An opening title sets this Technicolor movie in "South America." Charlton Heston is a plantation owner cuckolded by his wife before he has even met her—he has married vavoom Eleanor Parker by proxy and had her canoed upriver for the honeymoon. The always-grimacing Heston is troubled by armies of red ants, even before they arrive by the millions to raze his property and literalize his jealousy. The brooding future Moses responds with OT intensity, destroying everything he owns to re-virginate his bride. I feel like Haskin has been reading my mail.

—Guy Maddin (originally published in Film Comment)

• Written by Philip Yordan, Ranald MacDougall, from a story by Carl Stephenson. Photographed by Ernest Laszlo. With Eleanor Parker, Charlton Heston, Abraham Sofaer, William Conrad. (95 mins, Color, 16mm, From Paramount Pictures)