September Storm

Why, oh why do I waste my time watching 3rd run crap like this? I believed that this film was something worth watching at 6:00 a.m. on American Movie Classics, but boy, was I wrong! I'd have done better watching old reruns of "Let's Make a Deal." This film looks as if it were shot with a Brownie camera, the quality is so bad. It also resembles one of those old Italian sword and sandal jobs, with scenes switching back and forth for no reason. The film editor must've completed a correspondence course from the Rinky-Dink School of Film Editing. At least they could have asked Ivan Tors for a real shark during the underwater shark attack scene.

Mark Stevens looks sickly, Joanne Dru is OK, Robert Strauss is at his comic best, although he tries to play it straight, and Asher Dunn - he's cute. That's all.

MST3K - go for it. Everyone else - skip it. Especially at 6:00 a.m.

Pleasing skin-diving adventure, simple-minded but satisfying, has a young native of Majorca attempting to woo a pretty New York model with big talk of the boats he owns; turns out he's just the caretaker of the sailing vessels, and ends up stealing one for a three-week jaunt after two adventurers convince the couple that a million dollars' worth of gold coins went down with an African ship in the Mediterranean. Based on Steve Fisher's uncredited book "The Girl in the Red Bikini", the film (originally presented in CinemaScope and 3-D) allows Joanne Dru to let her hair down for once. Ofttimes cast as a frontier wife or nurse, Dru proves to be an attractive partner in the plan, even as male-female tensions aboard ship threaten to erupt. The action is slow in coming (a rather sleepy shark swims by twice, and a Portuguese Man of War stings Mark Stevens somewhere on his body), but the colorful locations and underwater photography make up for the lack of plot and wooden line-readings. ** from ****

Surprisingly good adventure film featuring Joanne Dru, as captivating as ever. Actually she's even better than usual.

An old-fashioned treasure hunt in a Mediterranean setting. Perhaps I have a soft spot for this largely forgotten film because it takes me back to vague childhood recollections of vacations spent in and around the Ballearic islands. Watching it now is like taking a holiday back to those simpler days.

A few twists and turns in the plot keep things interesting; some are variations on familiar themes and story lines, but ultimately September Storm takes on a life of its own. Let down somewhat by a few of the special effects, but if you can suspend your disbelief somewhat, you'll find a film that could have used some extra finesse, but is essentially well put together.

Gorgeous settings and underwater photography have been poorly cropped by pan and scan and as a result the action doesn't read as well as it should. Much better than expected overall. A very pleasant piece of escapism.

You have to see it to believe it!

but my family and I watched part of it being filmed in Mallorca. I was in love with Joanne Dru and blown away by the huge lights and a camera about a hundred times the size of our Bell and Howell, all mounted on a barge, as they filmed the principal actors on a diving board. Many takes, each time with the assistant director screaming "Silencio Po favor" to all the tourists on the beach. The funny thing was that we all did fall silent.

One of the actors had to spin a coin in the air and catch it. He kept dropping it in the water, the director would shout "Cut" and a boy would be dispatched into the water to retrieve what was supposed to be a gold coin. Such a waste of a large crew's time must make producers crazy and directors nervous, let alone the poor actors.

Low-ish-budget adventure film from twentieth century fox. Sexy anne (joanne dru) and manuel (asher dann) meet up in majorca, and were doing okay. But along come treasure hunters joe and ernie and really louse things up. Eventually they all rent a boat to look for pirate gold, but so many set backs. Storms, lovers quarrels, jealousy and fighting. Even stinging jellyfish. Will they ever find the gold? Or will all the fighting keep them from ever getting to it? It's okay. Co-stars mark stevens, robert strauss. Stevens looks and sounds JUST like dean martin. Directed by byron haskin. He was nominated for FOUR oscars in the 1940s, and was given a technical achievement award in 1939.