Secret of the Incas (1954)

Stoo said:

James, that is very unfortunate to hear! I read the conversation and your situation sounds like a distressing one. A good idea would be to, at least, get a copy of the code so that whomever you can find to build a new site in the future won't have to start from scratch.

It would be a shame if your wonderful ode to "Incas" disappeared forever.

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I left all the technical stuff to the guy who designed the site, Stoo. All I had to do was type out all the info and hand over photos, etc. which he then put together. Unfortunately, even though I asked for the code, he would never give it to me, he reckoned I might "mess about" with all his work. Without the code I am up the creek without a paddle. Because we are no longer friends or on speaking terms he is most unlikely to give me the code either.

Have you ever seen a Charlton Heston movie called THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY, Stoo? Its about Michelangelo (Heston) being commissioned to paint the Sistine Chapel by Pope Julius ll (Rex Harrison). All through the movie Harrison bellows at the slow working Heston
"When will you make an end?"
to which Heston replies
"When I'm finished!"
That scenario was played out for the last three years with me and the site builder, with me in the role of the Pope, pleading
"When will you start the work I have given you?"
and the replies were similar to these-
""Soon!"
"Next week"
"After the holidays"
"What's the rush?"
etc. etc.

So it looks like there is no hope to save the site, which is a great pity Stoo.

Stephen Jared said:

James,
You have to keep the site going. Please consider, as Stoo suggests, getting someone else to take over the technical upkeep. I can happily recommend the guy who built my site -- I do nothing for it, except tell him what I want it to look like and provide images and texts. Might have him take a look at what you currently have and see what he says. His costs are very reasonable. He's Canadian. I've never met him in person, but would love to as he couldn't be nicer and more professional. Check out my site at www.stephenjared.com

His name is Andy Bowers and his site is www.halfadot.com
Best,
Stephen

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I like your site Stephen, its entertaining, concise and very enjoyable. That Canadian guy did a good job but he may be out of my league, financially speaking. I am not a rich man by any means, just a regular Joe slogging along earning a measly crust. But I will contact him and see what can be done, so thanks for your help, Stephen.

James Byrne said:

I left all the technical stuff to the guy who designed the site, Stoo. All I had to do was type out all the info and hand over photos, etc. which he then put together. Unfortunately, even though I asked for the code, he would never give it to me, he reckoned I might "mess about" with all his work. Without the code I am up the creek without a paddle. Because we are no longer friends or on speaking terms he is most unlikely to give me the code either.

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Have no fear, James! You can actually access the code yourself and it's very easy to do.

01) Right-click anywhere on a page (any area that isn't a button to a link).
02) Choose "View Source" from the list of options.
03) A window will pop up with the code for that particular page.
04) Click "File" and choose "Save" and then "Formatted HTML View". Name file appopriately. (This saves the code.)
05) Click "File" and choose "Save" and then "HTML Source". Name file appopriately. (This saves the graphic representation. Not a necessary step but opening this file later on will allow you to actually see the page - although without any photos/graphics - even after it's been taken down.)

AND FOR EXTRA BACKUP (Highly recommended):

06) Click "Edit" and choose "Select All".
07) Click "Edit" again and choose "Copy".
08) Paste the copied code into an empty Notepad* file.
09) Save the file with an appropriate name. Close it and open a new, empty one.
10) Repeat steps 1-9 for every, individual page.

*To open Notepad: Click your "Start" button, choose "All Programs", then "Accessories", then "Notepad".

Doing this will give you a record of each pages' format, colour and text (all of the photos and button graphics will be blank spaces, unfortunately) but it'll be better than having nothing at all.

James, you should start this immediately in case the plug gets pulled sooner than expected! (Before May 19th, which happens to be Pete Townshend's 67th birthday.)

James Byrne said:

Have you ever seen a Charlton Heston movie called THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY, Stoo? Its about Michelangelo (Heston) being commissioned to paint the Sistine Chapel by Pope Julius ll (Rex Harrison).

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Yes, I saw "The Agony and the Ecstasy" in the late '80s and have been to the Sistine Chapel in Rome three times. Chuck's performance as Michelangelo popped into my mind during each visit ! Anyway, the reference to that film fits very well and I feel your pain.

To Stoo and Stephen

Thanks a million for all your help and advice, and for the uplifting comments.

For the hell of it I punched Secret of the Incas into Netflix hoping they might have the DVD. Nope! Instead it was available for streaming. Watchedit this weekend and was glad to finally see this film and on streaming through Netflix no less.

Congratulations, Mephisto. What did you think of it?

HONG KONG phooey

Here is a link to a guy who likes vintage adventure movies. It is interesting to compare the lookalikes of the far-in-the future Indiana Jones with Charlton Heston in SECRET OF THE INCAS and Ronald Reagan in HONG KONG.

http://ropebridge.tumblr.com/tagged/Hong-Kong

James Byrne said:

It is with deep regret that I have to announce that my site

http://www.secretoftheincas.co.uk

will be terminated on 19 May 2012. If you want to know why, check out the SECRET OF THE INCAS forum here

http://charltonhestonforums.freeforums.org/other-charlton-heston-movies-f25.html

If you don't want to read the first thirteen pages, then just click straight on to page 14 for all the grisly details.

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James, I was pleased to find that your site is still up & running (3 weeks after it was due to close). Did you make peace with your colleague?

The News page of TheRaider.net posted a link to an article that will interest you. While it doesn't tell us anything new, it does have some comparison images and links to other "Secret of the Incas" pages...including your own website! (One comment in particular makes me think that the writer has visited this thread.)

---
CRACKED.com
5 Famous Movies That Shamelessly Ripped Off Obscure Ones
http://www.cracked.com/article_19852_5-famous-movies-that-shamelessly-ripped-off-obscure-ones.html

#4. Raiders of the Lost Ark Was Intentionally Based on an Old Charlton Heston Movie

George Lucas and Steven Spielberg have always been open about the fact that the Indiana Jones franchise was inspired by the serials of the 1930s and 1940s. That's OK, though, because Indy himself is an original creation. It's not like they'd just lift a character from another movie and turn him into one of the most iconic action heroes ever, right?

The Original: Secret of the Incas (1954)

Here's a young Charlton Heston as cocky adventurer Harry Steele in the little-known 1954 film Secret of the Incas:

(image of Harry Steele)
Not to be confused with Harry Steele the cocky porn actor.

Why, that looks remarkably like Indiana Jones, right down to the stubble. Coincidence? Not according to the woman who designed Indy's look in his first movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark. In an interview, she admitted that the crew watched Secret of the Incas several times, and said she's surprised that Lucas and Spielberg didn't credit the movie at all.

(comparison images of Indy & Harry sleeping with their hats over their faces)
We're sure they won't mind when we introduce our new character, action-archeologist Kentucky Smith.

The similarities don't stop there. Remember the map room in Raiders where Indy does the reflected light trick to show the location of the hidden ark? Yep, they've got one of those here, too:

(comparison images of the light beams from both films)
It was the "leaving the key under a fake rock" of the ancient world.

In the same scene in Incas, Steele is betrayed by his partner, who tries to steal the valuable artifact he's just retrieved at gunpoint, but he's saved by his Peruvian sidekick. Raiders simply merged both characters into the same one for the film's classic opening scene, which, like Incas, takes place in a temple deep in the Peruvian jungle.

(comparison images of Satipo and Pachacutec)
Poor Alfred Molina might have survived if only he'd had a better poncho.

Then there's the river trip in a yellow inflatable raft, like in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, followed by a campfire scene, also like in Temple of Doom.

(comparison images of both rafts - ISN'T THIS ARTICLE SUPPOSED TO BE COMPARING "RAIDERS"?!?)
Yeah, but does that one double as a parachute?

So wait, this movie stars one of the best-known lead actors ever in what's basically an Indiana Jones premake -- why isn't it better known? That might be because both movies are produced by Paramount, who has never bothered to release Incas on home video. Many fans, including Indy's costume designer, believe Paramount is just trying to hide the blatant ripoff.

How They Improved It:

Of course, there could be another reason why they haven't released Incas: The main character is a huge douchebag. Indy isn't the most cheerful guy in the world, but at least he didn't con women out of their money, then brag about it in front of them.

(image of Harry Steele and Miss Morris)
"Your tears arouse me more than you ever could." -- actually pretty close to real dialogue.

There's also the fact that the movie barely has any action, which Raiders compensated for by including all of the action.
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WilliamBoyd8 said:

"Plunder of the Sun" was a book written by David Dodge in the early 1950's.
It was about an insurance man who gets involved in antiquities hunting in Peru.

It was made into a film by John Wayne's Batjac company in 1953 which starred
Glenn Ford. The setting was changed to Mexico probably because Batjac had a
relationship with a Mexican film studio.

In the film, there is a bad guy who says that he was a "disbarred archaelogist",
meaning that he hunts treasures for himself.

Glenn Ford's character starts that way, but is converted to "they belong in a museum"
halfway through the film.

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A year & a half ago in Nov. 2010, "Plunder of the Sun", was being discussed here (starting at post #127) and I'm happy to say that I have finally seen it. As Le Saboteur wrote, "exotica noir" is an apt description. The film is well done and the actual treasure hunting parts (with the clues, etc.) are the most enjoyable aspects...and, yes, in the museum, Glenn Ford actually says, "They belong here!".

The way the story begins reminded me of an earlier Glenn Ford flick, "Framed" (1947), where Ford is far from home with no money and gets picked out by strangers to play a pivotal part in their plans.

James Byrne said:

Thanks for the link Saboteur. I am certainly going to order the David Dodge book PLUNDER OF THE SUN now after reading about it. Dodge describes scenes of Cuzco in the 1940's, which particularly interests me. The movie was pretty good also - but should have been filmed in Technicolor. There is one scene in it that is virtually identical to a scene in SECRET OF THE INCAS, which I liked very much.

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Which scene was that, James?

That Man From Rio

The 1964 Jean-Paul Belmondo movie, "That Man From Rio", is well worth watching! Not only is it loaded to the brim with action from the very start but it has a sequence which is very similar to "Secret of the Incas" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark": In a South American cave, the location of treasure is found by a sunbeam reflecting off of a succession of 3 different jewels placed at certain spots.

This film has fights, chases, golden idols, vine-swinging, a (small) rolling boulder and a collapsing cave! Belmondo does almost all of his own stunts, too. This is a fun flick!

That's so funny that you mention this film...

I saw "L'Homme de Rio - That Man From Rio (1964)" as a child on German television, and it left me quite impressed: the fast-moving pace, the hands-on style of JPB as actor with his irreverent wittiness (so great, so underrated outside Europe); then of course Oscar Niemeyer's nascent Brasília and the scenes of Paris from 1964. Not to forget the wonderful Françoise Dorléac, the sister of Catherine Deneuve, who tragically passed away some time later in an unnecessary car accident (speeding to catch an airplane in time).

In the US and UK, it's often put aside as just one of those Bondmania espionage spoof flicks, just one step away from "eurotrash", but I think the story is very original, far away from the spy spoof genre, closer to adventure but just set in the contemporary era and not in the colonial exploration context (in which Indy is still - to some extent - operating). And unlike other Bondmania films, it got nominated for the Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay! Plus: it starred Adolfo Celi a year before he became associated with the Bond films through "Thunderball".

Always wanted to see it again, but never found a DVD of it, yet accidentally discovered it on YouTube this March and watched it again after certainly 2 decades or so.

Of course director Philippe de Broca and Jean-Paul Belmondo would shoot the 1965 film "Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine" ("Chinese Adventures in China"/"Die tollen Abenteuer des Monsieur L."), loosely based on the 1879 novel Tribulations of a Chinaman in China by Jules Verne. Another film that regularly ran on German television, but I never encountered in the US or UK; ain't available on DVD, and which would love to see again in any way or by any means...

I was just up at Machu Picchu earlier today. It is a very impressive sight and massive. I was wearing my Indiana Jones fedora...of course

dr.jones1986 said:

I was just up at Machu Picchu earlier today. It is a very impressive sight and massive. I was wearing my Indiana Jones fedora...of course

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"earlier today"

Nice. Have fun, and keep your fedora handy.



All I did "earlier today" was order a copy of Secret of the Incas on DVD. It'll be my first time seeing it, so that's something of an adventure, right?

dr.jones1986 said:

I was just up at Machu Picchu earlier today. It is a very impressive sight and massive. I was wearing my Indiana Jones fedora...of course

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Awesome!
I hope you post more on this in the Globetrotting section.

goodeknight said:

All I did "earlier today" was order a copy of Secret of the Incas on DVD. It'll be my first time seeing it, so that's something of an adventure, right?

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That's awesome, too!
Can't wait to read something like a little review of your first viewing.


I did neither of both things earlier today.

Archaeos said:

That's so funny that you mention this film...

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Archaeos, I really enjoyed your post about "That Man From Rio"! There are reasons why Jean-Paul Belmondo is so loved and that film is just one of them. Adventure film buffs should see this with all due haste. Energetic, fast-paced with an Indy-esque climax. It's a good one, not to be missed.

Archaeos said:

Of course director Philippe de Broca and Jean-Paul Belmondo would shoot the 1965 film "Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine" ("Chinese Adventures in China"/"Die tollen Abenteuer des Monsieur L."), loosely based on the 1879 novel Tribulations of a Chinaman in China by Jules Verne. Another film that regularly ran on German television, but I never encountered in the US or UK; ain't available on DVD, and which would love to see again in any way or by any means...

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You're in luck! Being a ravenous & insatiable collector of films & TV series based on Jules Verne's novels, I do have a copy of "Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine" (but it's in French with no English subtitles). If you're interested, give me time to make room in my Raven PM inbox and we'll talk...

dr.jones1986 said:

I was just up at Machu Picchu earlier today. It is a very impressive sight and massive. I was wearing my Indiana Jones fedora...of course

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You lucky, lucky son-of-a-gun! I am extremely jealous of you, 1986...(but don't you mean a 'Harry Steele fedora'?) Like Archaeos said, be sure to post something in the Globe-trotting section and tell us all about it when you return to Suffolk County. Would you believe that there is no 'globe-trotting' thread dedicated to Peru or Machu Picchu?

goodeknight said:

All I did "earlier today" was order a copy of Secret of the Incas on DVD. It'll be my first time seeing it, so that's something of an adventure, right?

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HOORAY! Looking forward to your review, goodeknight. (Superb photo you posted, too. Gotta love it.)

Give pizza a chance

Hi Stoo,
Yep, me and the guy who designed my website are pals again, we decided to give peace a chance.
Your amazing RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARCHIVES is on the section marked-

THE FILM - MEDIA.

Also in this bit is the Lux Radio version of SECRET OF THE INCAS, the whole movie, Nicole Maurey and myself recreating "Who cut down the cherry tree?" and PREMAKES: RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1951).

Check it out here-

http://www.secretoftheincas.co.uk

Stoo said:

You're in luck! Being a ravenous & insatiable collector of films & TV series based on Jules Verne's novels, I do have a copy of "Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine" (but it's in French with no English subtitles). If you're interested, give me time to make room in my Raven PM inbox and we'll talk...

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Sorry for delay in replying to threads, as I am suddenly tight for time as I have never been before .

Right, so: I count to Three in German for you to make place in you PM inbox, because WE two, we need to do some talking - and my French is not too shabby, I warn ya!

"eins!"

"Zwei!!"

"DRRRE__!!!"

Archaeos said:

Awesome!

I am back now and will try to post some pictures when I get the chance. I always seem to have trouble posting images on this message board. They are saved on my computer.

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Archaeos said:

Can't wait to read something like a little review of your first viewing.

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Stoo said:

[/B][/SIZE]
HOORAY! Looking forward to your review, goodeknight. (Superb photo you posted, too. Gotta love it.)

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Well, two weeks after I got back from Cairo I realized I'd forgotten about Secret of the Incas. I dug thru some old, forgotten mail, found my DVD, and watched it that night with my wife and son.

I purposefully didn't read back through the 16 pages of comments here, because I wanted to watch it spoiler free and form my own opinion.

First thing that grabbed my attention was "costume design by Edith Head" in the opening credits. She's the archetypal Hollywood designer. I know other characters pre-Steele wore leather jackets and hats, but Harry's obviously the closest thing we saw to Indy until 1981. That was a nice discovery for me.

Next thing that really made me smile was the shot of Steele sleeping with his hat pulled down, just like Indy in TOD. Loved that shot.

I was surprised to see how much more renegade/mercenary Steele seemed. Not quite what I was expecting. Much more of an anti-hero throughout the movie, until very close to the end. He was also less globetrotter and more master of his local domain. In those respects he reminded me more of Jack T. Colton (Michael Douglas in Romancing the Stone). Rougher around the edges, stuck in one place, and perpetually hanging onto a dream of the big score. Similar to Rick in Casablanca.

I also thought that for the time it was pretty good cinematography, and very well written. I loved a lot of the dialogue. Snappy, witty, sometimes biting and sarcastic, etc.

I enjoyed finally catching all the similarities, like the Staff of Ra sequence, though I thought it paled in comparison to Raiders, for one because replacing the rising sun with a flashlight just pulled it down.

Some similarities may or may not have been intentional on Spielberg's/Lucas's part, like the life raft and camping scene, or the fact that the lead female was a former "dancer," like Willie Scott. The accent gave her a bit of Elsa, too.

The archaeologist seemed a nice version of Belloq, especially with him also chasing after the affections of the love interest. And he really was a nice guy. When the local asked essentially, "Hey boss, can I take this fabled 30 pound gold mask encrusted with diamonds and other jewels and put it back in the temple where it belongs," he just replies, "Sure!" No talk about museums, world heritage, or fortune and glory for him. He takes that high road right away. I wonder what his board of directors said after he got back to the states with a bunch of pottery. "You found the mask and left it there?!"

I certainly enjoyed watching a movie and not knowing how it was going to unfold or resolve. By the end, I did expect the Sankara stone style return to the natives, but the casual "Sure!" really did give me a chuckle.

Other minor things I noted were too many competing fedoras. And the musical numbers were absolutely hideous. I much prefer Anything Goes in bad Mandarin.

Definitely a great Indy precursor of a movie, and I'm happy to have finally seen it.

James Byrne said:

Hi Stoo,
Yep, me and the guy who designed my website are pals again, we decided to give peace a chance.
Your amazing RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARCHIVES is on the section marked-

THE FILM - MEDIA.

Also in this bit is the Lux Radio version of SECRET OF THE INCAS, the whole movie, Nicole Maurey and myself recreating "Who cut down the cherry tree?" and PREMAKES: RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1951).

Check it out here-

http://www.secretoftheincas.co.uk

Click to expand...

I want to congratulate you on your website. It is really an interesting work of dedication to a movie.

cheers