Saturday Island

This is a sort of Admirable Crichton but with the lack of any of its class.The acting of Tab Hunter is substandard.Donald Gray is as stiff as a board.Darrell is pretty but is obviously on her way down in the pecking order.One of the many contract actors left adrift by the end of her studio contract.The story,which has been recounted by other reviewers,is so silly it is unintentionally funny.The arrival of Donald Gray on the hour mark sets the film on a downward course from which it never recovers

I enjoyed this 1952 movie. It never tried to be anything but what it was. Shipwreck, stranded on an island, beautiful Linda Darnell and handsome young Tab Hunter in his first film. The star never looked better and the story was not difficult to understand. Enter Donald Gray as the other part of the triangle and you have conflict amongst the natives.

Linda Darnell, every inch a movie star, graced the screen with her alluring and dark looks. She never gives you the idea of anything else but what she is. True better films came her way, but listen, just watching the glamor of the star system was enough in those days. See her in LETTER TO THREE WIVES or UNFAITHFULLY YOURS, ANNA AND THE KING OF SIAM, even that clinker FOREVER AMBER for more meaty roles. But sometimes it's refreshing to see that stars as themselves in romantic and sometimes far fetched plots. Remember in the 40s and 50s the studios ruled the films and the stars. It was their mission to expose their glamor and popularity. How many films did it take for Elizabeth Taylor to turn into a decent actress?

Tab Hunter took a lot of slack for this film from the critics. But the studios had other thoughts in mind and thankfully they took him under their wings and turned him into a top teen aged heart throb. He too learned his craft along the way. Watch him in GUNMAN'S WALK, BATTLE CRY, THE AROUSERS and LUST IN THE DUST. He again was just a pleasure to watch on the screen with his blonde hair good looks and well toned physique.

It was the time of the stars. It was their films, their popularity and faithful fans that kept the movies alive in those days. Now days it's the violence and spectacle that hold court in films. Sadly, the days of glamor have long gone. And the stars with them.

BBC radio actor Donald Gray was selected to play one of the leads as a Pilot Officer and the story was manipulated around the actor only having one arm having lost it in combat in the War. The story concerned Linda Darnell playing a Canadian Nurse to Tab Hunter playing a US Marine who are stranded during wartime on a Desert Island. A romance develops between the two until Gray is shot down over the Island and Darnell uses her nursing skills to save him. A triangle developes there is a film fight described by Director Henry Hathaway " he intended to make cinema history by staging the toughest and most earthy battle between two love struck beasts for a woman that had ever been filmed.

Hunter and Gray took all day to rehearse clout by clout and fall by fall. It came out very hammy with both actors bruised. It was most unlikely a 19 year old ex Life Guard losing to a 37 year old Gray supposedly recently having had his arm amputated. In the end Darnell chooses Gray but only thing about film described as any good was Darnell appearing sultry dressed in rags revealing more flesh than the censor would then have considered decent. The filming set in Jamaica won prizes and Gray's acting was praised. Otherwise it was a flop but did raise money for limbless ex servicemans association. Gray commented that cast were in a 5 star hotel with all expenses paid with warm twilights soft calypso music and the unbelievable beauty of caribbean beaches. Palms waved, frogs whistled and dressing for dinner in a white tuxedo. Gray was rather sad when weather broke and film completed in Elstree Studios. Gray went on to become a Newsreader and then Mark Saber whereas Darnell and Hunter made a name for themselves in Westerns. Unfortunately film shot in technicolour is now sadly not available on video but though dire outdoor locations were breathtaking.

Darnell and Hunter are stranded on a deserted island where they spend most of the time arguing.. The characters are so incompatible that any believable romance is out of the question. You must be satisfied just watching the stars to watch this. The good thing is Darnell on the beach looks great in technicolor .The bad thing is the Tab Hunter role is badly written and badly acted he sounds more like a brat on vacation than a marines corporal who has to deal with an emergency situation. The character is pretty annoying ,spends most of the time arguing with the Darnell character who is a female officer,like he was arguing with his older sister. It was Hunters first starring role,they took a chance having him star next to an established star like Darnell,the results are mixed,he looks all-american boyish but the choice to have him star with a mature actress fails miserably..The movie actually spends more time showcasing Hunters half naked physique than it bothers with Darnell. So,basicaly this movie is for hardcore Tab HUnter fans,even more than Darnell fans.

Ridiculous story about a never consummated romance between astonishingly handsome blond teen marine and awesomely gorgeous older woman stranded on a desert island...only to be all heartbroken when she prefers the stodgy pencilmoustached one armed older Pilot who drops from the sky..... this technicolour tease should almost be the BLUE LAGOON of 1952. The idea that she just did not have this peachy hunk's loincloth ripped away within their first half hour alone together defies credibility. There are scenes as revealing as Christopher Atkins romping about in 1980, and incredulously, they remain physically apart for the duration of this hammy but spunky film. Tab Hunter is blindingly handsome and Linda Darnell is every bit as lustworthy as Jane Russell. Astonishingly, in or out of the cheesecloth nappy he half wears, and through her designer rags, somehow they forget to just spend 24-7 licking each other senseless. Visually it is all swoon-worthy but every ten minutes the viewer erupts from a staring stupor to screech "Oh! Come on!" at the screen.