Lost Lagoon

One of schlockmeister Milton Subotsky's earliest credits as a writer coincided with director John Rawlins' cinematic swan song on this quickie distributed by United Artists with a plot that rather resemble's 'Last Holiday'. Former fresh-faced thirties leading man Jeffrey Lynn looks frightfully middle-aged with a moustache gets very innocently involved with an innocent young maiden to the accompaniment of calypso music.

It's all rather twee and nearly everyone behaves with fifties propriety, and it's too bad the budget didn't run to colour. Also of interest is the presence of eighties soap opera regular Peter Donat looking shockingly young.

'Lost Lagoon' is a movie inextricably trapped in its own identity crisis. The quirky, sometimes banal calypso interludes: LIGHT COMEDY. The narrative, of an unhappily married middle aged man (Jeffrey Lynn) 'lost' at sea, clambering ashore on a remote island, having swallowed most of the ocean and finding love with a much younger woman (Leila Barry): FANTASY. The unwelcome arrival of a former boyfriend: LOVE TRIANGLE. The even more unwelcome arrival of the wife: er.... LOVE QUADRANGLE. A most unwelcome visit by the no stone left unturned, dog with a bone, insurance investigator: DRAMA.

'Lagoon' strives to be all of the above, but succeeds in being none of them. Curiously unfocused, unsatisfactorily flaccid and unconvincingly acted, it's little more than a featherweight ball of fluff. Somewhere along the way, 'Lost Lagoon' has lost its marbles.

"Lost Lagoon" is a must watch for fans of offbeat movies!

There are no evil people, just good people cast into very unusual situations. The movie reveals how they handle these unusual circumstances.

Interestingly, Leila Barry, who radiantly plays the love interest, is never seen again in another movie. She presents a strong screen presence that is coveted by producers.

Calypso/Reggae fans will appreciate the considerable music interludes as the Bahamian employees of the resort act as a greek chorus explaining the fate of their employers in their music.

I highly recommend this movie for 79 minutes of fine entertainment.

Made around the time when Calypso music was very popular, LOST LAGOON is a mixed bag of Caribbean romance and melodrama. Jeffrey Lynn plays a 40-something lawyer who is harried by the demands of an opportunistic wife and weighed down by financial problems, who is presumably lost at sea in a hurricane and seizes upon the chance to live a less hectic existence when shipwrecked on a small island near Bermuda. He is nursed back to health by the small island's population, including a lonely spinster (well played by Leila Barry). Unfortunately, the man's life insurance policy requires proof of death, which introduces a snooping insurance adjuster character (Peter Donat) looking for that proof. The authentic island and music atmosphere is countered by improbable dialog that deprives the story of the conviction it might have had.

Charlie Walker is a hard-working guy with a lot of responsibilities. But when he is washed overboard in a storm and washes up in the Bahamas, he realizes he hates his old life and disappears to a new life as a hotel manager with pretty, young Liz Moore. As they fall in love and the hotel becomes successful, life seems idyllic until the past intrudes.

The script is well done, the visuals are fine -- although there are a few more obvious set shots than I would like, and most of the performances are a little too one-note. Leila Barry as Liz Moore is monotonous in her line readings, Peter Donat is overwrought as her ex-fiancé, Janes Harley plays the wife in a hair-do and manner reminiscent of the Bride of Frankenstein and whichever fellow plays the insurance investigator gives an over-the-top performance of Shatnerian proportions. Mr. Lynn, however, gives such a fine performance, full of melancholy gravity, that he makes this a better-than-average effort.

The script is credited to Mr. Lynn and director John Rawlins, the latter of whom apparently is a better screenwriter than director. Still, it looks like it paid for a nice working vacation for the crew.