Island of Lost Women (1959)

Director:

Frank Tuttle

Writers:

Ray Buffum (writer)
Prescott Chaplin (story)

Release Date:

May 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure

Tagline:

A Secret Eden Turned into a Raging Hell!

Plot:

A plane crash-lands on a jungle island inhabited by a scientist and his nubile young daughters. Complications ensue.

Plot Keywords:

Daughter | Scientist | Raft | Beefcake | Beach

Cast

Jeff Richards	...	Mark Bradley
Venetia Stevenson	...	Venus
John Smith	...	Joe Walker
Diane Jergens	...	Urana
June Blair	...	Mercuria
Alan Napier	...	Dr. Paul Lujan
Gavin Muir	...	Dr. McBain
George Brand	...	M. Hugh Garland

Runtime:

71 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-12

Company:

Jaguar Productions

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The island seen through the plane's windows before it crash lands is clearly not the same as the "island" they land on. The real island seen from the plane is a large, steep mountain jutting up from the ocean, quite obviously without the beaches, jungles, lagoon or flat lands depicted in the rest of the film.

Quotes:

Urana: You're much prettier than the men we've seen in books.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in This Boy's Life (1993)

A likable B-movie

Let's see, now, this movie provides us with two hunky men who crash land their plane on an uncharted island in the South Pacific inhabited by three beautiful young women. Do you think, just maybe, someone could come up with a plot making effective use of these ingredients? ("Forbidden Planet" did!)

Amazingly enough, the temptingly-titled "Island of Lost Women" fails to do so. The characters simply stand around, looking attractive, while waiting for something in the way of a real plot to arrive. It never quite does, but even though the movie "blows" a seemingly sure-fire set-up, it's easy to watch, has a certain naive charm, and -- despite the erotic possibilities -- is suitable viewing for all ages.

Because of its blank, empty quality, viewers can project all sorts of interpretations onto the proceedings. Some may note, for instance, that though they're in the company of three nubile females, neither of the two men makes any sexual advances toward them, aside from a bit of kissing and hand-holding. Indeed, the men spend a lot of time together, reminiscing about their "friendship" and finding ample opportunities to take their shirts off. (Joe even gets a chance to apply lotion to Mark's bare back.) Neither man mentions a "significant other" back home. And while the women wear decidedly modest swimming attire, the men get to slip into swim trunks which are snug enough to bulge in all the right places.

The trio of actresses in "Lost Women" came and went without making a ripple but the two actors had careers with a bit of substance. Jeff Richards hovered at the fringes of stardom in the 1950s with a number of films to his credit, including "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," but never became more than just "promising." By the time "The Island of Lost Women" went into release, his career had clearly begun to fade. John Smith, on the other hand, never made much of an impact in the movies but he did achieve a small measure of success in the "Laramie" series on TV. One wonders if they were cast in this movie because they were such opposite physical types. Richards has black hair and a hairy chest, while Smith is blond with a chest as smooth as a baby's bottom.