The Beachcomber (1954)

Mr. Gray is the new Resident in Charge of the Welcome Islands in the Indian Ocean. The Islands are full of life, but the only other Europeans are the "sanctimonious, psalm-singing" ... See full summary »

Director:

Muriel Box

Writers:

Sydney Box, W. Somerset Maugham (story)

Stars:

Glynis Johns, Robert Newton, Donald Sinden

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Glynis Johns	...	Martha Jones
Robert Newton	...	Edward 'Honorable Ted' Wilson
Donald Sinden	...	Ewart Gray
Paul Rogers	...	Rev. Owen Jones
Donald Pleasence	...	Tromp
Walter Crisham	...	Vederala
Michael Hordern	...	The Headman
Auric Lorand	...	Alfred, Major Domo
Tony Quinn	...	Ship Captain
Ah Chong Choy	...	Wang the Barkeep
Ronald Lewis	...	Headman's Son
Jean Rollins	...	Amao
Lizabeth Rollins	...	Girl at Maputiti
Michael Mellinger	...	Medical Orderly

Storyline

Mr. Gray is the new Resident in Charge of the Welcome Islands in the Indian Ocean. The Islands are full of life, but the only other Europeans are the "sanctimonious, psalm-singing" brother-sister missionary team of Martha and Owen Jordans, and the Honourable Ted - a hard-drinking, womanizing social outcast whose English family pays him to stay away. Martha and Ted become an unlikely team when cholera threatens the islands and they must do their best to stop its spread.

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Plot Keywords:

island | title directed by female | remake

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Taglines:

Thundering With New Might and Magnificence!

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 August 1954 (UK)

Also Known As:

Le vagabond des îles

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

London Independent Producers

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Remake of The Beachcomber (1938)

User Reviews

On the Beach

There were two reasons why I looked forward to seeing 'The Beachcomber'. They were Robert Newton and Glynis Johns. Newton, off-screen a roisterer in the Richard Burton, Trevor Howard mould gave full-blooded performances in movies like 'Blackbeard the Pirate' and 'Treasure Island' and I loved his outrageous, eye-rolling style. And Glynis Johns has one of those scratchy, sexy voices that I find almost irresistible.

Imagine my disappointment to find Ms Johns playing a pious missionary nurse with a Welsh accent and no opportunity to sound sexy. Mind you she was nothing if not versatile, at one stage performing an appendectomy while later healing an elephant's injured trunk. And Newton, ideally cast as a drunken remittance man (the 'black sheep' of an upper class English family being paid to stay away) is at half power throughout, missing every chance for histrionics.

There's some pleasant location Technicolor photography in the pacific islands and a bar-room brawl hammier than anything john Ford ever choreographed for Messrs. Wayne and McGlagen but the practice of blacking up Donald Pleasance, Ronald Lewis and possibly others to play natives is always offensive.

The plot from usually interesting Somerset Maugham is just the old chestnut about the redemptive power of a good woman's love. Though there is another moral to the story – 'an elephant never forgets'