Plunder of the Sun (Special Collector's Edition)
by John Farrow
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DVD details
Actor: Diana Lynn, Francis L. Sullivan, Glenn Ford, Patricia Medina, Sean McCloryDirector: John Farrow
Brand: Paramount
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, Collector's Edition, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 81 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-06-06
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Paramount
DVD Reviews of Plunder of the Sun (Special Collector's Edition)
DVD Review: An adventure tale with Zapotec gold, carved jade discs, a dangerous blond Irishman...and Glenn Ford
Summary: 4 Stars
Al Colby (Glenn Ford) is a down-on-his-luck guy in Havana, staying in a cheap hotel, drinking in a cheap bar and always waiting for a check in the mail. One afternoon he meets a sultry young woman, Anna Luz (Patricia Medina) who spins a tale for him. He winds up in what he thinks is her home. It turns out to be the home of a very fat, very ill man, Thomas Berrien (Francis L. Sullivan), who describes himself as an "antiquarian." He has a proposition for Colby. Take a small package and bring it into Mexico. They'll meet in Oaxaca, Colby will return the package and Berrien will give him $1,000. Colby is no fool, but he needs the money. Colby agrees, and then finds himself in the middle of a gold hunt for lost Zapotec treasure and having to deal with a group of suspicious and sometimes dangerous hunters who include a ruthless, blond Irishman (Sean McClory), who knows a lot about the Zapotec, an often-drunk young American woman (Diana Lynn) who thinks getting even is almost as good as love, and a respected Mexican Zapotec expert and his son. To make it even more complex, Berrien died of heart failure, probably, on the trip to Mexico. Colby, after he arrives in Oaxaca and opens the package, is smart enough to know that the disc of carved jade and the three pages of mixed Zapotec and Spanish, printed on fragmenting parchment, just might hold the key to more riches Colby has ever dreamed of. And still in the mix is Anna Luz. She is determined to secure the pages and is dealing with obligations she doesn't want to share with Colby.
Plunder of the Sun is an efficient, fast-paced adventure yarn with a believably smart but tough hero in Glenn Ford. All the characters, including Al Colby, have hidden motives and questionable morals. We're never sure what Colby's game is until we're well into the movie. We know it can't be any worse that Berrien's or the Irishman's.
There are three things I like about the movie. First, it has no pretensions of being anything than what it is, a fast-paced adventure tale with hidden treasure and periodic violence. Second, the location shooting. A good deal of the picture is set in Monte Alban, the great abandoned city of the Zapotec close to Oaxaca. We get plenty of scenes which are set on the huge stone walls and buildings, on the steep, narrow steps, on the playing fields, the sacrificial altars and burial trenches. Some additional scenes are set in Mitla, a Zapotec temple complex nearby. Third, Charles Rooner and the job he does with the minor character of Captain Bergman. Bergman seems to be a German, sweaty, overweight, ingratiating, scrambling for a few pesos and utterly immoral. Rooner, born in Austria, made a career playing in Mexican movies. Watching Bergman eat at a bar, stuffing his mouth, food particles falling, gulping down swallows of beer with his mouth full, makes you have a greater appreciation for pigs. It's a startling bit of acting.
Plunder of the Sun is no long-forgotten classic. Thanks to DVD it is one of those solid but forgotten movies, much better than a programmer, that we have a chance to watch again. The DVD is in fine shape. Extras include an interesting overview of archeological plundering and background on Monte Alban and Mitla by David Carballo, a professor of archeology at the University of Oklahoma. There is a commentary by Frank Thompson and Glenn Ford's son, Peter.
And it would be a shame not to mention David Dodge, the writer who wrote the book on which the movie was based. Dodge was a fine writer of popular novels and travelogues. Five of his detective/adventure stories I like a lot. In addition to Plunder of the Sun (1949), there are two other Al Colby books, The Long Escape (1948) and The Red Tassel (1950), as well as To Catch a Thief (1952), which Hitchcock snapped up, and The Lights of Skaro (1954). Most have been out of print for years, although Plunder has been recently reprinted. If you find a brown-edged, aging paperback or hard back of any of them, the price undoubtedly will be right...so buy it, read it and enjoy.
Description of Plunder of the Sun (Special Collector's Edition)
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