An American adventurer in Cuzco, Peru, halfheartedly works as a tour guide, but his real interest is a priceless Incan artifact. He schemes to steal a Romanian official's plane to make it to the lost city of Machu Picchu in the remote high country of the Andes, where he's surprised to discover an archaeological dig is taking place. Robert Young plays the leader of the scientists.

"Secret of the Incas" (1954) is an adventure flick that became the blueprint for Indiana Jones in the 80s, the first film of course being the exceptional "Raiders of the Lost Ark." While Harry Steele (Heston) certainly dresses like Indiana Jones, he's not a noble professor; he's a cynical and avaricious treasure hunter, not to mention opportunist. In the last act there is a tomb sequence featuring a revealing shaft of light similar to the Map Room scene in "Raiders."

Being shot in 1953, this naturally has a quainter tone by comparison. The first 45 minutes, for instance, entirely take place in a remote Andes town with a lot of talk and little action, which might turn off fans of Indiana Jones. But I enjoyed Heston's towering presence and nonchalant mojo. His character, Harry Steele, is similar to Taylor in "Planet of the Apes" (1968), just fourteen years younger.

The Andes sequences are scenic and striking Peruvian vocalist Yma Sumac plays the role of Kori-Tica with a couple of extraordinary singing sequences. Meanwhile Nicole Maurey is sharp as the Romanian defector, Elena.

The film runs 1 hour, 41 minutes, and was shot in Peru at Cuzco and Machu Picchu with (obvious) studio scenes done at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. The studio sets are surprisingly well done and convincing enough.

GRADE: B-/B.

Several years ago I met a Production Assistant who worked on RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and was told an interesting story: that SECRET OF THE INCAS was indeed the inspiration for RAIDERS... but it went much further than that. The PA stated that George Lucas had seen SECRET years before and adapted the story into his own vision for Indiana Jones. Lucas screened SECRET -in secret- for Spielberg who immediately attached himself to the project. Here's where it gets interesting: Spielberg quickly negotiated the rights to SECRET and the contract demanded it be shelved and never released in the United States so there couldn't be any direct comparisons to RAIDERS. That's why even today you can't buy an official NTSC copy of SECRET; my region-free disc came from the U.K.! And the similarities between Heston's costume and Harrison Ford's some 30 years later were no accident, either: the PA told me that the RAIDERS creative staff were required to watch SECRET and use it as source material as much as possible to save production time/expense. And, it's clear they took a lot of notes! Others have mentioned the obvious similarities, but there's another really quick one that most people overlook: it's a little musical phrase on the SECRET soundtrack that is identical to one that John Williams used later on when he scored RAIDERS. Listen closely and it'll jump right out at you. Another coincidence? I'm not so sure! Further, Charlton Heston was famous for talking about his filmmaking experiences, yet he never directly -or publicly- mentioned SECRET... not even in his detailed autobiography, "In The Arena". He would only say that he once made a film high in the Andes where it was very difficult to breathe! Privately he allegedly had plenty to say: that he was contractually prohibited from mentioning his work on SECRET and that he seriously resented the fact that Spielberg had so thoroughly usurped his character and with little alteration turned it into the cult-status-cash-cow that Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones attained.

I have been to Cusco and Machu Picchu many times, and was surprised to see this movie was actually filmed in Cusco, Peru.In 1954 it must have been an incredible trip to make, as it was very remote. I thought at first they would use a small Mexican town to simulate Peru, but I was amazed that Heston was actually filmed in Cusco. However, I do not believe I saw a scene with him actually in Machu Picchu. Many background shots with him in front.But parts of the movie were filmed in Machu Picchu, so at least the crew and some actors must have made the trip.It is even hard to get to MP now , so in 1954 it must have been quite a journey. I was thrilled to see Cusco when I saw the movie this year for the first time. I actually think that Heston was the role model for Indiana Jones. The outfit he wore and the instant archeology that modern movies portray.

The main reason to watch Secret Of The Incas is for a glimpse at Peruvian Indian culture, something like it was before Pizarro and the Spaniards got there. The location cinematography in the Peruvian Andes is stunning as well as the sequences depicting the remnants of the Incas. Otherwise though Secret Of The Incas is a potboiler adventure flick set in an unusual vacation.

For a guy who played such noble heroes in film, Charlton Heston plays one of the more disreputable roles in his career as Harry Steele who urges all to call him Harry. He's an American stranded in a really backwater part of Peru and living off the tourists providing all kinds of services. When we first meet him he's getting paid from Marion Ross for some really special interest. Later on the married Glenda Farrell attracts his attention, but he discards her for Nicole Maurey, a refugee from behind the Iron Curtain that the Romanians want back although the film never really explains why. So much so that their consul Leon Askin is giving it his personal attention though I think his interests are really personal as are Heston's.

But Askin does have a private plane and Heston knows how to fly so he and Maurey take off for an even more remote part of Peru where they believe an Inca treasure is buried. It's a yellow sunburst made of gold and expensive jewels. Like the Maltese Falcon worth the hunt. But a dig organized by archaeologist Robert Young is in the way. And an even bigger low life than Heston shows up and declares his interest in the treasure and that's Thomas Mitchell.

The color cinematography also does justice to Nicole Maurey's beauty as well as the Peruvian landscape. Thomas Mitchell creates an interesting portrait of an aging crook, living by his wits in a racket he should have gotten out of a long time ago. But his way of living is the only thing he knows. Heston's motivations for turning good guy are not really ringing true, though he doesn't turn quite so good. I will say some adult themes are explored and hinted at here that would not have passed Code muster five years earlier.

Paramount lifted this one a bit from its true origins by location cinematography and some A list players in the cast. But Secret Of The Incas is really just your average potboiler adventure story.

'Secret of the Incas' never really gets going, for me.

I adore that it was filmed on location in Peru, it gives us some beautiful shots of the South American country; most notably of Machu Picchu. That's where the greatness ends though. It isn't a poor film by any means, but nothing else springs to mind in a positive manner about it.

The cast are solid if a little mundane. Charlton Heston does a fine job in the lead role as Harry, with Thomas Mitchell supporting competently. The plot execution is what lets this down in my opinion, as it's an attractive premise but never feels like the majestic adventure that it should be.

This starts promisingly as a rather cynical drama with a lean, mean young Charlton Heston as a bad boy that women are drawn to (including a mature but still succulent Glenda Farrell in Technicolor) despite being a jerk.

Unfortunately when the action relocates to an archeological dig presided over by Robert Young (in his final big screen role), local colour takes over - including a couple of songs by Yma Sumac - and it all gets very talky.

As another review noted, it's kitsch and camp. There's also appeal in seeing Heston in an early role and having as a villain the absent minded uncle from It's a Wonderful Life. TV's Marcus Welby also shows up, equally stiff playing a lonely archaeologist. There's also a white Australian in really bad tanning makeup playing an Indian named Pachacutik.

The biggest appeal for me and many others is its glimpse of Peruvian Indians. IOW, whenever Heston and the other white actors step aside and let us see a bit of the real Peru. Large parts of the film show Quechua Indians, esp three great musical numbers from the legendary Yma Sumac.

Other parts are pretty revealing of the colonial mentality of the times, incredibly ignorant parts that make anyone who knows anything about Peru laugh out loud: Pachacutik as an Indian name? That's like an Italian calling himself Tiberius.

Machu Pichu as a "lost" city in 1954? When it already had thousands of visitors a day.

A hokey prophecy that "Incan" Indians have been waiting on? That's just as fake as the 2012 hoax.

Calling them "Incan" Indians is like calling Italians "Caesars." That's the title of emperors.

And also, Heston's Spanish is incredibly bad. His pronunciation is so impossible to understand it becomes a dialect unknown in Heaven or Earth.

So whenever someone white speaks in the film, don't rely on it as truth about Peru or its Natives. The other scenes, yes, definitely worth seeing.

ETA: I'm glad of the strong reactions to my review, both the downvotes and the higher than I expected number of up votes. Good to know some others feel the same.

Heston plays a tough, cynical treasure hunter filling in as a tourist guide. He is though keen to find a legendary Incan treasure and when an opportunity for a private plane to take him and his latest girl to Machu Picchu to seek this out he is not going to miss the opportunity.

You only have to look at Heston to see how this influenced Indiana Jones and there are also quite a few incidents picked up by Spielberg later. This is where the similarities end as the action relating to treasure hunting is pretty thin and for most of the film, it's just about the planning, travelling and avoiding the baddies. Heston is a real star though and carries this fun but unremarkable adventure with ease - frankly everyone else is neither here or there.

Nice to see singing legend Imma Sumac doing her amazing thing.

Point of interest - what exactly is Thomas Mitchell doing at the snooker table near the start of the film?

Good action story of archaeologist-explorer (Heston) in search of lost fabled treasure of gold in ancient city of the Incas. Filmed partly on location in Peru, with a good script, fair direction, and strong performances by a good cast. This is the movie that gave George Lucas and Steven Spielberg the idea for their INDIANA JONES movies and character; compare Heston to Harrison Ford's character; he's got it down to the fedora, khakis, and whip! The scene in the cave with the light beam focused on the Inca treasure is impressive, and very similar to Indy's Map Room scene in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981). Great locations, adventures, in beautiful Technicolor, but lacked the sure hand of a great director. One can easily visualize Heston as Indiana Jones in this film; he worked in this one immediately following George Pal's "THE NAKED JUNGLE" in 1954, just two years before Cecil B. DeMille made him a superstar as Moses in "The Ten Commandments" (1956). Vibrant, eerie mood music is featured by the stunningly amazing Peruvian singer Yma Sumac, a descendant of the Incas, who had a major singing career in the Fifties and remains a cult figure today. Highly recommended. Why isn't this out on video?

This exciting picture deals with a ruthless adventurer called Harry Steele (Charlton Heston) wearing brown leather jacket, fedora, tan pants, over-the-shoulder bag, and wielding revolver and is hunting a priceless Inca jewel . As he searchers for hidden treasure in the Peruvian jungles . He is accompanied by a gorgeous drifter named Elena Antonescu (Nicole Maurey), a refugee fleeing from communists . She can help him get a plane and he can help her escape Peru for the relative safety of Mexico ; as she more than matches him as the feisty heroine who follows him through mountains , rivers , cliffs and all kind dangers .

Jungle thriller plenty of tremendous adventures , action , a love story , and wonderful scenarios . This is a 1950-style high adventure and driven along with enormous panaché , including enjoyable screenplay from Sydney Bohen and Ronald MacDougall . Hopper direction is uninspired , the Pine-Thomas unit in Paramount gave him his first chance at filmmaking , but his movies for them , though attractively set , all-action subjects such as this ¨The secret of Incas ¨and ¨Hurricane Smith¨ were not specially distinguished . Charlton Heston is pretty good as a rough adventurer ; here is a rugged as well as rogue young transformed into a intrepid man of action at the drop of his spectacles . Heston had played for director Hopper , two passable films : the historical Western ¨Pony Express¨ and ¨The private war of Major Benson¨ , a comedy about the relationship between a martinet commander and a very small cadet . Charlton Heston gets nice support cast from veteran Hollywood characters such as Thomas Mitchell , Glenda Farrell , Michael Pate , Leon Askin and Robert Young , in fact it was the final theatrical film of this veteran actor , who thereafter moved exclusively into television, where he enjoyed a highly successful career for over 30 years . The movie is often cited as a direct inspiration for the Indiana Jones franchise of films, with many of the scenes in Secret of the Incas bearing a striking resemblance in tone and structure to scenes in Raiders of the Lost Ark . Adequate special effects by the veteran John P.Fulton and and colorful cinematography by Lionel Lindon, though is urgent a perfect remastering . Being set on location in Cuzco , Peruvian jungles and Machu Pichu , Peru . Evocative Original Music by David Buttolph , including strange as well as hypnotic songs sung by Yma Sumac as Kori-Tica ,she is billed third on the posters .

The motion picture produced by Mel Epstein was professionally directed by Jerry Hopper , but with no enthusiasm . Hopper firstly worked for Paramount , them he crossed to Universal and immediately proved himself on more intimate subjects , particularly those with veins of comedy or sentiment . Hopper directed all kind of genres such as Western : Madron , Pony Express , The Bull of the West ; gritty Thriller : Naked alibi , The Atomic City , The square jungle ; Comedy : The private war of Major Benson ; Adventures : Alaska seas , The Sharkfighters , and The Missouri traveler, it was the best of Hopper's later movies before he became entrenched in television . As Jerry Hooper also filmed a great quantity of TV episodes such as Voyage to the bottom of the sea , The fugitive , Perry Mason , Shenandoah , Adams family , Caravan and Gunsmoke .

The sunlight coming into the cave reflecting off the golden 'mirror' that Heston holds that then reveals the location of the treasure of the Incas remains in my mind as one of the most persistent movie memories from when I was nine years old in 1954 watching the film at the Bing Theater in Springfield, MA. Years later, Steven Spielberg seems to have been influenced by that image and includes a similar scene in "Raiders of the Lost Ark". I can't help but think that Mr. Speilberg must also have seen the "Secret" fresh on the big screen when he was a child. And I cannot find the movie at any, as yet, visited video store to rent it and thereby return to the marvelous scenes of the Andes and the stirring sounds of singer Ima Sumac's four-octave range present at least once in the film. All other movie book references to Heston's work seem to omit this forgotten 'gem' of an enjoyable film that filled one memorable Saturday afternoon at the neighborhood cinema.

I remember this exciting film,The Secret of The Incas, so well ! saw as a a child in theatre...maybe have seen once or twice on commercial TV..haven't seen in years !! Why wasn't this film released on VHS or DVD? There are bootlegs available yes.. with scenes deleted.. but I want the original Uncut only!! I have some music from film recorded by the phenomenal Peruvian Singer featured in film, Yma Sumac.. but no video!!This film we all know was the precursor to Raiders of the Lost Ark & other films of that genre..Spielberg had to be influenced by this movie..Lets get it released on Video, please !!

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

A good cast and story line could have been an Indiana Jones adventure, but it just doesn't click for me.. Heston plays the bad guy that is looking out for himself going after the Inca treasure. But he fails to make you believe it, and instead comes off as just being sleazy. The real low for me is when Yma Sumac, the Inca Priestess, for lack of a better description of her part, sings. Wow. I have no idea what the director had in mind, but whale calls would have been better. If that is authentic Peruvian folk singing, then I'm a monkey's uncle. It just blows the entire movie for me. The scenery is magnificent and some of the camera shots outstanding. There is some entertainment value here, but the director could have got more mileage out of both the story line and his cast.

Like probably most of the people who become interested in this film now I decided to watch it in desire of becoming more familiar with classics that inspired Indiana Jones. Frankly I was quite disappointed. It had great possibilities to develop. Charismatic adventurous protagonist with a key to the great treasure of the Incas. Love interest, defector from the Eastern bloc who stays illegally in the country. The somewhat friendly antagonist who is not so different from the main character. I wouldn't call him evil twin but rather possible dark (if somewhat pathetic) future of the protagonist if he doesn't reconsider his ways. Personally I liked the role it played in the plot. While one may consider all these clichés they prepare everything required for perfect adventure. The main problem is that for the adventure movie... there is not much adventure going on! I don't even mean action scenes but simply doing anything more than enjoying hospitality of the archaeologists! Still I enjoyed the atmosphere and my own expectations a lot. Thaks to that I can't call this movie bad.

"Secret of the Incas" (1954) is, with out a doubt, a truly rip-roaring adventure movie. It shares uncanny resemblance too with "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and other Indiana Jones films. But I am not going to go into this with any depth, as another person, James Byrne, knows a lot more about it than I do. Having not seen it for along time, I can only remember the more memorable moments, such as: Harry Steele (Charlton Heston) nearly being killed by a sniper, who was under the orders of Ed Morgan (Thomas Mitchell), flying Nicole Maurey (Elena Antonescu) over to Machu Picchu, in Peru, and the exciting climax. For those of you who like fast moving adventure movies, with great performances, this is for you. It's such a shame that it has not come out on DVD yet.

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.