La isla encantada

I am amazed at the reviewers who wrote negative descriptions that make me wonder if they paid attention to the film or even watched it. Van Johnson pilots a PBY badly damaged in an attack on a Japanese warship. Cameron Mitchell is not the co-pilot but is the plane's flight engineer. They are not stranded on a tropical island but are stuck in the plane with a broken radio that prevents them from radioing their location. Most of the crew was killed in action. Mitchell is cynical regarding their chances of survival; Johnson keeps the faith by telling about his childhood romance that finally came together when he saw June Allyson just before taking off on their patrol. Mitchell's cynicism does not make Johnson's recollections boring.

I saw this film on TV back in the 1960s and it has stayed in my memory all these years. That said, none of the reviewers mentioned that the film is based on the novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, authors of the "Mutiny on the Bounty" trilogy. I read the novel as an adult and was surprised to find that the ending in the book was very different from the film.

Today, I took out a disc of June Allyson & Van Johnson films I had recorded when she was Star of the Month earlier this year. The first film I watched is the one I want to mention now. It was HIGH BARBAREE. Another reviewer on the IMDb says it is part Leave It to Beaver and part mystical journey, and I really like that description. I think it also resembles a well-crafted episode of The Twilight Zone.

The picture is bolstered by MGM's top-notch production values, and the leads are well restrained and ably supported by Thomas Mitchell and Cameron Mitchell (no relation). There is also an early performance by Claude Jarman Jr. that really stands out and captures the viewers' attention. I feel like with so many excellent elements, this is a film that should be more widely known. It's a relatively unheralded classic.

I grew up watching movies from the 30's and 40's as a kid in the 50's. The early days of T.V. had a lot of time to fill and they did it with movies. Remember the Fabulous 52!, a movie of the week at 11:15 on Saturday nights? I probably knew those movies better than the ones from my own era. I was a particular fan of Van Johnson and June Allyson. This movie haunted me and my youthful imagination. I probably first saw this movie at age 12 when it was already 10 years old. Everyone needs a 'High Barbaree' in his life, a dream put there by some crazy uncle like the character Thomas Mitchell plays so well in this movie. I wish they'd put this movie on DVD so I could buy it and show it to my family and friends.

Van Johnson plays a downed flier in the Pacific War, the only survivor with his co-pilot Cameron Mitchell in a plane they've managed to make seaworthy and float. As a lad he was told some tall tales of a legendary island like Shangri-La in the Pacific called High Barbaree. He and that teller of tall tales Johnson's uncle Thomas Mitchell actually plotted where the island should be and low and behold Johnson and Cameron Mitchell are down in the Pacific right where this mythical island is supposed to be.

In reading some of the books on western voyages of discovery a number of mapmakers in the 15th. 16th, and 17th centuries made mention of a mythical island called Hy-Brasil. You'll find it on many charts of the period. How the legend started who knows, but it was real to a lot of people just as High Barbaree is here.

On that voyage Johnson tells Cameron Mitchell all about his life in flashbacks, about High Barbaree and about his life and choice of career. The women aren't left out as he has two women interested in him, girl next door June Allyson and rich girl Marilyn Maxwell.

High Barbaree is a nice film about the hopes and dreams of one young man who went to war. Does Van Johnson find High Barbaree? For that you watch the film for.

This is just a great movie. Part romance, part Leave it to Beaver, part mystical journey. And part Norman Rockwell, Tom Sawyer, and PT 109 for that matter! It is a very simple story of a downed U.S. Navy flier relating his upbringing and romances to a fellow flier. But it is just so beautifully done and filled with the laughter and tears, triumph and tragedies of life that is is irresistable.