This movie came too late.The late fifties were the the nouvelle vague time and that kind of movie was bound to be dismissed as academic,boring and conventional.But there was more.About ten years before,Jean Delannoy made a movie "Dieu a besoin des hommes" which dealt with almost the same subject.And Delannoy's work is much better:compare for instance,the way people speak in the two movies:Delannoy asked his actors to use a very pronounced accent in lieu of the Breton language most of his audience could not understand.In Brabant's "les naufrageurs",the actors speak the 1958 French-as the action is meant to take place in 1852!on a remote Breton island too!There's worse:the German sailor ,saved from the wrecking by the local (female)little savage speaks fluent French!!
This little savage is a stereotype ,the umpteenth outcast character ,we've heard it all before.No character emerges from this story:Henri Vidal was a competent but limited actor and he is not an effective lead here.Charles Vanel's got an uninteresting part,so has Dany Carrel.Only the beautiful black and white landscapes are worth watching the movie.
Word to the wise:do take "Dieu a besoin des hommes" instead!
