Raiders of the Lost Ark

1936. In the South American jungle, the archaeologist Indiana Jones overcomes a path filled with dangers and traps in search of a certain golden idol from an ancient temple. Finding it, he escapes from the temple by running away from the giant stone ball rolling behind him, but on the way out, he meets his old rival, the archaeologist Rene Belloc, who was waiting for him along with a group of armed natives. Surrounded by a superior number of enemies, Jones is forced to give the statue to Belloc, but he manages to escape.

Back at the institute where he teaches, Jones meets with two US military intelligence agents, who inform him that the Nazis, hunting for ancient occult artifacts, are looking for Abner Ravenwood, Indiana's former mentor. Ravenwood is one of the best experts on the ancient Egyptian city of Tanis, which was excavated by the Nazis and which, according to legend, is the location of the Ark of the Covenant. The agents suspect Ravenwood of aiding the Third Reich, but Jones says that the Nazis are looking for Abner, because he has a special gold medallion-the tip of the staff of Ra, a key artifact that opens the way to the ark. Indiana himself in the past quarreled with the teacher and since then knows about his whereabouts only through rumors, the latest of which came from distant Nepal. When asked by the agents why the Nazis might have needed the Ark, Jones ' colleague Marcus Brody says that according to legend, the power hidden in the Ark can make any army that carries it invincible.

In search of an old mentor, Jones goes to Nepal and meets there with his long-time lover, the daughter of Abner Ravenwood-Marion, who became the owner of a tavern in one of the villages. From her, Indiana learns that Abner died, and the locket went to his daughter. Jones offers a lot of money for the artifact, which would help Marion move back to the States, but the girl, offended by Indy for the past, is deceitful, saying that the locket is not with her, and offers to go to her the next day. Leaving Marion a small deposit, Jones leaves in confusion, while the girl takes the locket from under her shirt and weighs all the pros and cons: on the one hand, the locket is the most valuable inheritance she received from her father, and on the other – the only chance to get out of the snow – covered Nepal back to civilization. Still undecided, Marion hangs the medallion behind the bar as a Nazi agent, a specialist in torture, Major Arnold Toth, enters the bar, accompanied by several armed thugs.

After a brief verbal altercation, he tries to torture Marion into revealing the locket's location, but Jones intervenes. During the struggle, a fire breaks out; the fire that engulfs the tavern heats the medallion so much that when He tries to take it, He gets a severe burn on his palm and runs away in a panic. Marion's tavern collapses and burns to the ground just as the girl grabs the locket and runs outside with Jones. Marion, having no other choice, agrees to cooperate with Jones for a monetary reward that would cover all her losses. After two days of flying, they reach Cairo, where they meet Sallah, a famous Egyptian digger and an old loyal friend of Indiana's. Sallah tells them that he knows where the Nazis are looking for the Ark, and their chief consultant is Jones ' rival Rene Belloc. Sallah warns Indiana against a dangerous adventure, superstitiously saying that it is better not to disturb the Ark and leave it where it rests. While Marion and Indy are walking through the city, Nazi agents kidnap Marion. Indiana tries to save her, but the car that Marion was put in explodes.

Indiana falls into apathy and gets drunk in a bar, where Belloc meets him and invites him to join the Nazis and their search. Having refused, Indiana miraculously survives: he is saved by the unexpectedly appeared children of Sallah. That evening, Sallah and Jones decipher the writing on the medallion with the help of a local polyglot old man and realize that it is the key to the location of the Well of Souls-the temple where the Ark of the Covenant is buried. Guided by the instructions they receive, they realize that there is still a chance to get ahead of the Nazis, since they use incomplete information and are digging in the wrong place: the burn on Thoth's hand, touching the red-hot medallion, repeated the shape of only one side of the medallion, while the instructions with critical comments were written on the other.

Having secretly entered the site, Indiana, with the help of Sallach and the original locket, finds the right place to dig, and then discovers that Marion is not really dead, but is held captive by Belloc. Hastily explaining to the girl that he can't get her out yet, Indiana leaves. Renee Belloc tries unsuccessfully to find out Jones ' intentions from Marion by flirting and drinking wine with her, but she does not give in and pretends to be drunk, and then suddenly pulls out a hidden knife and threatens Belloc with it, intending to escape. When trying to escape, the girl is stopped by Arnold Toth, but, apparently, also does not get anything from her.

Meanwhile, Indiana and Sallah assemble a small team and start digging in the right place. Towards nightfall, they discover the stone lid of a hidden underground Well of Souls. The entire floor of the temple is covered with venomous snakes, which Indiana is terribly afraid of. Indiana and Sallah go down and retrieve the ark from the Well, but at dawn, Belloc and the Nazis discover them and take it away, and Jones is left in the Well of Souls, dropping the now-useless Marion into it and closing the temple with a lid.

However, Indiana and Marion miraculously find a way out, appearing just in time: They discover a Luftwaffe (flying wing bomber) plane ready to transport the Ark to Berlin. After a fight with the Nazis, the plane explodes.

Belloc realizes that Jones managed to escape and the incident at the airfield – his handiwork. Colonel Dietrich decides to deliver the ark in a convoy reinforced by soldiers to Cairo, and from there to transport it by ship to Germany. After stealing the horse from the diggers, Jones goes in pursuit of the convoy, with great difficulty captures the truck with the ark and after the chase hides on it. That evening, Jones and Marion, taking the Ark, leave Cairo on the smugglers 'ship" The Bantu Wind " under the command of the hospitable captain Simon Katanga, intending to sail to England.

The Nazis unravel Jones ' plan and the next morning the German submarine U-26 under the command of Dietrich and Belloc intercepts the Katanga ship. Jones manages to hide. The soldiers search the ship and find the Ark in the cargo hold, but, to the captain's great surprise, they do not find Jones, after which they proceed to interrogate Katanga; the captain improvises and claims that he allegedly killed Jones for his uselessness, since "girls" like Marion are in demand wherever he sails. The Nazis take Marion and the Ark with them. Meanwhile, Indiana infiltrates a submarine that is heading for a secret Nazi island camp. After stealing a soldier's uniform and a hand grenade launcher, Jones chases Belloc into an isolated canyon, where the Nazis plan to check the contents of the Ark before sending it to their Fuhrer.

To open the Ark, at Belloc's insistence, it is necessary to perform an ancient Jewish ritual, to which the Nazi officers reluctantly agree and with great reluctance. Jones intercepts the Ark convoy and threatens to blow up the Ark with a grenade launcher, demands that Marion be released, but Belloc guesses that this is just a bluff (being a true archaeologist, Jones will never destroy the greatest treasure in history), and forces Indiana to surrender . During the opening ceremony of the Ark, Marion and Jones are tied to a pole. When Belloc, Dietrich and Thoth open the Ark, they find nothing inside but sand, but soon some spirits burst out, at first inspiring awe and admiration, but then turn into evil angels of death. Jones understands that it is dangerous to look at what is happening, and warns Marion to close her eyes and never open them, no matter what happens. At the same moment, the spirits begin to kill the wicked Nazis, melting their faces and blowing their heads, and then sweep across the island in a cleansing fire hurricane, free Jones and Marion from their bonds and return back to the Ark.

Upon returning to Washington, Jones and Marcus Brody meet with military intelligence agents again and say that the Ark is too dangerous, but the agents assure them that "the best people" will carefully study the find. Annoyed Indiana goes from the building of the secret service hand in hand with Marion.

In the final footage, we are shown how the Ark is nailed into a box marked "Top secret" and left in a giant government warehouse, literally packed with thousands of similar boxes.