what Orson would have done with it. Message was edited by: Bronxgirl48 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredCDobbs Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 Did you think it was a little silly for them to go treasure hunting at a famous archaeological ruin that had tourists and Mexican tour guides all over the place? They decided it was too crowded to find and rob the tomb during the daytime, so they ?came back at night? (as if that was the big secret to finding treasure at a famous archaeological site), so they could loot the ?secret room? of $10 million dollars of gold and jade that all the archaeologists had overlooked during the previous hundred years, although it was hidden behind just one loose stone, which they removed in 30 seconds with a crowbar. And was it any surprise that after finding all the gold and jade, the ?crook? turned ?crook? and tried to steal it all? Then he shot Glenn Ford to death with three bullets to the body, but later Anna Luz wrapped a bandage around Ford?s arm and told him that the injury to his arm wasn?t very bad. Did they ever explain why he was an insurance adjuster ?stranded in Mexico?? Did he have no boss, or family, or friends back home? This film could have been very good, had it been just a little more realistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronxgirl48 Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 LOL, you make such salient points. This movie was funnier to me than A&C MEET THE MUMMY. Yes, Glenn didn't look too hurt, did he? And Julie's magnanimous medical act was certainly a turn-around. I too was trying to figure out what Glenn was doing in Mexico. He was laughably hard-bitten, as though Rita Hayworth had kicked him in a sensitive area. Message was edited by: Bronxgirl48 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tobitz Posted April 13, 2008 Author Share Posted April 13, 2008 hmmm...maybe Rita DID kick him in a sensitive area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronxgirl48 Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 I think so, because here he even gets furious when a hotel manager asks him for the overdue rent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tobitz Posted April 13, 2008 Author Share Posted April 13, 2008 well, I would too, under those conditions. Ouch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fedya Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 > Wonder what Orson would have done with it. He would have gone seven months and $60 million over budget, while not making a movie that's any better than what we actually got. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CineSage_jr Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 Nonsense. Welles wasn't profligate; he made most of his films on relative shoe-strings. If there's one knock on him, as Charlton Heston once observed, Welles's talent was so protean that he tended to lose interest in projects before they were finished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Web Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 After reading this thread, I now want to see this movie. See what you did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bargar Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 I agree with everything that is said here. Too bad. I like Glenn Ford. Diana Lynn looked like she had dressed up in "big girl" clothes. I kept thinking about her roles in "Miracle/Morgan's Creek" and "Major & Minor". She played a snotty young woman and it freaked me out seeing her try to be SEXY! I never did figure out the antiquity. By the end, I didn't care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredCDobbs Posted April 14, 2008 Share Posted April 14, 2008 She was also Irma's roommate in "My Friend Irma". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redriver Posted April 14, 2008 Share Posted April 14, 2008 Clearly robbed of the Oscar for "Best Arm Bracelet." Politics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronxgirl48 Posted April 14, 2008 Share Posted April 14, 2008 Yes, and for the Best Gloria Grahame Impression. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronxgirl48 Posted April 14, 2008 Share Posted April 14, 2008 Fedya, Welles probably would have kept Patricia Medina in the role of Anna. I'm sure Akim Tamiroff would have been a "Mexican" tour guide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightwalker Posted April 14, 2008 Share Posted April 14, 2008 Perhaps the movie would indeed have benefitted from the presence of an Aztec Mummy. Still pretty enjoyable, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronxgirl48 Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Hi! Yes, this was indeed fun. The next installment is GLORIA GRAHAME VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightwalker Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Let me know when it's time for JOAN CRAWFORD VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronxgirl48 Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 LOL -- that poor mummy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randyishere Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 I liked it. The plot was murky and kept me interested in trying to figure out who was who. The film was moody and mysterious and i liked the mexican scenery. I enjoyed Glenn Ford and Diana Lynn, but frankly, i would watch anything with the luscious Patricia Medina who is totally smokin' hot gorgeous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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