As a mystery woman Vera Ralston  fails to be convincing in Angel on the Amazon which I watched mainly to catch up on another Constance Bennett film.

This film ( also known as The Jungle Wilderness and Drums Along the Amazon) has Constance playing a doctor who is on a flight piloted by George Brent. When the plane crashes in the jungle, the passengers are rescued by Ms. Ralston who seems quite at home there among the natives, although she comes and goes between big game hunting and a more glamorous life in Rio de Janeiro.

 

The other passengers on the plane are only seen briefly at the start of the film. After that, it’s George Brent who is intrigued by Vera, and wants to know all about her.

Turns out Vera had a bad experience when her new husband (Brian Aherne) took her on a hunting trip on their honeymoon. Attacked by a panther ( which she kills), she is so traumatised that she never ages. But only her husband knows the truth.

As one IMDB reviewer commented, “Vera is asked to play a character whose charms fascinate everyone, and, as usual, those charms seem elusive to the viewer.)

 

 

Reduced to a secondary role in this Republic film, Constance had been very successful in the 1930s ( “What Price Hollywood”, “Topper”, “Merrily We Live”), but only made a dozen movies in the 40s. 

In the same year as Angel On The Amazon, Constance and Brian  Aherne appeared in “SMART WOMAN” which I hope to  see. ( Ten years earlier they had starred in the comedy, “Merrily We Live”.)

I watched the film via rarefilmm.com

 

Vincent Price’s first film was in 1938 and had him costarring with Connie Bennett in SERVICE DE LUXE, in which Connie and  Helen Broderick run a successful company catering for rich folk – a sort of superior hotel concierge service.

Vincent does well in a story of mistaken identity in which he thinks Constance is the kind of woman he’d like to marry – a homemaker, not a business woman.
The script is nothing special but it was an interesting  viewing nontheless. If only to see Vincent Price  at the very start of his career.

 

You Tube has at least three other Constance Bennett films I can catch up on – THE COMMON LAW, SIN TAKES A HOLIDAY and EVERYTHING IS THUNDER.

Also, Wow dvds have several of her films for sale.