I well remember seeing this film as a youngster and somehow the plot has always stayed with me – and on seeing it again last evening – the main elements that had stuck in my mind were there.

I had remembered a search for the Braganza crosses – small metal crosses – that if found would lead to the famous Braganza treasure in Treasure Mountain. I have looked for the name Braganza before – and not been able to find it – and thought I had this wrong but I was pretty sure I had it right – and so it proved to be the case.

The production values of the film are not top class by any means but the flashback sequence to the man who had discovered the treasure 200 years earlier when the Indians attacked and killed the searchers and Braganza himself in the cave was very well done – these scenes were pinched for an earlier film Lust for Gold with Glenn Ford.

 

It has taken a long time searching for this film but I now have it and have seen it again.

I have very recently seen Lust for Gold and there are elements in it that parallel another – possibly later and cheaper – film that I have tried to trace over the years. I remember seeing a film in around 1956 or 57 which could have been made earlier and I think it was shown as a second feature in which there was a search for the Braganza gold and various clues by way of a number of Braganza crosses that had to be found which would eventually lead to the treasure. The final one was found after a fight between the people searching – when one of them by accidently sees his shadow fall on the point of the treasure across a small rocky valley – exactly as happens in Lust for Gold. On discovering the treasure they were attacked by Indians (or Incas – it could have been Inca treasure) who fired arrows from all directions – almost identical to the sequence in Lust for Gold.
Does anyone know of the film I mention. As I say it could have been Inca treasure that was being searched for.