So-so adventure drama set in remote Sumatra , recreated in studios , and hampared by a poor script. At the beginning a striking opening sequence in which Chandler as a ruthlessly efficient tough man who shoots a member of his crew for turning up drunk and risking lives on the site by playing silly games with dynamite . Later on , the crew is packed off to prospect on a far Pacific Island , as Duke (Jeff Chandler) arrives in a island as a manager of a Malayan tin mine . Initially, the natives there are friendly, especially dancer Minyora who proves to be affianced to local ruler King Kiang (Anthony Quinn) . A series of unfortunate incidents changes Kiang's attitude to hostility, and Duke is stranded with his crew, as well as Minyora (Susan Ball , a wonderful woman , who died early at 21 by cancer) , and his old flame Lory (Marilyn Maxwell) who's also engaged to his boss (John Sutton) . Then , things go wrong , and jungle drums naturally start to throb and poisoned darts to fly . At the end takes place a tense climax in a fight with flaming torches and Machetes . For her savage kisses ... he plundered the last forgotten corner of the earth !Are romantic triangles more deadly than poisoned darts?
Drama , oriental adventure , noisy action , intrigue , a triangular romance story , in which a mining engineer goes to a little-known island to open a new mine in the jungle. Budget limitations starts to show in the awful backdrop of jungle , rocks , and matte-paintings , as their plane lands . Pleasantly filmed romantic/adventure drama , all very stiff-upper-lip , here outstanding a pretty good main and support cast. As Jeff Chandler is good as Duke Mullane who tries to open a new mine in the jungle, but the natives turn hostile , except for one gorgeous native girl . Chandler gives stature to the role , providing sincerity and bravura . Chandler was famous , until his early death , for playing Indian chief Cochise , a dignified portrait well shown in : ¨Broken arrow¨ , ¨Battle of Apache Pass¨ and ¨Taza , son of Cochise¨ . Although Chandler also played all kinds of genres , such as : ¨Return to Peyton Place¨(drama) , ¨Flame of Araby¨ (adventure) , ¨Merrill's marauders¨ (wartime , in his last film) , until his early death at 42-year-old .While Anthony Quinn plays as the island's king , a man of honour and some civilisation who has ceded the mineral rights against a promise of medical supplies for his people . Important and prestigious secondary cast such as : John Sutton as the penny-pinching head office , Jay C. Flippen , Scatman Crothers , Eugene Iglesias , Peter Graves and Earl Holliman. Along with the beautiful actress Susan Ball as a lissome dancer who is in the curvaceous shape as a jungle princess disporting herself in a rock pool ; she had a brief career , giving a below-average acting, but it doesn's mind because being gorgeous . The tragic Ball sustained a leg injury that eventually to end her life aged 21 , these ¨East of Sumatra¨, ¨War arrow¨ ,¨Chief Crazy Horse¨ both of them directed by George Sherman , resulted to be his last films .
The motion picture was regularly directed by Budd Boetticher who has since become a cult figure and he was a Western expert . His first Western was in 1949 called The Wolf Hunters, following Cimarron Kid , Bronco buster , Horizons West , Seminole, and Wings of the hawk . In 1956 with 7 Men From Now starts his collaboration with Randolph Scott, along with producer Harry Joe Brown and writer Burt Kennedy , including prestigious titles as Tall T, Decision at sundown, Buchanan rides alone , Ride lonesome, Comanche station , among others. His last Western was in 1969 titled A time for dying with Audie Murphy. Rating 5/10 . The movie will appeal to adventure aficionados and Jeff Chandler fans .
