Well this is a little surprising, only one other review on the IMDb for this flick as I write this. This morning's airing on TCM may change that, but who knows.
Anyway, I was somewhat disappointed here, what with Jon Hall and Marie Windsor as the leading principals, but sometimes it's the writing that gets in the way of a good story. I guess I just wasn't expecting the fat sidekick Jose (Romo Vincent) to come out with a line like "Look, women, oodles of them"! At least not in a pirate movie set in the 1500's.
Well I don't know how closely this follows the story of the historical Ponce de Leon and his search for the Fountain of Youth, but I'm guessing this was done pretty much on the fly. Old Ponce (Edgar Barrier) takes an arrow to the shoulder and spends most of the film on his back recuperating, so it's not really even his story when you come right down to it. It's left to Captain Carlos Montalvo (Hall) and his crew to complete a dual mission of finding the legendary Fountain of Youth and whatever gold and riches they come across along the way.
The best thing this film has going for it is the 'new' Supercinecolor format that must have been a pretty big deal in 1950. Did you ever notice in color films of the era that every other one had a different name for their color filming process? At least the colors here were brilliant, as in the blues of the sky and ocean and the bright red of the Captain's outfit. Somehow though, I couldn't relate all that brightness to Cuba in 1513, but maybe it's just me.
So did they find the magic fountain? Well there's good news and bad news here. Ponce underwent a miraculous recovery as soon as he took a sip from a golden cup, but in trying to leave the Yuracan, Indian Chief Maria (Karen Randle) did a Dorian Gray and aged somewhat ungracefully. But instead of using time lapse photography to make her grow old, they just put mud on her face and let it go at that. What a downer.
Anyway, I was somewhat disappointed here, what with Jon Hall and Marie Windsor as the leading principals, but sometimes it's the writing that gets in the way of a good story. I guess I just wasn't expecting the fat sidekick Jose (Romo Vincent) to come out with a line like "Look, women, oodles of them"! At least not in a pirate movie set in the 1500's.
Well I don't know how closely this follows the story of the historical Ponce de Leon and his search for the Fountain of Youth, but I'm guessing this was done pretty much on the fly. Old Ponce (Edgar Barrier) takes an arrow to the shoulder and spends most of the film on his back recuperating, so it's not really even his story when you come right down to it. It's left to Captain Carlos Montalvo (Hall) and his crew to complete a dual mission of finding the legendary Fountain of Youth and whatever gold and riches they come across along the way.
The best thing this film has going for it is the 'new' Supercinecolor format that must have been a pretty big deal in 1950. Did you ever notice in color films of the era that every other one had a different name for their color filming process? At least the colors here were brilliant, as in the blues of the sky and ocean and the bright red of the Captain's outfit. Somehow though, I couldn't relate all that brightness to Cuba in 1513, but maybe it's just me.
So did they find the magic fountain? Well there's good news and bad news here. Ponce underwent a miraculous recovery as soon as he took a sip from a golden cup, but in trying to leave the Yuracan, Indian Chief Maria (Karen Randle) did a Dorian Gray and aged somewhat ungracefully. But instead of using time lapse photography to make her grow old, they just put mud on her face and let it go at that. What a downer.