User reviews

This is a wonderful, romantic drama. A navy pilot played by Van Johnson crashes in the Pacific not far from a make believe island named High Barbaree. June Allyson plays the childhood sweetheart. While the downed flier drifts in his crashed plane, he recounts his life story to his injured buddy. The cast is fleshed out by Thomas Mitchell, Marilyn Maxwell and Cameron Mitchell. A tale of true romance and love never ending. Just super!

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.

This film is good to see because you may follow some logics of the development of two children, a boy (Van Johnson) and a girl (June Allyson), but to me this is doubtful to happen. You may love a girl living together in the same site and house, but as a sister, to have other feelings seem to me difficult and strange. However, the film can be seen and it is certainly nice. Van Johnson acts as the eternal US navy officer, so many films and he is acting in one way or another as a military, while Allyson is as usual tender and nice. Good acting as usual from an underrated wonderful supporting actor as Thomas Mitchell.

I haven't seen this for decades, but I do remember it. The pilot, reminiscing to his shipmate, while downed on a tropical island, goes on and on about his past experiences, including his dream since childhood about an island paradise called High Barbaree.

On and on he goes, as one reviewer observed, slowly boring his companion to death. And the theme and throughout his ramblings, the subject of High Barbaree recurs.

SPOILER FOLLOWS: Toward the end of the film, a Polynesian native appears, and offers him entry to High Barbaree, but he realizes that he shouldn't go there then. Not if he wants to keep on living. For High Barbaree _is_ Paradise (as in Heaven).

It's a very slow film, but there have been far worse.

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.

This is truly awful stuff from MGM for two of its most popular stars during the forties--and even the presence of CAMERON MITCHELL in a supporting role--where he must listen and listen to VAN JOHNSON rambling on and on about his childhood past and his attachment to sweetheart JUNE ALLYSON, doesn't save the film from floundering in a sea of sentimental mush. Nor does the presence of THOMAS MITCHELL as Johnson's uncle help matters.

A plane crash has the two men (Johnson and Cameron Mitchell) sitting on a raft in the middle of the ocean awaiting uncertain rescue and much of the story is told in boring, sentimental flashbacks to the Navy flier's early life and subsequent romance. Johnson has long-winded monologues and all of them are dreadful to listen to. It's a wonder he and Allyson kept their box-office popularity as long as they did with flimsy material like this.

Even the good support from CAMERON MITCHELL and MARILYN MAXWELL doesn't help overcome the weak script, an odd blend of fantasy about an island called High Barbaree and idealized romance. Unfortunately, it doesn't work on any level at all, let alone as a vehicle for Van Johnson and June Allyson.

I remember seeing this movie when I was around 11, one rainy Saturday afternoon, with my father. It's stuck with me all these years (I'm 46 now) and I wish I could see it again! I could be romanticizing it a bit based on memory of days long past, but I remember it well enough to know that it WAS a great movie despite the tricks the years may have played on me. It was indeed an unusual mixture of adventure, romance and fantasy - but what makes it unusual also makes it unique and well worth watching. I know I turned it on originally because of the phrase 'World War II' that I spotted in the TV Guide - but the war really has little bearing on how the story plays out. If you happen to see it advertised on TV, be sure and watch it - I've been waiting for years now, and have only seen it listed once (but sadly I wasn't home at the time and couldn't see it).

Navy pilot Alec Brooke (Van Johnson) bids goodbye to his girlfriend Nancy Frazer (June Allyson) as he heads off for a bombing mission. Their longtime mentor friend Capt. Thad Vail (Thomas Mitchell) watches over them. Alec has to crash land his seaplane in the middle of the ocean. He tells the other survivor Lt. Joe Moore his lifelong love for Nancy.

The story has no surprise and is told mostly in flashbacks. For example, he does a crazy trick in his childhood and there is no tension at all. He's never in danger of dying. He could get injured or quit, but neither is that dangerous. All the flashbacks run on autopilot and exist without tension. As for the present day, the plane crash is not given much of a story. This is a drama without any drama.

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.

Van Johnson and June Allyson head a talented cast in this enchantingly dotty romantic fantasy about true love in peace and war. The romance begins when they're children, and the childhood scenes have some charmingly surreal moments, such as when the two run away to join the circus. Someone must have been reading Freud in his spare time when making this one. There are enough symbols, phallic and otherwise, to fill a fair-sized textbook. Director Jack Conway did an admirable job on the film, with beautifully composed shots which at times recall the best silent pictures. He had flair for investing what are, on the surface, mundane images,--a water tower, a tropical island--with a subliminal power rare in a Hollywood movie. Since much of the story is related in flashback, there's a slight but unmistakable distortion involved in what unfolds on the screen that makes the movie feel at times like a dream. There are strange, abrupt transitions,--a storm comes seemingly out of nowhere--that make the movie resonate in one's memory years after one has seen it. Corny as hell, this is in many respects a remarkable film.

I hope the following words do not turn some folks off on this truly good movie. It is a sweet movie! Want to get lost in something nice, get this movie, want to feel good about friendship and romance, get this movie. I usually say "the actors did their job and earned their pay," well they surely did in this one. With me, anything June Allyson did was super for me. With Mr. Johnson, I can say, I like just about all of the work he has done, that I have seen. Brigadoon, is one of my favorites with him. When the movie started they had me, and took me along with the story, and I am very glad they did. To all involved with this movie, thank you.

Love, innocence, and purity cast into a world gone mad. An eternal tale. Brilliant. Fortuitous in its timing. Simple and uncluttered. I happened upon this film while home during my freshman year in high school. Seems like an eternity ago. Have not seen it since. Not for want of trying but maybe some things are just not meant to be. I cannot find this film anywhere. 46 years old now and with plenty of scars of my own from this world of ours, I seem to recall the film at the oddest times. And in the heat of battle I'm not exactly sure it had me ducking or charging. But it always had me smiling. Frankly I'm not one to judge any film. Certainly High Barbaree tells of the greatest story one can tell. This particular film just seems to tell it unforgettably.

I first saw this film as a young child and then again as a teen. This is my favorite movie of all time. No sex, no violence, no obscenities, just a fantastic comedic-dramatic romance. Van Johnson and June Allyson probably never made a bad movie but this must be their best. Van is handsome, heroic and lovable as a pilot downed at sea reminiscing about his life and love. June is the girlfriend who refuses to believe her love is lost at sea and searches for him. Of course there is a happy ending. This show is not sappy or silly but I guess it would make a first class "chick flick". Guys, you cannot go wrong watching this with a lady. If you see this film I'm sure you'll agree it is as good as or better than other more famous movies. Don't miss this, you're guaranteed to feel good!

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.