Appointment in Honduras

A lurid jungle adventure, complete with crocodiles, piranhas, vampire bats, ants and a puma. Ford is an American planter with an urgent rendezvous in Honduras to deliver money to the former President, ousted in a coup. When the ship's captain refuses to dock because revolution is brewing, Ford frees five Nicaraguan criminals being shipped home to jail, hijacks a lifeboat with their help, and takes along a married couple (Scott, Sheridan) as hostages. Mainly because he alone knows the jungle, Ford has an edge on everyone else, and predictably wins Sheridan over from the cowardly Scott. With fine camerawork (Joseph Biroc), good performances, and a script that weaves a shallow but surprisingly complex tangle of lies and loyalties, Tourneur keeps things moving along briskly and enjoyably. His choreography of the showdown, a running fight through jungle and village, is particularly skilful.