Secret of the Incas

SECRET OF THE INCAS looks terrific with sweeping vistas and wide expanses of Peru's Machu Picchu region. Who better to carry off the familiar role of the avaricious swindler destined to come around and prove hes not such a bad guy after all than Heston? Heston has been stone faced before, but this time hes positively granitelike. In Cuzco, he bilks tourists to come up with the funds to secure an airplane so he can fly up to the Andes. There he believes hell find the fabled treasure of the Incas, a jewel-laden ritual mask known as the "Sunburst." At the same time, a man of equally dubious morals, Mitchell, is also after the same relic. Farrell is a tourist, and Heston gets her to help him nab the plane. Several groups descend on Machu Picchu at the same time. Young is after the mask for quite another reason: he hopes that its discovery might help the local natives get their heritage back. At the site, the various groups get into a fracas. To add to the complications, Maurey, a knockout who happens to be along on the trip, falls for Heston. In the end, Heston gives the Sunburst to the natives, confesses his love for Maurey, and the two leave to spend their lives together. He wants the mask, engages in all sorts of derring-do to get it, then throws it aside for the love of a good woman. Sumac (who everyone at the time thought was a real South American, but who was actually one Amy Camus, a native of New York) has a remarkable five-octave singing voice and does three tunes by Moises Vivanco, "High Andes," "Virgin of the Sun God," and "Earthquake." (official distributor synopsis)