Angel on the Amazon (1948)

Wow! Such a good movie.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

This odd, hard-to-see romantic fantasy (I finally tracked it down in a poor TV dupe from a trader) is a curio at best, without the atmosphere, charm or casting to pull off the very silly concept it plays with a very straight face. Vera Ralston plays the mysterious jungle-dwelling woman who bewitches Brian Aherne when his plane accidentally crash-lands in the area. Flashbacks eventually reveal the cause of her skittishness as a sort of supernatural curse that has already caused tragedy. Everyone seems to be punching the clock here, including the director. The big problem, of course, is Ralston: As usual, she's asked to play a character whose charms fascinate everyone, and as usual those charms seem very elusive to the viewer. The Republic Studio executive who married and tirelessly promoted her as a star despite the public's complete lack of enthusiasm must truly loved her to be so blind. She's not the worst actress ever to grace the screen, but she is wooden and not as attractive as the film insists she is. Constance Bennett has a humiliating role that is perhaps a typical 1948 notion of a "sympathetic" part for an actress of a certain age who's no longer a star: She's a professional woman whom Aherne treats as a best friend, though of course she's hopelessly in love with him. He's completely oblivious to that, natch, because he's so besotted with the younger, beautiful Ralston—something that seems particularly humiliating here because frankly the latter isn't all that beautiful. (She's more the kind of woman one might call "handsome," in that she has good features but little humor or vivacity to light them up.) The bones of the story might have been ideal for more florid, "exotic" treatment, like a Maria Montez vehicle. But the execution is surprisingly talky and flat, too pedestrian even to have much camp value. Too bad, because its mix of romantic sentimentality and kitsch fantasy should have made for something more memorable than this fairly dull "B" (though by Republic standards it was probably close to an "A").

I have had the GREAT JOY of FINALLY locating this film after not seeing it in about 30 years! Like some of the earlier comments,this haunting film has stayed with me since and just in the last few weeks,after persistently looking on the web to see if ANYONE had it on video for purchase,I FOUND a company named learmedia in Canada..I'm still pinching myself to believe that I have it at last! Angel on the Amazon is a film that still evokes romantic fantasy,psychological tension and a very satisfying ending.A must for those film collectors who find the needle in the haystack...Vera Hruba Ralston is a minor actress who gives a stellar performance and is backed by noted Brian Aherne,George Brent and Constance Bennett

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.".

I had been looking for this film ever since I saw it as a kid because it always stayed with me. It was spooky as a child but now that I've seen it again, it's also a beautiful love story. I like the 3 lead players, Vera Hruba Ralstron, Brian Aherne + Gearge Brent. Constance Bennett is also in the film. I think this was the movie that introduced me to Vera Hruba Ralston. I just recently acquired this film so can now watch it whenever I choose. Hope everyone gets a chance to see this film! This is about a beautiful lady who is frightened by a tiger while she's still a young woman + from that time on, she does not age. It has been compared to Lost Horizons + She if they had been made by Republic Pictures.