Plunder of the Sun (1953)

Director:

John Farrow

Writers:

Jonathan Latimer (screen play)
David Dodge (based on the novel by)

Release Date:

26 August 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

An American insurance adjuster, stranded in Havana, becomes involved with an archaeologist and a collector...

Plot Keywords:

Antiquities | Havana | Treasure | Oaxaca | Consul

Cast

Glenn Ford	...	Al Colby
Diana Lynn	...	Julie Barnes
Patricia Medina	...	Anna Luz
Francis L. Sullivan	...	Thomas Berrien
Sean McClory	...	Jefferson
Eduardo Noriega	...	Raul Cornejo
Julio Villarreal	...	Ulbaldo Navarro (as Julio Villareal)
Charles Rooner	...	Captain Bergman
Douglass Dumbrille	...	Consul (as Douglas Dumbrille)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mona Barrie	...	Tourist (uncredited)
Victorio Blanco	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Juan García	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Margarito Luna	...	Tacho (uncredited)
Carlos Múzquiz	...	Museum curator (uncredited)
Manuel Vergara 'Manver'	...	Man playing cards (uncredited)

Directed by
John Farrow

Writing credits
Jonathan Latimer		(screen play)
David Dodge		(based on the novel by)

Produced by
Robert Fellows	....	producer
John Wayne	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Antonio Díaz Conde
Hugo Friedhofer		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Jack Draper

Film Editing by
Harry Marker

Art Direction by
Alfred Ybarra		(as Al Ybarra)

Makeup Department
Dave Grayson	....	makeup artist (as David Grayson)

Production Management
Nate H. Edwards	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Andrew V. McLaglen	....	assistant director

Sound Department
James L. Fields	....	sound director
Galdino R. Samperio	....	sound re-recordist (as Galdino Samperio)
Manuel Topete	....	dialogue recordist (as Manuel Topete Blake)

Music Department
Antonio Díaz Conde	....	conductor
Manuel Topete	....	music recordist (as Manuel Topete Blake)
Arthur Lange	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)
Robert Wiley Miller	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Wayne-Fellows Productions

Distributors

• Warner Bros. (1953) (USA) (theatrical)
• Paramount Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Afex Filmverleih (1954) (Austria) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1954) (France) (theatrical)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #16295) | Sweden:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | West Germany:12 (f)

Filming Locations:

Churubusco Studios, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Company:

Wayne-Fellows Productions

Trivia:

The lines spoken by Berrien, "For my heart thy breast is enough/ For thy liberty my wings are enough" are from 'Your breast is enough' , from Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda.

Goofs:

Factual errors: At Mitla, Colby shows Julie a hole, indicating that it was a place for offerings to the gods, including human sacrifices. In central America, cenotes (or sinkholes) were used by the native population as water sources and also were used for offerings of human sacrifices and objects. However there are no cenotes at Mitla.

Quotes:

Julie Barnes:You stood me up because you think i'm a tramp.
Al Colby:I don't think you're a tramp.
Julie Barnes:Yes you do... cuz I am. I'm a tramp and everybody knows it; Julie the tramp. What's a lady have to do to get a cigarette around here?

Soundtrack:

Sin ella

Read the book

Not much of David Dodge's novel remains in this film version, other than the names of some of the characters and the basic plot. American insurance investigator Al Colby is hired to smuggle a package out of Havana and into Oaxaca, Mexico. When the man who hired him is murdered aboard ship, Colby decides to find out what he is carrying and why it is worth killing for. Unscrupulous antiquities dealers, disgraced archaeologists, and desperate women all clash in a search for buried Zapotecan treasure. Glenn Ford is serviceable as Al Colby, but the plot is murky, the characters are under-developed, and the location is inexplicably changed from Peru to Mexico. Although it is long out-of-print, copies of the book are still relatively easy to find (unlike prints of this film, which is still tied up in Wayne estate litigation), and reading the book is a much better use of one's time.