Cast: Cornel Wilde, Constance Smith, Anne Bancroft, Finlay Currie, Fay Wray, George Macready, Leo G. Carroll, Walter Hampden, Konstantin Shayne, Jerry Hunter, Ray Beltram, Robert Blake, Wende Weil, Tudor Owen, Donald Lawton
Brought up by gunsmith Pierre Champlain (Hampden), ten year-old Jean-Paul (Hunter) is taken to live at the state of the Marquis de St. Malo (Macready). Jean-Paul is the son of the Marquis’s older brother, but there is no proof that his father married his mother. The Marquis treats his young nephew badly, as a bonded servant assigned to work at the stables, although Jean-Paul is the true heir to the St. Malo title and lands. Growing to manhood with the support of servants loyal to his late father, Jean-Paul (Wilde) chafes under the tyranny of his uncle. Jean-Paul loves Marie (Bancroft) and she appears to return his affection. But, cheated of his birthright, he lacks a fortune, and her attentions eventually drift elsewhere. MacDougal (Currie) is a Scotsman that travels from Guatemala to the church at St. Malo seeking the help of the local priest, an expert in the Mayan language. MacDougal years before came across a Mayan codex, a sort of map to the legendary treasure of the Golden Condor. MacDougal needs Father Benoit’s (Shayne) help in interpreting the codex. When the Marquis becomes aware of Jean-Paul’s close relationship with Marie, he beats him badly, and Jean-Paul decides to leave, although, since he is under bond to the Marquis, doing so will make him a fugitive. Father Benoit, wishing to protect Jean-Paul, agrees to translate the codex on condition that MacDougal take Jean-Paul away with him. Jean-Paul and MacDougal leave France on a ship and some weeks later arrive in Central America. The two men travel from the Guatemalan coast to a town that they find devastated by an earthquake. They locate MacDougal’s daughter Clara (Smith), who survived unharmed, and the three set out towards the highlands, following the directions given in the codex. Occasionally accosted by hostile Indians, they travel the spectacular jungle and hills searching for the fabulous Mayan treasure. In the foreign land, near a blue lake mentioned in the codex, they find the treasure of glittering gold and emeralds. Jean-Paul also finds freedom and true love with Clara, but he must accomplish the daunting task of restoring his birthright and rectifying the wrongs perpetrated by his uncle. Based on Edison Marshall’s novel Benjamin Blake.
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