A Ilha das Víboras

Ah, yes, another film about a mysterious stranger who comes into town with an ulterior motive, and everyone he meets makes him feel unwelcome and tries to cover up a big secret. If you like those movies, you might have heard of Platinum High School, starring Mickey Rooney and Dan Duryea. Mickey is the unwelcome stranger, and he comes to a private military high school to find out what happened to his son. Elisha Cook, Jr., a diner owner, Dan Duryea, the head of the school, and a bunch of cadets try to get Mickey to leave, but he's determined to get to the bottom of things.

The first part of the movie is entertaining, as these movies tend to be, but it gets pretty silly as time wears on. For example, Yvette Mimieux prances around in an extremely skimpy bikinis, while surrounded by love-starved cadets, and her only protector is her deaf-mute father. Terry Moore is Dan Duryea's secretary, and while it makes sense that they're having an affair, it doesn't make sense that she suddenly switches teams and completely joins Mickey's side. Poor Mickey tries to give a good performance, but it's such a silly script, it's hard to take anyone seriously. At least you get to see Dan looking handsome in a uniform, but really, girls, if that's all this movie has going for it, just pick another of his movies.

Platinum High School marked a return to MGM for Mickey Rooney, the place that nurtured his talent and where he became a very big star as a kid. They even gave him a thinly disguised remake of one of their classics, Bad Day At Black Rock. Unfortunately Platinumn High School doesn't come anywhere close to that film in quality.

This school they're referring to is a place where rich delinquents are sent. But occasionally a good kid like Warren Berlinger goes there and another one apparently was Rooney's kid.

Rooney's kid died under mysterious circumstances and Rooney who'd been out of the picture for years through the machinations of his rich ex-wife is there to investigate. Like Spencer Tracy in Bad Day at Black Rock, he's there to investigate. But he's met with hostility at every turn.

Leading the hostility is Dan Duryea the commandant of the school with his two aides, Richard Jaeckel and Christopher Dark playing the parts that Robert Ryan, Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine had.

Like Tracy at Black Rock, Rooney is isolated because the school is on an island. And the bad guys are closing in.

Terry Moore steps into Anne Francis's school. She's the school secretary and Duryea's squeeze. If you want to what happens to Ms. Moore, recall the fate of Anne Francis. In addition Terry plays a mean game of footsie that Anne wasn't required to.

Several young teenage actors of the time are in the cast as military cadets and I recall seeing the film when it first came out as the bottom half of a double bill. And it was in a drive-in with my uncle and his family. This film is typical drive-in fare.

Platinum High School ought to be renamed Brass High School.

Mickey Rooney was always short and baby-faced: in a picture of him from many years back, he was dancing with Alice Ford who was about a foot taller than he. But in this particular movie this baby-faced man was strong and up front, and even sometimes awe-inspiring, surprisingly enough.

The title receives its name from it being a very expensive military school for incorrigible delinquents.

The story centers around Steve Conway (Rooney),a very wealthy construction engineer, going to the school on Sabre island to learn how his son was killed four months after he learned about that; he had never known his son since his wife had divorced him and Conway had no visiting rights; still, he wants to learn how it happened. The school's head is the cold, dishonest Major Redfern Kelly ( a part perfect for Dan Duryea) a married man who is conducting an affair with the trashy secretary Jennie Evans' played by Terry Moore. The one who knows about how he was killed is the young Conway's ex-roommate Chip Hastings, (Warren Berlinger) a scared and lonely young orphan who is beaten and pummeled more than once because the cadets who beat him believe he shared with Steve Conway the truth about how the young Conway was killed. Despite three ways of trying to scare Conway off the island, ways which had no effect, even Major Kelly believes that Conway has to never leave the island.

Rooney practically never smiles, and handles well two ex-marines larger than he; it is after the altercation with the marines that Conway mentions that he was once a marine himself. Truly, the major does believe than this man is no force to be reckoned with.

In this movie Rooney is a tough ex-marine but is very caring toward the lonely Chip Hastings. The movie itself is now a favorite of mine.

Since this is an Albert Zugsmith quickie, it looks like it might have Schlock written all over it. And admittedly, the story doesn't exactly hold up. But it's told in an earnest, believable way, with a hard-working cast. Mickey Rooney elicits a lot of sympathy as a father who lost his son figuratively and then literally. You wonder why he wears a suit and tie even while rowing a boat, but what the heck, it was probably his suit and the only wardrobe he got on the film. The rest of the actors are solid, including the always reliable Dan Duryea. Director Charles Haas knows how to set up a scene and knows how to let the actors tell the story. It's not bad.

The idea behind "Platinum High School" is a good one and has been done very well in films such as "Bad Day at Black Rock". But the cheesy special effects and ending really sink the story.

Steven Conway (Mickey Rooney) has come to see the folks at a very expensive and exclusive military school. Why? You learn that his son attended this school...and died. And so, not surprisingly, Conway has come for some answers. But for his trouble, he's nearly killed many times...and you realize he's never going to be allowed to leave the island school.

The film is incredibly tense and interesting much of the time. But the ending featured a ton of rear projection and cheesy special effects....to the point where it's almost laughable. Additionally, seeing Mickey Rooney fight like he did in the movie and a few other plot elements just did a lot to make the movie a bit less enjoyable. Overall, not a bad film and not a bad idea...but poorly executed.