THE FIFTIES # 189: FRED MONTILLA AND NENA CARDENAS IN EDDIE ROMERO'S "TAKAS!" (1954)

"Takas!" (1954)
Deegar Cinema Inc.
Release Date February 13- 20, 1954/ Center
Direction Eddie Romero
Cast Fred Montilla, Nena Cardenas, Ike Jarlego, Jr., Mercedita Sevilla

Synopsis: The unit headed by Pepe Celi (Fred Montilla), in possession of two steel trunks of gold bullions, is wiped out by a Japanese patrol, and Celis himself, badly wounded, is left for dead.

Liberation time finds Pepe facing a court martial for betraying his unit to the enemy and is condemned to imprisonment by the false accusation of a scheming co-officer, Marasigan.

As a prison trustee assigned to the hospital, Celis meets a Japanese patient who reveals to him that his son caught in the raid with him, did not die but left in the care of nuns in a convent in S. Demetrio. Celis could identify the child by a locket around his neck, containing a map where the bullions are hidden.Breaking jail, Celis is beset by the agents of the law, headed by Lladoc and Marasigan‘s henchmen who are afraid to be exposed. In his attempt to reach S. Demetrio, Celis is wounded in some encounters and is treated by a nurse (Nena Cardenas) who falls in love with him. At S. Demetrio, the nuns reveal that his son died, and they turn over to him the locket containing the map.

Meanwhile, in his search for clues leading to the whereabouts of the escaped Celis, Lladoc stumbles into other clues revealing how Celis was double-crossed by Marasigan. By playing Marasigan against his henchman, Caro, the latter begins to fear for his safety and squeals on Marasigan, clearing out Celis.
Lladoc then trails Marasigan, but the latter has already cornered Celis who has been forced to reveal where the treasure is hidden, by holding as hostage Celis’ boy companion (Ike Jarlego, Jr.). Lladoc, together with the nurse who is also in search of her fugitive lover, arrives on the spot where the treasure is hidden to find Pepe and Marasigan engaged in a mortal combat with Marasigan having the upper hand. Marasigan is shot, his henchmen captured.

Celis is cleared and happily reunited with the nurse, and the young boy who has been his faithful aide and companion during his many trials. (Source: Literary Song-Movie Magazine/ 1954)