Saturday Island (1952)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Stuart Heisler

Writers:

Hugh Brooke (story)
Stephanie Nordli (screenplay)

Release Date:

4 August 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Romance | War

Tagline:

Excitement -- Throbbing love under a tropic moon -- then the typhoon hits with sudden savagery!

Plot:

Based on and screenplay adapted from a Hugh Brooke story that appeared in "The Saturday Evening Post" and was not a novel: Lieutenant Elizabeth Smythe...

Plot Keywords:

Hospital Ship | Nurse | Mine | Airplane | Marine

Cast

Linda Darnell	...	Lt. Elizabeth Smythe
Tab Hunter	...	Marine Corporal Michael J. 'Chicken' Dugan
Donald Gray	...	William Peck
John Laurie	...	Grimshaw
Sheila Chong	...	Tukua
Russell Waters	...	Dr. Snyder
Hilda Fenemore	...	Ollie
Brenda Hogan	...	Jane
Diana Decker	...	Mike
Peggy Hassard	...	Maggie
Michael Newell	...	Eddie
Lloyd Lamble	...	Officer of the Watch
Peter Butterworth	...	Wounded Marine
Harold Ayer	...	Marine Sergeant
MacDonald Parke	...	Ship's Captain

Also Known As:

Island of Desire (USA) (original script title)

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Ocho Rios, St. Ann, Jamaica

Company:

Coronado Productions

Trivia:

The July 22, 1952 edition of The New York Times noted that this film would make its local debut at Lowe's Metropolitan Theatre in Brooklyn on Wednesday, July 30. However, the newspaper did not send a reviewer on opening day.

Good film for it's time

I enjoyed this 1952 movie. It never tried to be anything but what it was. Shipwreck, stranded on an island, beautiful Linda Darnell and handsome young Tab Hunter in his first film. The star never looked better and the story was not difficult to understand. Enter Donald Gray as the other part of the triangle and you have conflict amongst the natives.

Linda Darnell, every inch a movie star, graced the screen with her alluring and dark looks. She never gives you the idea of anything else but what she is. True better films came her way, but listen, just watching the glamor of the star system was enough in those days. See her in LETTER TO THREE WIVES or UNFAITHFULLY YOURS, ANNA AND THE KING OF SIAM, even that clinker FOREVER AMBER for more meaty roles. But sometimes it's refreshing to see that stars as themselves in romantic and sometimes far fetched plots. Remember in the 40s and 50s the studios ruled the films and the stars. It was their mission to expose their glamor and popularity. How many films did it take for Elizabeth Taylor to turn into a decent actress?

Tab Hunter took a lot of slack for this film from the critics. But the studios had other thoughts in mind and thankfully they took him under their wings and turned him into a top teen aged heart throb. He too learned his craft along the way. Watch him in GUNMAN'S WALK, BATTLE CRY, THE AROUSERS and LUST IN THE DUST. He again was just a pleasure to watch on the screen with his blonde hair good looks and well toned physique.

It was the time of the stars. It was their films, their popularity and faithful fans that kept the movies alive in those days. Now days it's the violence and spectacle that hold court in films. Sadly, the days of glamor have long gone. And the stars with them.