Angel on the Amazon (1948)

The Worst Film Ever

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Genre films of the late 40's are particularly interesting to me. Many of them have strong elements of film noir (i.e. snappy dialogue, moody settings, diabolical villains, etc.) and they often had offbeat plot lines."Angel on the Amazon" is quite entertaining with a competent cast, jungle thrills, love triangles, and a haunted femme fatale. One surprisingly intense flashback scene was that of a panther that was stalking sleeping members of a safari (complete with well staged high angle shots).I recommend that any fan of vintage genre films to seek out this B+ film title out.

The enthusiastic reviews here led me to watch this movie. While I respect the feelings of those who found this movie "haunting" and waited for years to see it again, I'd have to say this is not for everyone. If your tastes run to those old comic books with titles like Strange Tales, or maybe even TV's Twilight Zone, it may be for you. But for me, it was much too thin in plot and characterization. Never mind the premise, which of course flirts with the supernatural, there are other jarring notes in the story, such as the thirtyish protagonist's falling "in love" with the lady. Although he's well past that stage of his life, he behaves like a fifteen-year-old in puppy love, mooning around and telling her he wants to marry her. The ending was nice and romantic, I admit, when I could take my eyes away from the bad make-up job on the "old" man, but I didn't find the rest of the movie worth it.

American Jim Warburton (George Brent) crashes his plane in the Amazon jungle and promptly falls in love with Christine Ridgegway (Vera Ralston), a mysterious huntress who rescues him and his passengers. Christine determinedly evades Jim's courtship and advances, making Dr. Karen Lawrence (Constance Bennett) suspect she has a tragic reason for fleeing to Rio to escape Jim.Karen and Jim follow her to Rio de Janeiro and, while dining in a restaurant, see a man named Sebastian Ortega (Fortunio Bonanova) greet Christine. She screams, faints and falls into a long illness. Later, Ortega tells Jim that he knew Mrs. Ridgeway, whom he assumes was Christine's mother, when she was honeymooning in the jungle---a couple of decades ago---with her adventurer-husband, Anthony Ridgeway (Brian Aherne.) Although terrified of animals, Mrs. Ridgeway had saved her husband's life when a panther attacked him in the same jungle where Christine was hunting when Jim's airplane crashed. She plunged into hysteria, following the incident, and returned to the United States.Jim thinks this a good story but fails to comprehend why a bad experience in the Brazilian jungle should make Christine fear falling in love. (George Brent's characters never understood women not falling head-over-heels in love with him.) Christine goes to California and Jim, always harder to shake than Pepe Le Pew, follows her. There, he meets Anthony and is told an incredible tale; The Christine that Jim has fallen in love with is not the young girl Jim thinks she is. Christine is the honeymoon bride who saved Anthony's more than twenty years ago. Now, nearly fifty-years-old, she has been in a state of shock since the panther-attack---a state that has made her ageless.Her changeless beauty had became a curse when her grown daughter's fiancée made violent love to her against her will. The daughter, blaming her mother's eternal youth, killed herself. Anthony's critical evaluations of her cursed beauty led to her leaving him and returning to the jungle, where Jim met her.There's still one twist left before this one ends about ten minutes later. Circa 1946-49 Republic made several dark, moody and out-of-the-studio-mold films that never garnered much attention because of their source. A different logo and better theatre-bookings, other than the Sun-Mon-Tue grindhouse situations would have served to make a few of those deserveably better known, including this one and "Moonrise.".

This is a haunting story about a woman who goes on a safari with her husband, had a traumatic occurrence and ceases to age and all the problems that occur as a result. Wish I could find this film to see again!!