The Treasure of the Aztecs Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.0

The Treasure of the Aztecs Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 9, 2026

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the Adventure Calls! Karl May at CCC set from Eureka! Entertainment.

Eureka! Entertainment has been releasing box sets with an unusual tether: Germany's Central Cinema Compagnie-Film GmbH, otherwise known under its acronym CCC, a studio founded by Artur Brauner in 1946. Brauner had just survived the Holocaust and desperately wanted to make films depicting the horrendous Nazi era, but post World War II Germany was simply not in the mood for such fare, and early Brauner efforts like Morituri (not the Brando - Brynner spy opus from years later) bombed pretty spectacularly, leaving Brauner not just seriously in debt but perilously close to declaring bankruptcy almost as soon as his studio had been founded. That resulted in a rejiggering of sorts where Brauner realized he had to appeal to the "unwashed masses" before moving on to so-called "message films". While Brauner did in fact offer some Nazi adjacent material in the 1950s with films like 1955's The Plot to Assassinate Hitler, he also significantly broadened the studio's output, ending the decade by offering a Fritz Lang "two fer", The Tiger of Eschnapur and The Indian Tomb. Brauner continued to coax legendary expat German directors back to Germany to work for him at CCC, and he also started to produce what might be called "franchises", though rather interestingly some of these perceived series were built around authors rather than characters, including the films Eureka! released in its Terror in the Fog: Wallace Krimi at CCC set in 2025. That said, there was at least one franchise built around a memorable character who is in fact at the center of the other CCC related set Eureka! has offered home media enthusiasts, Mabuse Lives! Dr. Mabuse at CCC: 1960-1964. This third CCC set from Eureka! returns to "author territory", highlighting the work of Karl May, a man many in the United States may not be overly familiar with, but who was evidently pretty much required reading for German schoolchildren. As some of the supplements on this set get into, many of Brauner's May adaptations were marketed as big "family films" which were released during the holiday season to help maximize attendance. That said, several of these films do in fact feature some recurring characters, and all of them star Lex Barker, in several cases playing the same supposed character May more or less claimed was based on himself, though offered in the various films under a couple of different aliases.

If the five preceding films in Eureka!'s Adventure Calls! Karl May at CCC set can be at least argued to be one "whole", albeit again arguably split into "Western" (Shatterhand) and "Eastern" (Kara Ben Nemsi) halves, this film and its sequel (actually simply more of a Part 2) are standalone entries, perhaps not totally to the benefit of either of them when seen within the very context that this box set kind of inherently provides. Brauner's smarts as a producer are completely evident here, as he reunites iconic expat German director Robert Siodmak with Barker, here portraying a character ostensibly completely unrelated to either Shatterhand or Kara Ben Nemsi, Dr. Karl Sternau, though as mentioned in a previous review this may be another case of a distinction without much actual difference. But Brauner also brings along Ralf Wolter in another comically oriented supporting role, this time named Andreas Hasenpfeffer but acting (in both senses of the word) more or less the same as Hadschi Halef Omar in the Kara Ben Nemsi films.

A number of other regulars from Brauner's May cycle(s) show up here, including regular Special Guest Villain Rik Battaglia, though this entire enterprise would seem to be more firmly connected to actual historical events than any of the five preceding productions, and that includes a cameo from Special Guest President Abraham Lincoln (Jeff Corey) giving Dr. Sternau marching orders early on. The South American locale would seem to maybe link this film and its follow up more directly to the Shatterhand films than the Kara Ben Nemsi ones, but while probably technically true, some of the production decisions here probably don't redound as well for this tale as they do for the Shatterhand outings, with depictions of the supposed Aztecs probably not able to withstand contemporary PC sensibilities.

The biggest issue with both this film and The Pyramid of the Sun God is simply the fact that there are two films, in a gambit Brauner exploited long before anything like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, or any of the multitude of other "stretched too thin" two parters that followed in the wake of the enormous success of the Hallows diptych.

The Treasure of the Aztecs Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Treasure of the Aztecs is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka! Entertainment's Masters of Cinema imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. As tends to be the case with the Masters of Cinema line, Eureka! really doesn't provide any substantial technical information, though kind of weirdly (at least from a marketing perspective) their website does mention 4K scans of the original negatives for all of the films in this set. While maybe once again just slightly on the yellow side, this is an impressive looking presentation, aside from some pretty shoddy looking stock establishing shots of "Aztec territory" (repeated in the follow up film). Relatively luxe sets and costumes offer appealing fine detail levels throughout. Outdoor material is often impressive, and the palette in all of the outdoor scenes is vividly suffused. Grain resolves without any issues. My score is 4.25.

The Treasure of the Aztecs Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Treasure of the Aztecs features LPCM 2.0 Mono audio in the original German. While it may be slightly hilarious to see good ol' American character actor Jeff Corey portraying good ol' American President Abraham Lincoln spouting convoluted German, that's part of the weird charm of all of the films in this set, and once again while mismatches between lip movements and sounds emanating from them are undeniably comical at times, fidelity is secure, and all spoken material, scoring and sound effects offer no issues. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Treasure of the Aztecs Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: Eureka! has packaged The Treasure of the Aztecs and The Pyramid of the Sun God together on one disc with the following supplements, some of which are accessible via the Main Menu, and others of which are accessible once an individual film has been chosen:

Main Menu

• The Treasure of the Aztecs Introduction by Sir Christopher Frayling (HD; 3:13) is accessible here as a standalone supplement. It's also available under the film's Play Menu, as seen below.


• The Pyramid of the Sun God Introduction by Sir Christopher Frayling (HD; 4:12) is accessible here as a standalone supplement. It's also available under the film's Play Menu, as seen below.


• Interview with Bernhard Schmid (HD; 6:47) is an archival piece in German with English subtitles.


• The Treasure of the Aztecs Trailer (HD; 4:05)


• The Pyramid of the Sun God Trailer (HD; 3:33)

The Treasure of the Aztecs

• Introduction by Sir Christopher Frayling (HD; 3:13) is authored to proceed on to the main feature.


• Audio Commentary by David Kalat

The Pyramid of the Sun God

• Introduction by Sir Christopher Frayling (HD; 4:12) is authored to proceed on to the main feature.

The Treasure of the Aztecs Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This film and The Pyramid of the Sun God are just never able to work up the same amount of energy (often lunatic energy, it should be added) that the other films in this set can. The historical setting here is quite interesting, but the whole Aztec treasure scenario is probably going to be off putting for some, especially in the way the indigenous peoples are depicted here and in the next film. Technical merits are solid and the supplements enjoyable, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.