TCM

Is the NRA mentioned in Ruby Gentry? I don't remember that. In those days the organization was a more or less responsible gun owners' interest group. Today its leadership is insane. This is one reason police departments have largely abandoned the NRA, since unlike years ago the NRA now supports "cop-killer" bullets and unlimited firearms, including ordnance, that can kill lots of police...among other living beings.

Ruby is for some reason among Heston's less-remembered films. So it seems is Secret of the Incas. You never know which movies make a popular impact and which don't.

No, the NRA isn't mentioned in RUBY GENTRY but at the beginning of the movie, all Ruby's friends and neighbours are talking about hunting and shooting, and Heston and JJ go on a hunt together. They certainly LOOK like NRA members.

By the way hob, I regard RUBY GENTRY as one of Heston's most wonderful pre-Moses movies. I hate the way they always ignore these movies, THE NAKED JUNGLE and SECRET OF THE INCAS are other examples. The only time ARROWHEAD is discussed in books about westerns, they tear it pieces, labelling it the most racist western ever made!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE

I agree with you about Ruby Gentry. It's very different from most of Heston's films (early or later) and was I believe only his third or fourth. It's quite an unusual film too. I'm just not crazy about that ending. What a waste!

I think however that The Naked Jungle gets a fair amount of due. It's one of his very best films from his first five years in H'wood. Actually, it may be my favorite of all his films of the 50s.

Marabunta!

😃🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜💀

I came home from my late night shift at work last night and after a bath and a drink of coffee my sister rang me.

"James - guess what? we have just finished watching SECRET OF THE INCAS on TCM!"

"And what did you think to it, Rose?"

"I can see why you love it so much, James. I can't believe that you met Heston and that French actress ... you know, what's her name ...."

"Nicole Maurey!"

"Yes, thats it. She was beautiful but I didn't like that other woman singing all the time!"

"You mean Yma Sumac, don't you Rose. Well I love her singing sessions in the film, I think she's bloody marvellous!"

"I liked her when she sang the high notes, but when she went low it sounded awful."

"What did hubby think to it then Rose?"

"Taffy thought it was a bit slow, but he said that Spielberg ripped it off to make those Indiana Jones films. I loved the scenery in it James, you aren't half lucky to have been to Machu Picchu, you know. There was only one thing I didn't like in the film, James"

"What was that then, Rose?"

"I hated the way that horrible Inca bloke was whipping the donkey when they were all climbing up the hill - there was no need for such cruelty"

"Hahaha Rose, he was only making it go a bit faster, thats all!"

"I can't abide cruelty to animals in films, James, it shouldn't be allowed. Did you meet any of the other actors in the film apart from Chuck and the French woman?"

"No - but I have communicated with five other members by letter, and have kept all the correspondence."

"Anyway, James, I am pleased I finally saw that film that you love, I was thinking of you all the way through it. Bye for now."

That was the fourth telephone message I have received since SECRET OF THE INCAS has been shown on TCM in the past week!





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE

Like I said, you have a reputation that spreads wide, my friend!

I'm kind of stunned your sister had never seen the film before the other day. I mean, being related to you and all. What took her so long? Haven't you offered to play it at family gatherings? 

Had you told them the film was going to be on, or did they find out for themselves, or even just stumble upon it?

Anyway, score two more for Chuck and the French woman!

🇺🇸 🇫🇷 🇵🇪

Not sure about Yma, though. 

Or the burro! 🐎

PS: Did you tape-record her phone call? That sounded like a pretty accurate rendering!

My sister Rose has seen SECRET OF THE INCAS on just one occasion. Tragically we lost our other sister Patricia exactly four years ago next week. Rose and her family came to Lincoln for the funeral and, naturally, we were all in a terrible state, grieving and weeping for the whole week they stayed here.

While us two were on a walk together Rose saw what a state I was in and she said, "I tell you what James, lets go back to your house and put on one of your films, lets put SECRET OF THE INCAS on and you can tell me all about it!"

Well, after a couple of stiff drinks I put the movie on and went into great detail about every single scene in it, pointing out mistakes, etc. After two hours I felt slightly better because her therapy had worked - two hours of talking about a movie had taken my mind off the terrible ordeal we were going through.

Thats why Rose rang me the other day, she hadn't really watched it properly like you should, in complete silence. So, in essence, it really was the first viewing for her and her husband.

I am so pleased she enjoyed it though, hob.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE

James, I'm very sorry to hear about your sister Patricia. That's a terribly sad story, but then Rose was right, wasn't she? Her therapy worked, for both of you. What a wonderful sister you have!

Although, are you quite sure that, insofar as viewing SOTI goes, one should watch it "properly like you should, in complete silence"? I trust you mean, you're still allowed to laugh, gasp and yell "Yay!" at suitable moments!

(Editor's note: initially I copied and pasted your quote beginning with the word "watching", but since the verb tense didn't match my context I substituted "watch" in brackets, as one normally would when amending a quote.

However, when I previewed that entry, what I got instead of the word "watch" in brackets was this: ⌚ .

So as you see, with all these new emoticons to choose from comes added responsibility to exercise care.

My God! Ten-ten already? I've got to get to those porn sites!)

hob, my sister Rose and I were the luckiest people in the world to have had Patricia as a sister. She was a wonderful human being in every way, and we all miss her terribly. It isn't the same world without her.

I got two more phone calls when I arrived home from work last night. First, my son Daniel reminded me that there was a great programme on BBC4 that evening on Machu Picchu. I watched it and it was marvellous, having been to all the fabulous sites shown in the documentary. Its here if you want to see it, hob

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04xdpjy/the-inca-masters-of-the- clouds-1-foundations

My son and I then had a very heated discussion on the terrible events in Paris, but we made up afterwards.

I put the phone down and ten seconds later it rang again, Rose was still wanting to talk about SECRET OF THE INCAS. She started off by saying that Harry Steele was just like Howard Carter and Hiram Bingham, plundering all the antiquities for financial gain. After she had finished slagging off every archaeologist that had ever been born I pointed out to her that, actually, Harry Steele returned the Sunburst to Pachacutec and that everybody seemed happy with that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE

I'm an only child, so I have never known the joys -- and aggravations -- of having a sibling. You're lucky. No one will be left when I go.

Thank you for the MP link. I will check it out.

I don't mean to pry, but I'll pry anyway: what kind of an argument did you and your son have about the events in Paris...now getting worse as I write (3 PM in New York, 8 in Britain, 9 in Paris).

I do have to say I think Rose was wrong about equating Harry Steele with Hiram Bingham. Stanley Moorehead was more like Hiram Bingham. They're all plunderers, of course. It's just that some have academic credentials (Lord Elgin, anyone?) to justify their thefts, while others simply swipe airplanes in order to swipe sunbursts. I wouldn't give too much credit to Steele for returning the thing anyway. It was much more in the way of self-preservation, and to get the girl, than to cleanse his soul or go straight.

Or maybe he looked in the mirror and saw himself as Ed Morgan thirty years later. Only by then the Mrs. Winstons of this world would kick him off the sidewalk as just some bum cadging cheap drinks!

hob, Daniel and I got into a heated debate about "Free speech," plus other subjects relating to the terrible massacre. Dan condemned the terrorists outright, saying things like "The pen is mightier than the sword!" to which I responded with "A pencil is no match for an AK47!"

I tried to explain to Dan that there is no such thing as "Free speech" anymore, and that if you incite religious fanatics on a weekly basis you should expect to get your comeuppence. Mocking someone's religion isn't funny anyway, and those journalists paid a terrible price for their "freedom of speech."

Daniel, who is a bit of a history geek, then gave me a run-down on the events of the French Revolution, and what it stood for, etc.

This went on for at least 20 minutes, and it ended with us both agreeing that we haven't heard the last of this - more fanatics will take the place of the ones that were killed and it will continue, not only in Paris, but across the globe.

hob, you are correct, Stanley Moorehead was modelled on Hiram Bingham, even down to Robert Young's costume, but he wasn't as good at getting the ladies as Bingham!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE

Unhappily, in this day and age it's true you may have to expect that if you print sophomoric "humor" insulting to psychopaths that those psychopaths may strike back.

From what I've read about "Charlie Hebdo" it sounded un-funny, un-clever and uninteresting, just a bunch of half-wits (in that they possessed only half the necessary quota of wit) making heavy-handed and moronic attacks on others in the most juvenile way possible. I also understand that the rag was barely hanging on financially.

Nonetheless, this is a risk it was theirs to run. Once you start making arbitrary rules about what is and isn't acceptable or permissible speech you've had it. This does not include measurable transgressions like libel, but simply because someone is attacking a religion, race or anything else doesn't give someone else license to stop them from saying it. Freedom does include the freedom to be stupid, untalented and irresponsible.

Many publications in the UK, US and elsewhere have refused to reprint any of "Hebdo"'s cartoons because they violate their editorial policies against "giving offense" to racial, religious or other "groups". Of course, how you make a judgment about a thing like that is another issue. Still, such a policy is voluntary on their part and they can do what they wish...which is also free speech.

Now, one hopes that even jackasses like the editorial staff butchered in their offices would occasionally exercise some restraint so as to avoid inflaming murderous maggots who need little excuse to kill anyway. But the solution does not lie with things such as a proposal made yesterday on the BBC by an Algerian-French journalist, who while saying that murder is "of course" not "acceptable", nevertheless sought to blame the victims and urged the adoption of rules to prevent people from saying or printing "offensive" things that might inflame maniacs.

As someone trained in journalism and supportive of the rights enshrined in the United States Constitution, particularly the First Amendment, I find such selfish, self-interested and self-regardant proposals offensive. And history has made it clear that giving in to threats and violence, and groveling on your knees before an unspeakable tyranny out to destroy you, will purchase neither your rights, your safety, nor your life. You will instead assure the loss of everything you're desperately seeking to hold onto, your life at the last.

Perhaps, however, these attempts to quash what can be printed can be used with some effect on the people who keep erasing this board on IMDb!

[deleted]

Reply to self: Hey Os, I was notified you'd posted a reply here but then found you'd deleted it. How come? Don't tell me James and I have gotten too controversial for you!

I deleted it in the interests of imdb self-preservation, hob!

First off, the programmed nutjobs that killed the French journalists deserved the bullet-ridden termination they received, and secondly, the journalists are not the martyrs they are being glorified as. What a way to make a living - taking the mickey out of all religions by way of juvenile cartoons. But having said that, the gun will never suppress free speech ... that I do know!

I saw that revolting waxwork shop dummy Clooney get a "lifetime achievement award" at the Golden Globe awards (what he has achieved in his life remains a mystery, though!) and he, like the French journalists, believes in excercising his right of freedom of speech. Remember that really hilarious "joke" he said on tv years ago when Heston was suffering from alzheimers ... but nobody shot Clooney for saying it, even though he was given an opportunity to apologize immediately. I have always despised that slimeball ever since, but I wouldn't want anybody to shoot him - you see, I believe in free speech!

The internet is for lonely people. People should live. Charlton Heston

I deleted it in the interests of imdb self-preservation, hob!

Which rather proves my point about so-called "free speech" doesn't it!

I felt nauseated watching Clooney wearing his Je suis Charlie badge at the awards last night. Trust him to jump on the bandwagon.

hob, the Heston role that Rod Taylor didn't get was Taylor in PLANET OF THE APES.

Taylor is the only actor who could have played Harry Steele with any conviction. He wouldn't have been half as good as Chuck though.

Taylor's old flame Anita Ekberg died straight after him, I loved that scene in LA DOLCE VITA in the Trevi Fountain. I took my daughter to Rome a few months ago and I instantly thought of Anita wading through the freezing water. What an iconic cinematic moment!

The day Anita was celebrating her 21st birthday was the day that I was born.

R.I.P. Rod Taylor and Anita Ekberg.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE

I figured it was something like that.

I said in my post that I from what little I've seen or read the people at Charlie Hebdo sounded like a bunch of untalented jerks indulging in bathroom humor.

But anyone who resorts to mass murder because they don't like a bunch of sophomoric cartoons penned by idiots is a psychopath -- no ifs, ands or buts.

You don't have to say "I believe in free speech" as if it were some kind of joke or wry aside. Either you do or you don't. No one deserves to be killed for speaking his mind. (Okay, except Oliver Stone.)

I didn't see the Golden Globes and am not surprised that George Clooney wore a "Je suis Charlie" tag. It's the cause de jour, as it were. All the brainless celebs and the mindless masses littered across the real globe do the same thing...until it's passé a week from now. But why single him out? There were a million boobs on the streets of Paris yesterday doing the same thing, not to mention the clods elsewhere. Disgracefully, the White House is now on the defensive, saying the US should have sent a higher-ranking official to march down the Champs Elysees with Eurotrash leaders who won't stand up to Russia but fearlessly brandish papier mâché pencils on their Sunday off. The rag's website apparently has nothing but pages of the slogan in different languages. How many of these people marching around the world and wearing Charlie name tags had ever heard of the magazine, and how many of those ever bought or read it?

But they're not defending the rubbishy product of immature minds. They're defending the right of anyone -- morons working at a marginal magazine few people knew or liked included -- not to be murdered for what they write.

Lots of people go a little insane and follow the herd when something traumatic happens. Not to put too fine a point on it, lads, but your good nation went absolutely bonkers when that dimwitted, hypocritical adulteress and professional imbecile Princess Di died, and what did she achieve in her life?

Right of course, James -- Planet of the Apes. Taylor as Taylor would have been cool. Much as I like Rod I'm not sure I can see him as Harry Steele. He was not laid-back enough for the role. Rod just let the punches fly. Chuck always thought about it before he hit you.

Aha, James! So you were born September 29, 1952. (In Lincoln?) That makes you four months and three days older than moi, in the words of Charlie Hebdo.

On the Rod Taylor site I posted a thread about him and Anita Ekberg. Not only were they actually engaged -- not merely "seeing" each other -- but she died on what would have been his 85th birthday, just four days after his death.

So let's set aside fantasies and look at the hard facts: An Arab owned the car in which Princess Di, whose name is a homonym for "die", was killed -- in Paris. He was also killed -- in Paris. George Clooney won an Oscar for Syriana, and he just got married. Arab terrorists struck in Paris, and the wife of one of them fled to -- Syria. These terrorists used guns. The AK-47 is a gun. An actress whose first name began with the letter A and the second letter of whose last name was K and had a bust size that certainly appeared to be 47 inches dies in Rome the same week. Rome is the capital of a country -- just as Paris is. She died on the birthday of her ex-fiancé...who had mysteriously died just four days previously. The number of terrorists initially being sought was also four...and, think carefully, I said "initially" -- a word derived from the root initials. The initials of the magazine attacked are "CH" -- the exact same letters as the initials of the actor who beat out that woman's ex-fiancé for a coveted role in a movie whose first word begins with the same letter as the city in which these murders took place -- P. I'm sorry, the evidence is plain. These "coincidences" just keep piling up, past the point of mere chance. Logic must intrude. Conspiracy is the clear and only answer.

Bloody hell hob, you would fit in really well with all the conspiracy nutjobs on the JFK boards, but I like your style mate. Very good!

Ken Morley has just been booted out of the Big Brother house for calling Frank Bruno a "negro" and for having a conversation with Alexander O'Neal in which he joked in a fake southern US accent about "a big fat negro."

I don't watch the tripe, I leave the room when its on, but my wife told me about it afterwards. Its a bit much when the word "negro" is now considered a racist slur. All through my life I thought that was the correct word to use to describe somebody from Africa or the Caribbean.

So much for free speech in this country!

The internet is for lonely people. People should live. Charlton Heston

Ken Morley has always been a moronic individual. Most people actually despise the oaf. (Catherine will know him, hob!)

SECRET OF THE INCAS was once labelled "One of the most racist movies of all-time!" so no wonder the word "negro" is considered to be unacceptable now!

My sister rang me about a Charlton Heston film on TCM this week she had never heard of. UNTAMED WEST is on twice this week, I explained to Rose that its the British reissue title for THE FAR HORIZONS. Wonder why they changed the original title?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE

At first Catherine didn't recall Ken Morley but then said, "Oh, yes, what an idiot!" She remembers him from Coronation Street. She also once met Frank Bruno at a hotel she was doing a conference in, and says he's a nice guy. Enormous too!

(She just showed me some pictures of both men on her iPad, superfluously calling Morley an "idiot" a second time but saying nice things about Bruno.)

Alas, while I know of Big Brother (there was an equally half-witted version of it on US TV a few years ago), I've always studiously avoided it whilst in the UK.

"Negro" (normally capitalized) became out of date here in the late 60s, when "black" became the preferred word. In a way I do see this, since "Negro" does sound a bit like you're describing a species rather than another human being; and of course it was once used to designate property.

I have some issues with the term "African-American" since it lumps all black persons into one huge mass, without allowing any recognition of or respect for their individual heritages, cultures, languages, races (not all black people are the same), and so on. In fact, in that sense "Negro" carries the same connotations: indiscriminately (ironic, in that it's for discriminatory reasons) referring to blacks as if they were all the same. But then I guess all racial terms do this to some extent, including "whites".

You blokes of course don't use "African-American" but I don't know what the respectable term of preference in the UK is these days.

THE FAR HORIZONS:

Yes, I don't know why anyone would change the title The Far Horizons to Untamed West. It's not like the actual title refers to something specifically American that most Brits wouldn't know about -- it wasn't called "The Fake Lewis and Clark Expedition" or something. In fact, Untamed West sounds like a conventional western of some kind, whereas The Far Horizons is not only a prettier, more evocative and poetic title, but closer to the nub of the film's story. And it's still the only movie ever made about the L&C expedition, rather surprising considering its importance in American history.

James or Os -- are either of you going to watch it? I'm curious whether the print they run actually carries the Untamed West title, and also whether the original subtitle (which I believe is "The Story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition") is still shown on that print. If either of you catches it could you tell me please? (Has your sister seen it, James, or are you going to urge her to watch it to further her Hestonian education?)

The Far Horizons isn't a great film, and historically it leaves much to be desired, but it's always appealed to me for the way in which it manages to evoke the vast American frontier, as well as being a perfect example of this type of picture from Hollywood in the middle of the 1950s. And I like the original title for the way it conjures the notion of distant lands waiting to be explored.

Lovely music too, as you both know from that CD that also contains the score from some other Heston flick. 

Apparently, you should not even use the word 'black' anymore, at least not over here, as I found out to my cost one afternoon after witnessing a runaway shoplifter. The security guard had been alerted and came running out of the shop and needed a description quickly. "He was a black male, about 6 foot wearing a red shirt, he ran that way!" The guard ran after him and then I turned around to be verbally lambasted by a nosey woman who told me that I shouldn't use such 'politically incorrect language to describe a gentleman of his colour!"

UNTAMED WEST is on tomorrow and Friday, hob, so I'll try and catch it at my son's house.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE

"Secret of the Incas" a racist film????????????????

Those French atheists have just published their first rag since the shooting, and its sold out instantly in Paris!

Just read something funny about Anita Ekberg, a reporter asked her if she had an affair with Victor Mature, to which she replied "Never - I call him Victor Manure!"

I bet that was the only occasion in which her leading man had bigger tits than her!

The internet is for lonely people. People should live. Charlton Heston

James, referring to someone as "a person of color" sounds even more racist and condescending.

Don't make a big deal out of catching Untamed West/The Far Horizons. Hardly very important. Just curious about it.

What, is TCM holding a Heston fest this month?

Os, what I find funny is 3 million people march in Paris extolling free speech, and two days later the French police are arresting people, including another unfunny French "comedian", for using "hate speech". Evidently this even includes drunken French boys spitting out slurs as they're being arrested for drunkenness.

I guess in some countries only the right kinds of free speech are permitted. Hypocrites.

Even my wife can't understand how some people get away with malicious slurs over here. She asks, can't someone stop them. Nope -- as long as it's nothing more than opinion it's protected by our First Amendment. And so it should be. If you start arresting people and punishing them for unpopular speech, where do you draw the line?

Frankly, I think Harry Steele should have been arrested for hate speech. The things he said about fat old Ed Morgan weren't very nice.

hob, TCM have shown "The Buccaneer", "Secret of the Incas", "Pony Express" and "Khartoum" just recently.

Where's all the racism in SOTI then?
I am intrigued!

The internet is for lonely people. People should live. Charlton Heston

Don't ask me! James started all this SOTI racism stuff. He's joking, of course.

I think.

Maybe the Incas are the racists.

That's an interesting line-up of CH films to show. Except for Khartoum these titles wouldn't normally get much play I should think. It's been a couple of years since I recall seeing either The Buccaneer or Pony Express broadcast here, and twenty or so for Secret of the Incas. Granted, with several hundred channels to keep track of you never know for certain, but you can weed out most of them as impossible or unlikely possibilities. Of course, except for SOTI, all are on DVD.

I really don't understand why SOTI has so fallen through the cracks of public awareness as it has. Even Heston didn't mention it in his autobiography!

It wasn't me hob, it was Joe Foster, who wrote the sleeve notes to the Yma Sumac compact disc "Voice of the Extabay", and he astonishingly described SECRET OF THE INCAS as “One of the most bizarrely racist movies ever”.

For the life of me, I cannot detect any bizarre racism, whatever that is, at all in the movie. The only thing I can think of is when Heston looks at Nicole Maurey in the tent, just after she has borrowed an Inca skirt, and Heston says, "The Incas never looked that good!"

But that isn't racism, it's not even bizarre, so I don't get where that bloke Foster is coming from. I have a fair idea that he looked up a list of Charlton Heston's early movies which gave a brief review, and he inadvertently copied the review of ARROWHEAD, which would have been just above SECRET OF THE INCAS in the list. That is the only explanation for his ridiculous appraisal of the film in the Yma Sumac sleeve notes.

I really don't understand why SOTI has so fallen through the cracks of public awareness as it has. Even Heston didn't mention it in his autobiography!

Heston never mentioned the film in any of the letters he wrote back to me, even though I asked him specific questions, hob! I read once that he only rated about two or three of his early movies, before he played Moses, and it looks like SECRET OF THE INCAS is among those he didn't rate. I may be wrong, but the fact that SOTI hasn't been on American tv screens for thirty years, since 3 December 1984, may have something to do with the fact that the public was unaware of it for so many years. What a coincidence that SOTI disappeared from US tv channels when Indiana Jones suddenly became a cinematic legend!

I liked the fact that TCM showed THE BUCCANEER on the 200th anniversary of The Battle of New Orleans, which was fought between December 24, 1814 through January 8, 1815. Your lot gave us a whupping back then,hob - but now we have a Special Relationship (which soured when Obama removed the Churchill bust from the Lincoln Room).

EDIT: Apparently the bust has returned, but it's NOT THE ORIGINAL!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE

Right, it was this guy Joe Foster, but you brought him into the conversation, James!! 

Who the hell is Joe Foster anyway? Another one of these experts you never heard of?

I don't think he mixed SOTI up with Arrowhead or anything else. My bet is he either didn't see it, or didn't pay much attention to it if he did. He probably just assumed it was "racist" since it involved a bunch of Yanquis pillaging an ancient civilization of noble savages. Just an idiot with no clue what he was talking about. I see this in liner notes a lot, especially from self-presumed "clever" people speaking on a subject beyond the area of their competence.

Where did you get the idea that Secret of the Incas has not been shown on American television since December 3, 1984, James? That is completely inaccurate and way off. I can't pinpoint the precise date but I know for a fact I saw it a couple of times in the early-mid 90s, on American Movie Classics (AMC). I'm also very sure it was on between 1984 and then, and I wouldn't be surprised if it were on sometime after that. But 1984? No way. I know this from personal experience.

Yes, we won the Battle of N.O. three weeks or more after the peace treaty had been signed! But with the telephone lines to Louisiana down and all satellite signals out (these were primitive times, remember), no one knew until too late. Didn't change anything, but it was a moral victory for us, given that we hadn't fared so well in the War of 1812 up until then. Jeez, in those days we couldn't even knock off Canada!

Have you seen the original 1938 version of The Buccaneer? Actually I think it's better.

Heston was made up to look far too old for Andrew Jackson in The Buccaneer. Andy was born March 15, 1767, which made him not quite 48 when the battle was fought, yet they had him looking and sounding about 70! I think even Chuck, a student of American history, remarked about the disparity. He looked the way Jackson did when he was leaving office as President in 1837.

By the bye, Old Hickory wasn't done whuppin' you Brits. In 1819 President Monroe sent him to Florida, which we had just bought from Spain, to end raids on crews and shipping by the Royal Navy (and privateers in the service of the King) off the Florida coast. Jackson as usual carried out his orders with rather an excess of zeal, capturing a British warship and hanging the captain and another officer from the nearest palm tree. Jackson was proud of his accomplishment but when Monroe heard about it he was infuriated, not wanting yet another war with Britain, and Jackson had to withdraw. Personally, since your guys were committing acts of war in US territorial waters, I would've strung 'em all up. Yippee!

Andy always hated the British because as a teenager during the Revolution, passing information to the rebels, he was captured by the British and an officer slashed his face with a sword. Little things like that can have a deleterious effect on a young man's attitudes.

Speaking of racism, he later drove most of the Indians out of Florida and the Carolinas after first getting their help and promising them their land would remain theirs. Indian giver!

As you may surmise, his reputation these days is not quite what it once was.

3 December 1984 is the last date on my list of US transmissions of SECRET OF THE INCAS. The fact that literally scores of American fans of the movie have contacted me over the years saying they haven't seen it for 30 years, etc. and hoping that it will be shown again made me think that the 1984 date was the very last, hob.

I wish you could could be more specific with the date you saw it on American Movie Classics some time in the 1990's, but I'm going to take your word for it.

But I'm still going to have to dig up some more info on this subject, now that you have informed me that the 1984 date isn't the last time the movie was shown on American tv screens. Its made me curious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE

hob, I owe you an apology mate. You were correct and I was wrong about 3 December 1984 being the last occasion when SECRET OF THE INCAS was transmitted on US tv. I just did a quick check and found a few more dates after 1984. Here they are, with the source I gained the info from-

Friday 12 Aug 1994 "Ukiah Daily Journal"
Sunday 14 Mar 1993 "Ukiah Daily Journal"
Thursday 8 Jun 1991
Sunday 9 Oct 1988 "The Galveston Daily News"
Monday 6 Apr 1987 "The Salina Journal"
Tuesday 11 Mar 1986 "The Salina Journal"
Wednesday 23 Oct 1985 "The Sundance Times"

and for anyone who is interested, SOTI also played on these dates-

25 May 1979
Monday 10 July 1978 "The San Bernardino County Sun"
Saturday 5 Mar 1977 "The Galveston Daily News"
Wednesday 26 Jan 1977 "The Daily Herald"
Friday 31 Dec 1976 "The Pocono Record"
Friday 6 Aug 1976 "The Daily Reporter"
Sunday 28 Dec 1975 "The Kingston Daily Freeman"
Thursday 5 Jun 1975 "The Daily Herald"
Tuesday 28 Sep 1971 The Ottawa Journal"

These are just a few dates from about 20 minutes research, so no doubt there will be plenty of others.

I'm pleased you caught me out, hob,I certainly owe you a pint now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE

You got me on one, James. Where the hell is Ukiah? Probably some heap.

That collection of papers comes from mostly smaller towns and cities (and is "The Ottawa Journal" in the capital of Canada, or some other Ottawa?). This is unfortunate in that it doesn't reflect the major cities where the greatest number of TV stations are and where the highest number of films would be broadcast. Again, from personal experience I know that SOTI was run several times in the 70s and 80s on channel 7 (WABC) in New York (the flagship station of the American Broadcasting Company). I seem to recall seeing it in the early 70s on WMAL (also on channel 7) in Washington, D.C. And I'd guarantee you it would have been shown a lot in those years in Los Angeles. Whether it would have been shown on the ABC station there (KABC, also channel 7!) I do not know, though I suspect it might.

Also, this doesn't take into account cable television, which took off in the 1980s. This is where I last saw it in the 90s. I even have a copy of it that was duped from one of its showings on the aforementioned AMC, which again would have been in the 1990s. Major papers, with more cable access, or the records of cable networks, might be a better source.

Unfortunately I have no specific recollection, or even useful approximation, of when I saw it. I could be off by two or three years. All I can guarantee is that it was in the 90s. But offhand I don't recall its being broadcast, or even seeing it, later than perhaps 1997 or '98.

Anyway, you owe me nothing, mate. And I certainly object to your saying I had "called you out"! Nothing of the kind. Just sayin' some stuff, that's all. Extra information for your records, and not much of it at that. You've done all the grunt work.

😣 (This is called a "perseverance face", closest I could find to a "grunt".)

🍺 (This is what we'll one day have, but you'll only have to pay for your own! First round, of course. After that....)

🍻🍻 (That's you and me and Os and Haddock. Having...lunch.)

Ukiah is in California, hob. My work's internet connection went down and the library was closed over the weekend so I went through my vast files on SECRET OF THE INCAS at home. I found a few more US dates, but I have another list somewhere that is twice the size of this one, but couldn't locate it. I haven't included the newspaper sources because I'll be going to work in a minute. How appropriate that the last date on this list is my birthday!

1966
6 Feb
7 Feb
8 Feb
15 Feb
20 Aug
26 Aug
27 Aug

1970
13 Feb
14 Feb
9 May
16 May
23 Aug
28 Oct

1971
6 Jan
18 Jan
14 Feb
28 Feb
9 Mar
28 Apr
10 May
28 Sep
11 Dec
12 Dec
19 Dec
20 Dec

1972
14 Jan
19 Feb
1 May
3 Jun
28 Nov

1973
13 Jan
28 Apr
12 May
11 Jul
14 Jul
18 Aug
22 Sep
28 Sep

1974
9 Feb
25 Feb
27 Feb
10 Mar
24 Jun
3 Aug
16 Nov
14 Dec

1975
19 Jan
15 Feb
8 Mar
15 Mar
5 Jun
30 Jul
7 Sep
31 Oct
9 Nov
28 Dec

1976
30 Jan
15 Feb
6 Mar
23 Apr
4 Jun
19 Jun
31 Jul
6 Aug
18 Aug
5 Sep
20 Nov
31 Dec

1977
26 Jan
5 Mar
18 Mar
25 Nov

1978
10 Jul

1979
17 Mar
25 May
9 Jun

1980
16 Sep

1981
27 Apr
12 Aug

1982
1 Jan
7 Jan
32 Jun

1983
8 May
13 Apr
10 Nov
14 Nov
17 Nov
19 Nov
21 Nov

1984
8 Aug
1 Sep
30 Nov
3 Dec

1985
3 Jan
3 Jul http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1873&dat=19850703&id=its hAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xZ8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1464,1043036
23 Oct

1986
8 Mar
11 Mar

1987
27 Jan
5 Apr
6 Apr
8 Aug

1988
11 Mar
8 Oct
9 Oct

1989
21 Jan

1990
13 Mar
29 May
9 Sep

1991
8 Jun
6 Jul
3 Aug

1993
23 Jan
14 Feb
14 Mar

1994
12 Aug
29 Sep

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE

Gee, I was hoping you'd come up with some information there, James.

Of course, remember that all US TV stations (excluding most cable channels) are local, not national. Even the network channels carry some local programming late afternoon and late night. I don't know how many individual TV channels there are in this country but many hundreds anyway, maybe over a thousand -- and that's just the terrestrial channels. Over a thousand cable channels besides.

You'd think with all that that one of them would show Secret of the Incas! But the film's become rarer than a sunburst.

I looked up Ukiah and found it in Mendocino County in northern California (wine country), and once I saw where it was it came back to me that I had seen it before on a map when I was in San Francisco and vicinity. There's also one farther north, in Oregon. I have no idea why Ukiahs are popular on the West Coast.

Haha, hob.

While trying to dig up more info on SECRET OF THE INCAS I found this from the "Tucson Daily Citizen" 5 August 1953.

http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/18920290/

Scroll down the text and Hedda Hopper says this about a couple of your favourites, Wendell and Bing.

Yma Sumac, the Peruvian nightingale, will move into some pretty fast acting company in "The Legend of the Incas," what with Charlton Heston, Viveca Lindfors and Wendell Corey. Jerry Hopper directs the picture, and Yma plays a Peruvian princess. . . . Since Bing Crosby's book, "Call Me Lucky," is a best seller, Bob Hope's thinking of titling his "Call Me Luckier." How smart these fellows were to build a fake feud into a fortune.

And, as late as Saturday 17 October 1953, Hedda Hopper reports that Viveca has been replaced by Nicola (with an 'a' at the end) Maurey, but Wendell is still going to be Harry Steele, with just a few weeks before the studio filming was due to start. Somebody should have told Hopper that Heston had already filmed his Harry Steele in Cuzco sequences four months previously.

You just can't trust gossip columnists, can you hob?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE

I studiously watched Secret of the Incas yesterday, and took special care to look out for all this "bizarre racism" that James was talking about.

Guess what guys?

I found some!

The scene towards the end when Ed and Harry are discussing sharing their ill-gotten proceeds, Morgan says to Harry, "When we get to a human place", inferring that the inhabitants of Machu Picchu are not even human.

I guess that line does have racist overtones, HCH, but I always took it less as an inference that the Incas aren't human as that the site of the action isn't a fit place for human beings. You know, no bars, pool halls, greasy spoons, fleabag hotels charging 15¢ for a bed and the other high-class dives of civilization frequented, indeed kept afloat by, the likes of Diamond Ed Morgan.

The Tucson Daily Citizen? That paper's been gone for years. Where do you dredge these rags up from, James?! Nice town, though.

I cite Ray Milland's comment on Hedda Hopper:

"She was venomous, vicious, a pathological liar, and quite stupid."

And this from one of her former co-stars (Reap the Wild Wind, 1942), and a fellow extreme right-winger. (Sad to say, as I've always liked Ray!)

I can sort of see Viveca Lindfors in the role of Elena, though a Swede as a Romanian is much more far-fetched than a Frenchwoman playing a fellow Latin. I met her a few times when I was a kid -- her son Christopher (with screenwriter George Tabori) was in my class at school in New York. She was a very nice, down-to-Earth lady.

But where does it say HH thought Wendell Corey would play Harry Steele? And if she thought that, who was Heston supposed to play -- Stanley Moorehead? I can see Corey as Moorehead but not Steele (and not Heston as the professor), and besides, even in his prime Wendell wasn't a leading man, always a second lead or supporting actor. Strange.

Wendell was an interesting guy. He was a chronic alcoholic whose drinking caught up with him in the 60s. The first and most productive phase of his movie career ended in 1959 and he was seen only on television for the next five years. In 1964 he returned to the big screen but in small pictures, cheap westerns like Blood on the Arrow, Waco, Red Tomahawk and his last, Buckskin, along with even deeper films like Women of the Prehistoric Planet, Cyborg 2087 and his best, The Astro-Zombies. In all these films he was slurring his words so audibly he was difficult to understand clearly, he always had a glazed look about him and often visibly leaned on the props for support. Meanwhile, like a lot of staunch Republican actors whose careers were on the skids, Wendell not only emceed the 1960 GOP convention but in 1965 was elected to the Santa Monica City Council. In 1966, however, he lost a bid for the Republican nomination for a U.S. House seat. Just as well: he died of cirrhosis of the liver on Nov. 7, 1968, age 54 and two days after that year's election. Doubtless, had he won his House seat in 1966, he would have been reelected in '68 and died a sitting member of the House, flags at half-staff over the Capitol, and fitting eulogies of all he'd accomplished in not quite one term in office, which would most likely have centered on his valiant efforts to repeal the tax on wine, beer, liquor and 3-in-1 Oil. But alas, such was never to be. At least he died knowing Richard Nixon had been elected President and all would be right with the world.

But while he wasn't really old enough for the part (40 in 1954), his affinity for the grape and the by-products of assorted grains might have made him a candidate for the role of Ed Morgan in SOTI. At least when Wendell rolled off the mountain you'd know it wasn't acting.

In the 18 November 1953 "Portsmouth Herald", Erskine Johnson wrote this in his Hollywood column, and explains why Wendell Corey was disillusioned with his part in SECRET OF THE INCAS. But it doesn't mention that he was once first choice to play Harry Steele before Heston.

http://newspaperarchive.com/us/new-hampshire/portsmouth/portsmouth-her ald/1953/11-18/page-11

It's a battle royal between Wendell Corey and Paramount. Wendell's fuming because the studio won't let him out of his one-picture deal so he can costar with Celeste Holm on Broadway in "His and Hers." The trouble started when he refused to play the second lead in "Legend of the Incas" after the role shrunk in a rewrite. Robert Young stepped into the breach, but Wendell still can't rush to Broadway.

And in this excerpt from a book on Hal Wallis there is more on Corey and why he wouldn't go through with his role in SECRET OF THE INCAS. It is on page 117. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=y_ibD5RpKzMC&pg=PA115&lpg= PA115&dq=charlton+heston+wendell+corey&source=bl&ots=sPXk5 wX9gF&sig=P_HjvNtqn-yE6j6O8tbZitqeb24&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lc G_VLSzL-7G7Aax54DwDA&ved=0CDIQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=charlton%20he ston%20wendell%20corey&f=false

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE

Haddock, are you really suggesting that Ed Morgan's comment can be classified as "bizarre racism"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE

I couldn't get any text on the link to the Wallis book but I may try to get the book itself as it looks cool.

I'm surprised Erskine Johnson (who was a nationally syndicated columnist; The Portsmouth Herald didn't have its own Hollywood man) said that "Legend of the Incas" involved a "one-picture" deal between Paramount and Corey. Many of Corey's films at this time were for Paramount. I also don't understand why they wouldn't let Corey out of the film since Robert Young had already stepped into the role.

In any case, obviously they let him out of the picture, perhaps in exchange for a later commitment. Had Corey not had a conflict and appeared in SOTI, Robert Young's final theatrical film would have been The Half Breed (1952).

Yes, I am James, if that isn't racism, then what is I wonder?

hob, the title of that Robert Young film, The Half Breed, is a racist term as well. No wonder that doesn't show up on tv anymore.

I am not at all surprised that Young quit the movies after playing Stanley Moorehead. Its a thankless role in which the leading lady regards him as "nice."

What an insult to a leading man of the 1950's, being regarded as nice and comfortable. Notice that Nicole Maurey delivers the ultimate insult by kissing him on the cheek!

James, if Heston had already filmed his location scenes four months previous, why are all those newspapers still writing about Wendell Corey as the star of the film?

(Just thought I'd alert JB in the subject line to make sure he sees your reply above, Haddock!)

Yes, I suppose "half breed" is a racist term. But that movie still shows up once in a while. I think it's the fact that it's a little-known and not very good film rather than one with a racist title that limits its broadcasts.

Robert Young didn't really quit films after SOTI. He did decide to rejuvenate his career by bringing his longtime radio program, Father Knows Best, to TV in 1955. The show was a huge success and made Young a fortune, and after that he had all his opportunities on television. After Father Knows Best went off the air in 1961 he had a short-lived show called Window on Main Street (1961-1962), then retired for several years before coming back to TV in 1968, playing (to stay on the topic of racism) a virulently racist billionaire engaging in blackmail and murder in a famous episode of the show The Name of the Game. That in turn led to his other phenomenally successful series, Marcus Welby, M.D., which ran from 1969-1975. During and after that he did occasional TV movies and miniseries until he finally retired in the late 80s.

He made lots of money and his two big shows are still in syndication (Father Knows Best, which went on the air 60 years ago, is shown every afternoon on a cable channel here, as is Welby), but for whatever reason was never asked to do another theatrical film. That wasn't his plan -- he said years later that he fully expected to appear in other movies and never had any idea his move to television would be permanent, and he was disappointed never to make another film. But he had better roles, more fame and more money from TV than he ever had in the movies.

Unfortunately that didn't assuage his deep clinical depression, from which he suffered for decades when such things were never really diagnosed. Instead he drank heavily (he was an alcoholic most of his life) and could be angry and bitter due to his illness, and in 1991 he tried to kill himself by attaching a hose to the tailpipe of his car and breathing in carbon monoxide fumes in his garage. Luckily he couldn't get it hooked up right and asked a delivery boy to help him! The kid was smart enough to call the cops and they got him and had him hospitalized. He was eventually released and sent home but his health was bad and after his wife of over 60 years died he used to cry out about how much he wanted to die. He finally passed away in 1998 at age 91, and his daughters later publicized their father's lifetime struggles with depression and alcoholism in an effort to make people aware of such problems and get help.

All in all, a sad tale -- a man with a seemingly placid, happy and prosperous life, yet tormented for decades by inner demons no one knew about or could help him with.

I would buy a boxset of Father Knows Best if it was on sale. Even though I have never seen even one episode it sounds like the sort of cosy 1950's show that my wife and I could enjoy. What is your opinion of FKB, hob?

FKB is one of the two or three most iconic or quintessential "family shows" of 1950s U.S. TV, Haddock. It is indeed the kind of cozy family fare you seem to refer to. It's got a lot of gentle humor and often has an unobtrusive moral lesson to it as well, amid some touches of drama or at least serious issues. Like almost any TV program it settled in to its stride over its first year or two.

It's an idealized image of the "typical" white middle-class American family living in a mid-sized town (called "Springfield" and apparently in the Midwest, though nothing is ever specified). The set-up is Robert Young, married to Jane Wyatt (who won three successive Emmy Awards as Best Actress in a comedy for this show), with three kids (two teens, an older girl and middle son) plus a younger daughter. It was a good show and while elements of it have obviously dated in 60 years it is to some extent a reflection of millions of American families' lives in the prosperous decade of the 50s. You might want to check it out on IMDb and Wikipedia to get some sense of it.

I checked and the complete series doesn't seem to be around at this time. Most of the individual seasons are available but I'm not sure that all six seasons are. I'm sure it must only be on Region 1 DVD.

Good Heavens!
I have just googled Father knows Best - season 6 and I got a terrible shock at the exorbitant price!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Father-Knows-Best-Season-DVD/dp/B007R5S0YY/ref =sr_1_8?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1422280770&sr=1-8&keywords=f ather+knows+best

It sounds like a good little show but charging £281.24 for a few tv shows is just ridiculous!

season 6 has Marion Ross in an episode, and I really loved her in Happy Days, and wanted to see her at the beginning of her career.

To paraphrase Meatloaf, I would do anything for Marion, but I won't pay that!

£281!!!??? No wonder Cameron is boasting about the strength of the British economy!

I just looked on Amazon U.S. (amazon.com -- I can't get that damn "url" link to work for some reason) and found Season 6 selling from Amazon direct for $58.01, which is about £39 - £40. But Amazon Marketplace sellers have it new starting at $35.99 (plus $3.99 shipping, though it might be higher for overseas) -- so about $40, or £27 or thereabouts.

Here are the basic Amazon U.S. prices for all six seasons of Father Knows Best, as of 1/26/15 -- sorry, 26/1/15! Note the curious price disparities between the first four seasons and the last two:

#1: $24.99
#2: $28.66
#3: $28.76
#4: $25.39
#5: $66.88
#6: $58.01

I didn't check any Marketplace sellers' prices for seasons 1-4, but besides the lower Marketplace price for #6, I found Marketplace sellers for #5 starting at $37.98 (not including shipping). I have no idea why the two final seasons are costlier than the other four, but even putting all six together at Amazon's own regular prices, the total comes to only $232.69 -- or about £165 give or take. That's about £116 less for all six seasons than for just the one you quoted!

Let me know if I can be of any help to you in this. Meanwhile, it occurs to me you might be able to find some episodes on YouTube, to get a sample, or on some streaming service perhaps.

.

A fan of Marion Ross, eh, Haddock? you should write to her, she always answers my letters. Marion was in episode 21, season six called JIM'S BIG SURPRISE, broadcast on 29 Feb 1960.

The only other SOTI actor to appear in FATHER KNOW'S BEST was good old Grandon Rhodes, episode19, season 2 on 18 Jan 1956 in BETTY EARNS A FORMAL.

Your post got me thinking about other SOTI actors who have appeared together in other movies. Here is a quick list-

GILDA, Rodolfo Hoyos Jr, Robert Tafur, Rosa Rey
GOING MY WAY, William Henry, Robert Tafur, Martin Garralaga
GREEN FIRE, Rofolfo Hoyos Jr, Robert Tafur, Martin Garralaga
SECOND CHANCE, Rodolfo Hoyos Jr, Martin Garralaga
FUN IN ACAPULCO, Edward Colmans, Martin Garralaga
A MAN ALONE, Grandon Rhodes, Martin Garralaga
YOLANDA AND THE THIEF, Dimas Sotello, Miguel Contreras, Martin Garralaga
THE OUTLAW, Thomas Mitchell, Martin Garralaga
THEM! Booth Colman, Grandon Rhodes
THE SILVER CHALICE, Booth Colman, Michael Pate
MAJOR DUNDEE, Charlton Heston, Michael Pate
THE NAKED JUNGLE, Charlton Heston, Carlos Rivero
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, Charlton Heston, Carlos Rivero
ELEPHANT WALK, Carlos Rivero, Delmar Costello
SOMBRERO, Miguel Contreras, Delmar Costello
SUSAN SLEPT HERE, Glenda Farrell, Alvy Moore
WAR OF THE WORLDS, Edward Colmans, Alvy Moore
THE SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO, Edward Colmans, Martin Garralaga
CRISIS, Rodolfo Hoyos Jr, Robert Tafur, Martin Garralaga, Zacharias, Yaconelli, Carlos Rivero
THE PROUD AND THE PROFANE, Marion Ross, Geraldine Hall
BORDER INCIDENT, Miguel Contreras, Martin Garralaga
WE WERE STRANGERS, Robert Tafur, Rodolfo Hoyos Jr.

That last title may be of interest to a certain fan of SECRET OF THE INCAS on this board. Marina Oswald testified that her husband, Lee Havey Oswald, watched this movie before he killed Kennedy!

Is WERE WE STRANGERS any good, hob?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE

Is Marion's address on the internet?

If so, do you have to send a S.A.E.?

Yep, everything is on the internet!

Fan Mail Address:

Marion Ross
20929-47 Ventura blvd. PMB 144
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
USA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSPcAyCgwE

Thank you for supplying Marion's address.

I have just looked, and Secret of the Incas is on again this afternoon at 4.30 pm on TCM. It is also being shown tomorrow as well!

It's strange that it hasn't shown up on American TCM, hob!