Adventure Island
| Title: | Adventure Island |
| Year: | 1947 |
| Directors: | Sam Newfield |
| Writers: | Lloyd Osbourne (novel) Maxwell Shane (writer) |
| Actors: | Rory Calhoun | Rhonda Fleming | Paul Kelly | John Abbott | Alan Napier | Douglas Spencer |
| Rating: | 5.0 | 29 votes |
| Languages: | English |
| Color: | Color |
| Country: | USA |
| Company: | Pine-Thomas Productions |
| Genres: | Adventure |
| Plot: | |
| 1): Rory Calhoun, Paul Kelly and John Abbot are beachcombers/semi-derelicts on an unnamed but well-policed tropical island. Kelly, a sea captain in disgrace, is ordered to pilot a ship full of champaigne to Sydney, that has been lying in the harbor since its captain and most of the crew died of plague. He takes the other two along and plans on sailing elsewhere to sell the cargo. After anchors aweigh, they discover that Rhonda Fleming, the daughter of the deceased captain, is on board. This complicates matters, as does a fire on board, as does the discovery that the champaigne cargo is really water. They arrive at an uncharted island ruled by Alan Napier, a sophisticated British gentleman who is several cards short of playing with a full deck. Crazy as a bedbug. More complications arise, such as snake pits and acid-assassination attempts. Napier likes to keep his island tidy…something Sam Newfield was unable to do with this film as the director. At PRC, he was used to Buster Crabbe and “Fuzzy” St. John riding in and connecting the dots. |
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| Comments: | |
| 1) Sam Newfield, here working under the nom de plume of Peter Stewart,actually has a good cast and decent script this time out. All thoseinvolved acquit themselves well. For any of you familiar with Mr.Newfield, who'd shoot a movie in 3 days and frequently have lots ofpeople standing around talking for indefinite periods of time, this isa welcome surprise. The film moves fast, the actors are all good (OK,Rory Calhoun is a little stiff, but he's the good guy, so get overit)and there's actually some character development (former drunkskipper Kelly who finds redemption). They don't get to the island ofthe title till two-thirds of the way through, but that won't botheryou. Alan Napier then appears and steals the show in a sinisterperformance. It's a lot of fun and doesn't betray its low budgetorigins.
2) There are a lot of happenings crammed into this 66 minute film. Despiteall the comings and goings, running around, fire fighting, shipsailing, natives running and danger escaping the overall film just doesnot move along at a very fast pace. Scenes go on for too long wherethere is nothing but dialog to carry them. Action scenes are shorterand leave the film feeling a bit out of balance. The print I watched was in black and white, a little soft in the focusand too dark. Such a shame too. I would have liked to have seen clearcolor footage of Rhonda Fleming rising out of the ocean surf in aclinging dress. Also the ending copyright date was 1942. So either thedate on this site is wrong or the film was held back from release forfive years. |
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