Appointment in Honduras (1953)

Underwhelming jungle adventure, 19 December 2020

Jim Corbett (Glenn Ford) frees four prisoners to help him navigate the Honduran jungle. He’s looking for a band of rebels he intends to help.  To be successful and stay alive, Corbett and Co face a number of obstacles, including: pumas, piranhas, soldiers, insects, and each other.  

I know it was a mistake to do so, but I was so hoping Appointment in Honduras would be as entertaining as the similarly named Affair in Trinidad - also with Glenn Ford.  I know that film has its detractors, but I always find it so much fun.  Unfortunately, the similarity in names is where the comparison of these films ends.  Overall, I found this one an underwhelming, fairly dull trudge to get through.  Scene after scene of Corbett hitting the jungle growth with a machete or yelling at the other members of his party got old pretty quickly.  It didn’t take long for me to stop caring about which characters were killed and which survived.  The final gun battle wasn’t as entertaining as it should have been.  The way it was filmed, it was difficult to determine character positioning in relation to each other.  Very substandard directing and editing as far as I’m concerned.  Finally on my list of complaints, there’s Ann Sheridan.  Annoyed doesn’t begin to describe my feelings toward her and her character.  I know she was meant to play the Rita Hayworth role (same red hair and all) opposite Glenn Ford that had been so successful before (see the previously mentioned Affair in Trinidad for example), but she’s a poor imitation.

One interesting thing for me at least was the presence of a very young Jack Elam.  He doesn’t do much, but it was pretty cool all the same.

 

4/10