Merle Oberon a quintessential movie star who was known for her exotic beauty and acting talent starred in this film set in Mexico financed by her then husband Bruno Paglai. Merle Oberon whose career was noted by fine performances in These Three, Dark Angel and most famously Wuthering Heights, and having worked with great actors such as Charles Laughton and Laurence Olivier and Marlon Brando, and directors such as William Wyler, recruited Daniel Mann also famous for directing starring ladies such as Elizabeth Taylor (Butterfield 8) and Anna Magnani ( The Rose Tattoo) in Oscar winning performances. Mann was noted to be Susan Hayward's favorite director ( I'll Cry Tomorrow, Ada) and also directed another authentic glamor movie star Lana Turner in the comedy Who's Got The Action. Gavin Lambert a friend of Merle Oberon's crafted the screenplay.Merle Oberon selected Streets of Laredo hunky actor Robert Wolders as her co star and thus resulted in the most famous aspect of this film: Merle Oberon left Paglai and had a torrid romance with Rob Wolders, 25 years her junior. The film is romantic and has scenes of Mexico that are breathtaking. No directors cut for the able and respected Mann! Merle Oberon took over the editing herself. This movie is best seen for the back story of the movie: Merle Oberon's clashes with Danniel Mann and her insistence of favorable photography to reflect her great beauty, and her love of Rob Wolders whom she married and provided care, comfort and love the last years of her fabled life.

OK... this flick is not THAT bad. View it for what it is. Miss Oberon is beautiful in her last film... and if you like a romantic film from the 1940s, you will certainly enjoy this one. These days, they are giving Oscars to crap that couldn't hold a candle to this picture. Her costar (who would take up with Audrey Hepburn later after Miss Oberon's death) was a little stiff in acting department but this was Merle Oberon's picture from the start to finish. If you are a fan of hers, you will love it. Just view it for what it is: a good romantic movie that you could watch with your Mom. Not a single vulgar word in it. Very, very rare these days.

An emotionally fragile older woman (Merle Oberon) embarks on an ill-fated love affair with a handsome young artist (Robert Wolders) while traveling through Mexico's Yucatan peninsula...Merle Oberon was in her sixties when she produced and starred in this ill-advised vanity project and even some good plastic surgery couldn't disguise that fact. What was she thinking? The movie co-starred her much younger lover and bombed big time at the box office with one reviewer noting that the leading lady's face was pulled back so tight she only had three expressions left, a waxwork worthy of Madame Tussaud. There isn't much of a story to this static travelogue directed by Daniel Mann (after Vincente Minelli wisely bowed out), just romantic drivel at its corniest -right down to fireworks going off outside the hotel window the first time the odd couple make love. They also run to each other with open arms at one ridiculous point -well, he runs while she just stands there waiting with arms outstretched since moving slowly among the mossy Mayan ruins lest she slip and break a hip was the best Merle could muster. The black fright wig cascading down her brittle back -and all those pastel tops & slacks- made her look possessed by the spirit of a 60's cocktail waitress but at least she got one final husband out of it, the young Dutch waxwork Robert Wolders who carried Madame's walker and make-up case until it was time for her close-up with the Higher Power. More power to him.

Proudly taking it's place in the "Once glamorous star, now in decline" genre is this romantic gem. Other classics of the genre include "Trog" (Joan Crawford), "The Swarm" (Olivia deHavilland), "Airport 1975" (Gloria Swanson) and "The Fan" (Lauren Bacall), "The Big Cube" (Lana Turner), "Angel, Angel Down We Go" (Jennifer Jones)and the like. In this sudsy throwback to a time when a flimsy story could scoot by on the appeal and wardrobe of it's leading lady, Oberon poured her heart, soul and money into the project. The film opens with badly photographed shots of Mexican ruins. Then we see the remains of Ms. Oberon tearing down the road in a Volkwagon bug while hip music suddenly blares on the soundtrack. She plays a woman who is at one with nature and seems eternally content, but there may be more to her than that. Norwegian actor Wolders plays a younger, bed-hopping guy in hip-huggers who finds himself intrigued by and attracted to Oberon despite their considerable age difference. Their scenes together are sometimes sincere, sometimes funny. He supplies most of the humor as he lurches around with poor posture. She gets in a few licks with her array of fuzzy close-ups and white slacks with every top she owns. Her hair is almost a third character. At waist length it is beautiful when it's up and scary when it's down. The film strives for irony and symbolism and just good old fashioned romance, but it tends to overplay it's hand. Merle spends a key scene in an impossibly glamorous and flowy lavender chiffon gown (in which she admittedly looks marvelous). One scene actually has Wolders standing up and screaming, "I'm somebody!!" followed by him running across a field into Oberon's arms!! It may as well be a Dentyne commerical! This picture put a cap on Merle's film career, but at least it gave her a fairly hunky man to spend her last years with.