Rating: Country: USA Release Date: June 6, 2006 Distributor: Paramount Director: · John Farrow Cast: · Glenn Ford · Diana Lynn · Patricia Medina · Francis L. Sullivan · Sean McClory Related Sites: · IMDb: Plunder of the Sun Grade: C

Tweet

Al Colby (Ford) is an insurance man stuck in Havana, Cuba looking for a way out. After some dame (Patricia Mendina) seduces him at a bar, he accepts a couple of bucks from her sugar daddy (Francis L. Sullivan) to transport a parcel - contents unknown - to Oaxaca, Mexico. On the voyage over he meets a double-crossing rogue (Sean McClory) and a drunk played by Diana Lynn who both seem interested in his package. What’s inside? And what dangers will it bring?

Plunder of the Sun (1953) is part of John Wayne's Batjac Productions:The Suspense Collection which also includes Ring of Fear, Track of the Cat and Man in the Vault.

"Plunder of the Sun" is basically a low rent “Maltese Falcon” or “Casablanca” without the conscience. It's not quite film noir, but with the ancient Mexican locations, you might call it pelicula negra. Ford’s character is kind of a jerk and I couldn't make up my mind whether he's the typical noirish anti-hero, or just a schmuck who talks tough but makes crappy decisions. Most of the cast are B-level imitators of typical noir casts: Francis L. Sullivan instead of Sydney Greenstreet, Sean McClory replacing Peter Lorre, and Diana Lynn in for Gloria Grahame. To me, it feels like a film created just to shoot the Zapotecan ruins of Mitla and Monte Alban. While they are impressive, it's not enough to make up for the two-dimensional characters and uninteresting plot. If you like Ford though, he’s his usual self and it’s a relatively painless timepasser.

The extras included on this disc are decent. This DVD is one of a series of re-releases from John Wayne’s Batjac production company. The extras reflect this somewhat with trailers from other Batjac films and a doc on one of Wayne’s stock players, Sean McClory. There’s an unfortunately too-short doc, “On Location with Glenn Ford”, narrated by Peter Ford (Glenn Ford’s son) utilizing Glenn’s personal on-set photos taken during the filming. There’s an extensive documentary on the history of the plundering of Mexican artifacts. Perhaps the nicest extra is the surprisingly interesting commentary by Peter Ford and film historian Frank Thompson. It’s a really pleasant conversation with all sorts of nice stories coming up from Peter, though you do wish it was Glenn himself recounting the tales.