Secret of the Incas (1954)

James Byrne

New member
SECRET OF THE INCAS site

SKAbatula and StoneTriple,
Thanks for looking at my site and the encouraging words. The website will be showing SECRET OF THE INCAS soon, and I am working on pictorial tributes to Yma Sumac, Thomas Mitchell and Michael Pate; so keep popping in from time to time. Good luck and nice talking to you Indy fans.
 

Ska

New member
James Byrne said:
The website will be showing SECRET OF THE INCAS soon...

Good to hear!

I really didn't want to go through the work to get it on YouTube (like I previously stated)...but I eventually would have for all you Indy fans who've never seen it.
 

James Byrne

New member
Indy fans may be disappointed though ...

SKA,
I fear a lot of Indy fans who have never seen SECRET OF THE INCAS will be sorely disappointed with the movies lack of sustained Indy-like action. They should bear in mind before viewing it that the Heston movie is more of a character study of man's "greed for gold" than a white knuckle ride. They will probably get a kick out of the scenes that obviously point to the way to future Indyisms, though.
 

StoneTriple

New member
James Byrne said:
...bear in mind before viewing it that the Heston movie is more of a character study...than a white knuckle ride.

That's even more good news.

As I've mentioned many times on this board; it's the cerebral moments, the character-interaction scenes of the Indiana Jones series that I prefer over the action scenes.

That's one of the things I like most about Treasure Of The Sierra Madre as well. It's almost all character-study.


Man, I just looked on Amazon - is Secret Of The Incas not available on DVD?
 

James Byrne

New member
SECRET OF THE INCAS on dvd

StoneTriple,
You can buy a decent copy of SECRET OF THE INCAS from "Yammering Magpie Cinema". They have been selling dvd's of this movie for a while now, in fact they boast that it's there no.1 best seller!
 

James Byrne

New member
Interested in Indy fans opinions on SOTI

Indy fans,
I love SECRET OF THE INCAS as some of you already know. I would be really interested to learn of your reaction to this great Chuck Heston movie the first time you saw it. Did you view it just because of the Indy influence?
And were you disappointed or pleasently surprised?
How many Indy influences did you spot?
And I love to read what you thought of Yma Sumac.
 

Ska

New member
James Byrne said:
Indy fans,
I love SECRET OF THE INCAS as some of you already know. I would be really interested to learn of your reaction to this great Chuck Heston movie the first time you saw it. Did you view it just because of the Indy influence?
And were you disappointed or pleasently surprised?
How many Indy influences did you spot?
And I love to read what you thought of Yma Sumac.

I learned about SofI through theraider.net's Influences page. As some here know, I'm obsessed with seeing everything related to Indiana Jones. If a movie deals with a good guy trying to find a lost city/artifact before the bad guys, I HAVE to see it and/or own it.

That being said, I bought a VHS copy of SotI on eBay. I really enjoy the film. I can't say I was pleasantly surprised, though, as I never expected to NOT like the film.

Of course, the major Indy influence is Harry's outfit. Nothing says Indiana Jones like a fedora and brown leather jacket. I got chills the first time I saw Steele on screen!

My favorite scene of the movie was (probably all of Indy fan's favorite scene) Harry using the light reflectors to find the hidden compartment in the Temple. (y)

Now I hate to burst your bubble, but I can't get into the Yma Sumac "singing" parts...they seemed WAY too long (and off key). Maybe I just don't get that type of music.

That being said, not even the bad singing could ruin this film. It's a great work of art that NEEDS to be seen by any fan of adventure films.
 

Stoo

Well-known member
James Byrne said:
I love SECRET OF THE INCAS as some of you already know. I would be really interested to learn of your reaction to this great Chuck Heston movie the first time you saw it. Did you view it just because of the Indy influence?
And were you disappointed or pleasently surprised?
How many Indy influences did you spot?
And I love to read what you thought of Yma Sumac.
Like SKAbatula, I collect these type of movies, as well. Here's my story:

One late night in 1990, I was channel flicking and stumbled onto a Chuck Heston movie on one of the French channels.
He was one of my favourite actors but the outfit really made me take notice. It soon cut to a commercial saying,
"Secret of the Incas will return in a moment". I jumped up, threw a tape into the VCR and began recording!
It was thoroughly enjoyable and I still love it to this day. I had been an Indy fan since "Raiders" was released
and had NEVER heard of this film before! I was stunned. When the part with the light beam came, my eyes
almost literally popped out of my head! The yellow, life-raft scene always makes me smile, too.

It could be a coincidence but when Indy stops and pauses before entering the Chachapoyan temple entrance,
the timing and angle is practically identical to Harry Steele in "Secret of the Incas"!

Yma Sumac. While the style of music is grating, I can really appreciate her talent. I recall reading somewhere
that she has a 5 octave range which is just incredible! When she hits those really, high notes, it sounds inhuman,
angelic and etherial. Apparently, she has a huge following (and I see you have her autograph)!

It's sad to hear that some people would find it disappointing. I suppose because the film has been "built up" too much.
Many people mention bandy about the name but few here have even seen it, which is unfortunate since it's a MUST-SEE.
I burned my copy onto DVD and it always sits next to Chuck's other 1954 adventure, "The Naked Jungle".;)

Interesting trivia (which you probably already know):
Booth Colman would later play Dr. Zaius in the TV series of "Planet of the Apes"
Marion Ross went on to gain fame as Mrs. Cunningham in "Happy Days".

Anyway, thanks for posting the link to your website, James. It's great.
Welcome to The Raven!:hat:
 

James Byrne

New member
Great responses Indyfans!

SKA and Stoo:
Many thanks for your most informative replies. My music tastes are exceedingly different to yours, I absolutely love Yma Sumac! I first saw SECRET OF THE INCAS at my local fleapit in 1963, and I can honestly say that the sight of her giving it all she's got in glorious technicolor on the big screen literally blew my mind. It's strange the effect this movie had on me. Neither of my wives could see the attraction, and my kids think I'm bonkers for even watching such a "turkey". When I took my kids to see RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK in 1981 my eyes nearly popped out of my head with shock when I first saw Harrison Ford as Indy. "That's Heston at Machu Picchu" I thought to myself. Of course, as the movie progressed I spotted a number of little things here and there that were obviously borrowed from SOTI and felt quite chuffed that I seemed to be the only person on the planet that knew this information. I told every single Indy fan I knew about SOTI, but nobody took any notice because there was no proof. SOTI was on television very rarely in those days, I didn't even have a photo of Heston in the gear to show them either, but I am so pleased that SOTI is now getting the recognition it so richly deserves. I am a huge fan of Indiana Jones and I loved the last one. There was even a reference to another terrific South American Heston flick THE NAKED JUNGLE in it. In the near future I am going to do a pictorial feature on my SOTI site about all the connections there are to Heston movies and Spielberg/Lucas movies. Should be a fun thing to do!
Anyway SKA and Stoo, once again thanks for your great replies, and it's great chatting with you Indy guys. See you soon.
James.
 

James Byrne

New member
Ronald Reagan as Indiana Jones

As well as Heston looking like Indy in SECRET OF THE INCAS, how about Ronald Reagan in HONG KONG. He's almost a clone. I'm baffled why nobody ever mentions this movie!
 

Dr.Mirakle32

New member
When KOTCS is released on DVD/Blu Ray, along with probably box sets of all four films, Paramount should finally release this on DVD as HARRY STEELE AND THE SECRET OF THE INCAS (with Raiders font), to tie into the big Indy release.
 

James Byrne

New member
Dr.Mirakle32 said:
When KOTCS is released on DVD/Blu Ray, along with probably box sets of all four films, Paramount should finally release this on DVD as HARRY STEELE AND THE SECRET OF THE INCAS (with Raiders font), to tie into the big Indy release.

That indeed would be a "Mirakle"!
I keep hearing stories that Paramount have sold the rights to SECRET OF THE INCAS to Legend Films
Anybody know anything about this?
 

James Byrne

New member
That, indeed, would be a miracle!

Dr.Mirakle32 said:
When KOTCS is released on DVD/Blu Ray, along with probably box sets of all four films, Paramount should finally release this on DVD as HARRY STEELE AND THE SECRET OF THE INCAS (with Raiders font), to tie into the big Indy release.

It would be a miracle, in more ways than one, if Paramount did release SECRET OF THE INCAS. There is talk that Paramount have sold the rights to a company called "Legend". Does anybody have any concrete facts regarding this, or is it more Pie in the Sky?
 

James Byrne

New member
Great loss

Since I started my website on SECRET OF THE INCAS, three of the movies leading actors have died in the past six months.
Rest in peace-
Charlton Heston
Michael Pate
Yma Sumac

These three make SECRET OF THE INCAS such a watchable movie.
Great loss.
 

James Byrne

New member
Indy in Peru

Can anyone list all the references to Indiana Jones and Peru?
I know there are childrens books and lego, but I need to know them all. Help me out will ya?
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Hi, James,

There is a mention in 1981's, "Raiders of the Lost Ark - The Illustrated Screenplay", on page 1.

"Bringing up the rear are two Spanish Peruvians, Satipo and Barranca."

P.S. Just yesterday, a freind of mine sent me a link to your site so I told him that I was already aware of it and that you occasionally post here. Anyway, he was very impressed with your website.:hat:
 

Lance Quazar

Well-known member
DocWhiskey said:
Wow. Thank you very much for the link.

That's terrific. Thanks for bringing the thread back, folks, or I wouldn't have seen it.

I'm enjoying the heck out of the movie.
 
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