Secret of the Incas (1954)

I had heard about this movie and when it recently popped up on YouTube, I thought I would give it a try.

Charlton Heston plays Harry Steele, an American living in Cuzco, Peru who has been searching for a fabled Incan treasure at Machu Picchu.

Also after the treasure is Ed Morgan (Thomas Mitchell), who will do anything he can to get his hands on the lost Incan starburst.

Robert Young plays an archeologist who is working with museums and with the Peruvian government.

The movie has been acknowledged as a major influence on Raiders of the Lost Ark. The plots of the two movies is very similar as our hero battles the bad guys as he tries to solve the clues left about a fabulous treasure. The map room sequence where a ray of light enter a room, and then is reflected to show the location of the treasure.

Raiders' costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis noted that the inspiration for Indiana's costume was Charlton Heston's Harry Steele in Secret of the Incas: "We did watch this film together as a crew several times, and I always thought it strange that the filmmakers did not credit it later as the inspiration for the series" and quipped that the film is "almost a shot for shot Raiders of the Lost Ark."

Not a great movie, but really interesting when you see the influence it had on Raiders of the Lost Ark.