The White Orchid

1954 "Xtabay... exotic jungle goddess!"
4.4| 1h21m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 01 November 1954 Released
Producted By: Producciones Eduardo Quevedo S.A.
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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In the Southern Mexican jungle, an adventurous archaeologist is accompanied by an equally daring female photographer in a search for a lost Toltec city. They engage a guide to lead them on their expedition, and soon find themselves in the jungle's depths, far from civilization. Soon both the guide and the archaeologist are vying for the affection of the photographer. They must all deal with enormous danger and sacrifice before their quest is complete.

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Director

Reginald Le Borg

Production Companies

Producciones Eduardo Quevedo S.A.

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The White Orchid Audience Reviews

Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever
Wordiezett So much average
Dotbankey A lot of fun.
FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
jadzia92 Released in 1954, The White Orchid is about an expedition to a hidden Mexican civilisation. Not a bad movie but too bad about the sacrifice at the end. Overall the dialogue in The White Orchid is not something worth remembering about and the romance that goes on here is easily forgettable and unremarkable. What happens very late in this movie could easily be the highlight of the movie but I don't feel any excitement with it and all this cause by an accident that could easily have been avoided.
Chase_Witherspoon More a postcard of Mexico than a movie, despite which, actor William Lundigan stars as a straight-laced archaeologist who reluctantly takes stand-in photographer (Castle) along on an expedition where tensions grow as a love triangle evolves with local guide (Silvestre).Interesting cast features the young Rosenda Monteros as Silvestre's scorned woman, the ill-fated Peggie Castle as the seductive snapper, and Latin heart-throb Silvestre as the bane of Lundigan's dapper but ultimately bland existence. The soap opera treatment services the romantic melodrama and sexual tension, leaving the action to compete for the sloppy seconds. At times, Lundigan looks like coitus interruptus personified, such are the provocative glances and horny exchanges between Castle and her Latin tease.Despite colourful landscapes and an attractive cast, the film never elevates beyond B-grade fodder, incapable of conjuring any excitement or palpable tension, weighed down by inane dialogue ("merely a vampire bat") and a plot that prefers melodrama to action (60 minutes passes before the first glimpse of something more fervent than tent buddies on heat). The climax and conclusion offer some redemption, with a fiery Aztec encounter, but it's all too little too late to resurrect the picture from 'average' status.
ksf-2 Opens with Robert Burton (William Lundigan "Santa Fe Trail") dictating into his recorder. He is giving the story of El Taxim, the Mayan Temple, but during this and other parts of the film, the sound is choppy and small portions are missing. This disc is part of a 50 film collection of "action classics" from Treeline/TCM, and much of the color is also faded and washed out . Burton meets up with Kathryn Williams, ( Peggy Castle, who made lots of westerns in the 1950s) who has been assigned as his photographer. Burton doesn't like the idea of having a female photographer along, but later decides she's not so bad. We also get to witness some interesting native Mexican festival rites which may or may not be authentic. Local native Juan Cervantes (Armando Silvestre, actor from Mexico who made many movies from the 1940s right up until 1999) promises to help her find the jungle to research a more primitive, traditional population, but of course this only causes more friction with Burton, her boss. Through Burton's stupidity, they lose supplies in a sandstorm; moving on, they stop at Juan's ranch before continuing on their expedition, with their singing band of helpers. At one point, they cross paths with a raccoon, and Kathryn asks "What's that?" One might think she would recognize a raccoon, on either side of the border...Then the troubles begin... and things get a little unbelieve-able, but I guess we're just along for the adventure. The travel to exotic lands would have been quite interesting before people did as much travel as they do today.
Tom Willett (yonhope) Hi, Everyone, I wonder who put up the money for this travesty of a Mexican adventure. It moves along slowly then it changes pace by stopping and going backwards.This is sort of a documentary about some lost tribe in Mexico that looks like underfed Tonto impersonators. It has preposterous characters and situations. It held promise until the very beginning and then it started falling apart.A woman photographer is the lead character more or less, although I think the guy is supposed to be the star. The reporterette has connived her way into an assignment with William Lundigan in Mexico to cover something. He realizes she is a woman and therefore not capable of clicking a camera. So he beats up her boyfriend after she pretends to be in love with a guy who becomes their unwilling guide into the woods.The guide is actually an acrobat who is not supposed to have his picture taken. You talk about a great story. Then he tries to kill a deer but accidentally murders someone, but it's OK because they leave him behind to fight the whole village. They burned their pictures though when they set the film on fire to set all the huts on fire and escape from the Pyramid.The movie star's hair is not messed up after she sleeps in a tent and never takes a bath for several days. The three leads have great hair.If you want to see a movie with a strong intelligent female lead, this isn't it. Try Gone With The Wind, Double Indemnity or Sunset Boulevard.There is one big dance number on the Pyramid and a song sung by two guys with a guitar. The guys harmonized beautifully.There is a scene with a nice old reel to reel portable recorder. It is bigger than the iPods of today.I give it one thumb... on the "off" switch.Tom Willett