wes-connors San Francisco insurance adjuster Glenn Ford (as Al Colby) is in hot water. He tells US authorities in Mexico what put him there… Quickly, we flashback as Mr. Ford arrives in Havana, Cuba. Strapped for cash, Ford meets alluring Patricia Medina (as Anna Luz) at a bar and takes a job offered by her old and ailing companion Francis L. Sullivan (as Thomas Berrien). Plagued by a bad heart and confined to a wheelchair, Mr. Sullivan hires Ford to help them smuggle a small package into Mexico. En route, the newly formed trio meet sneaky blond Sean McClory (as Jefferson), who is interested in small packages. Ford also encounters tipsy tramp Diana Lynn (as Julie Barnes), who propositions him with the line, "I like well built men." Finally, the package Ford is carrying opens, and mysteries are revealed. Unfortunately the plot thins and several in the cast act types rather than parts. However, the location photography by Jack Draper makes it nice looking.***** Plunder of the Sun (8/26/53) John Farrow ~ Glenn Ford, Patricia Medina, Diana Lynn, Sean McClory

Robert J. Maxwell There is some impressive location shooting here. Nice shots of Zapotec ruins in Oaxaca, in southern Mexico, along with explanations of what it is we're looking at. Those ball courts at Monte Alban are pretty old. Some courts date to 1600 BCE. They had a flourishing civilization in Mesoamerica then. Know what was going on in Europe in 1600 BCE? Nothing.All these monuments and ball courts at Monte Alban don't impress the pragmatic American hero much. That would be Glenn Ford. "This is literally a doorway to the past," he narrates. Then he walks through the door and it's all forgotten because it's eclipsed by intrigues sexual and economic, and everything is dominated by the search for a hidden treasure. Bing Crosby and Bob Hope did this sort of thing better.It's almost a film noir pastiche. The bluesy musical score is a parody. There are scenes derived from, oh, I don't know -- "Murder My Sweet," various adaptations of Raymond Chandler, "Out of the Past," and "The Maltese Falcon." Ford, out of money in Mexico, which is -- I grant you -- a desperate condition to be sure, gives us the hard-boiled narration. "I took a black hairpin and a hunch and parlayed it into action." He's offered a thousand dollars to do a simple job of smuggling an envelope from Cuba into Mexico and it turns into a spider's web of villainy, greed, and betrayals. Ford gets knocked out. He knocks others out. A snub-nosed revolver is heard discharging from time to time. Patricia Medina is a good girl, or maybe not.Diana Lynn is definitely a bad girl. She was a cute teen ager in "The Major and the Minor" and in "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek." Here, ten years older, she essays the Gloria Grahame role but it's not her style but, I swear, if you close your eyes and listen to her voice she sounds exactly like Gloria Grahame. She's an attractive woman but I suppose the director has given her instructions to hold her shoulders back in order to thrust out her bosom. The result is an awkward bird-like posture that doesn't get more graceful when she moves around.Ford, who could be good, is wooden and inexpressive. And the worst casting error was making Sean McClory the worst of the heavies. They've died his hair blond and given him a flat top haircut. He always wears shades. And, no matter how hard he tries, he can't hide his Irish accent. He's handled roles that were mostly cheerfully comic but sometimes dramatic ("Island in the Sky") but as a slimy villain -- no.The best feature of the film is the location. The rest isn't worth going out of your way for. It's pretty humdrum.

Ben Burgraff (cariart) While much of Glenn Ford's early 1950s film output are unabashedly 'B' movies (he filled the same niche as Robert Mitchum did, at RKO), the movies are, by and large, very entertaining, and "Plunder of the Sun", shot in Mexico for Warners and John Wayne's Batjac Productions, is no exception. Directed by John Farrow, this action drama offers noir elements (an ambiguous hero, a 'fallen' woman, brutal violence, and an 'expressionist' use of light and shadow), John Huston-like characters (reminiscent of both "The Maltese Falcon" and "Treasure of Sierra Madre"), and an actually pretty accurate look at ancient Indian civilizations that built cities with pyramids when Europe consisted of little more than tribes.Ford is Al Colby, a down-on-his-luck American recruited by rotund Thomas Berrien (Sidney Greenstreet-channeling Francis L. Sullivan) to slip a package through Mexican customs. When Berrien unexpectedly dies, a variety of characters offers Colby money, potential treasure, or his life, in exchange for the mysterious package, which he discovers contains part of an ancient document mapping where a hidden cache of priceless artifacts is buried. Seduced by both beautiful native girl Patricia Medina, who seems involved with all the 'major players', and drunken American 'party girl' Diana Lynn (doing a 'Gloria Grahame' impression), and 'educated' through beatings and genial lectures by the mysterious 'Jefferson' (scene-stealing Sean McClory), Colby teeters between succumbing to the vast wealth the document promises, and 'doing the right thing', and turning everything over to the Mexican authorities, who legally 'own' the artifacts. While Ford's portrayal lacks the subtle shadings of Bogart or Mitchum, he handles the moral dilemma quite well, and he certainly can take a beating! With much of the action filmed at actual Aztec sites, in Oaxaca, Mexico, the film has an authentic 'feel', is fast-paced, and very watchable.Certainly worth a look!

whpratt1 Glenn Ford,(Al Colby),"The Big Heat",'53 played an insurance man down on his luck in Mexico and meets up with Patricia Medina,(Anna Luz),"The Beast of Hollow Mountain",'56, who buys Al Colby a drink and makes sexual advances toward him and manages to involve him with a man who gives Al a package to deliver for $1,000 and that makes Al very happy, because he is completely broke. Diana Lynn,(Julie Barnes),"Track of the Cat",'54, plays the role of a sexy blond who is drunk most of the time and is always trying to get Al Colby into bed with her. It seems that Al Colby has some secrets that concern a very wealthy treasure and everyone either wants to kill him or go in business with him. Glenn Ford was at the top of his career and gave an outstanding performance.