SOS Pacific

A small seaplane encounters trouble when it hits bad weather when it flies off from a small island in the pacific. The cockpit catches fire with faulty electrics, the radio does not work properly, the navigator dies because of the fumes emitted from the wrong type of fire extinguisher.

Running low on fuel the plane lands near a small deserted island. The passengers swim ashore only to realise they are in imminent danger as the island is a testing site for a nuclear bomb.

SOS Pacific is a British B disaster film with a motley flying crew of owner-pilot Jack Bennett (John Gregson) who unravels because he has cut corners. The disgruntled navigator Willy (Cec Linder) who hates his job. Pretty flight attendant Teresa (Pier Angeli.)

The six passengers include an old policeman who gets air sick, Petersen (Clifford Evans) carrying a prisoner Mark (Eddie Constantine) a tough sailor who is charged with smuggling. Whitey (Richard Attenborough) a small time snivelling crook who has snitched against Mark. Dr Strauss, a German scientist on his way to a teaching job, snooty Miss Shaw and Maria, a good time party girl.

It is all rather formulaic, we just know Petersen will be the only one to man up under pressure and the pretty ladies will fall for him. Whitey will buckle under pressure and become villainous. Not sure why the policeman put him and Mark on the same plane.

A plane full of people encounters trouble in flight and is forced down in the Pacific. Thankfully they are near an island or not, since the island is due to have an atom bomb test go off in a very short time and they have no way of letting anyone know that they are there.

It may sound corny and contrived but this film just works from start to finish. Once the film is underway you just are happy to have a film this involving to drag you along for the 90 minutes that this film takes to get to the conclusion.Why this film isn't better known is mystery since it has everything that a mystery should in spades and then some.

The cast is great, including Richard Attenborough who plays one of the screens great slime balls.Eddie Constantine makes great hero and makes you wonder why he never became a bigger star here in the United States.

Search this film out, you will enjoy it.

SOS Pacific is directed by Guy Green and adapted to screenplay by Robert Westerby from a story by Gilbert Travers Thomas and Bryan Forbes inputs additional dialogue and scenes. It stars Richard Attenborough, Pier Angeli, Eddie Constantine, John Gregson, Eva Bartok, Gunnar Möller, Clifford Evans, Jean Anderson, Harold Kasket and Cec Linder. Music is by Georges Auric and cinematography by Wilkie Cooper.

When a flying boat encounters mid-air troubles it has to emergency land near an island in the Pacific. Apparently uninhabited, the island, as the survivors are soon to find out, has something shocking in store for all.

A little British cracker, SOS Pacific might be out dated now with its big reveal of theme, but it's a perfect example of how to make a tight thriller on a modest budget. It's very much a film of two halves. The first half plays out as a disaster movie, here we are introduced to the folk who will ultimately make up the survivors on the island. It's a roll call of stock formula characters; a tough copper and his cheeky but hero-in-waiting prisoner, a good time girl, the weasel loose cannon who is also an informer, a prim and proper lady, a German physicist, the stoic and beautiful stewardess and the pilot with a drink problem! Familiar characters to a degree, but well blended and fleshed out by the astute Guy Green (A Patch of Blue) who deftly piles tension on top of tension with each passage of story.

After the back stories involve us we then get the mid-air dramatics and the surprise that's awaiting us all on the island. Once there the characters shift in tone, they have to for various reasons, and then we are treated to heroics, suspicions, sacrifices, fights, hysteria and a thrilling "ticking clock" type finale. Wilkie Cooper's (I See A Dark Stranger/Green For Danger) black and white photography accentuates the sweaty atmospheric mood, and Auric (The Innocents) scores it in 2 x 2 thriller/drama fashion. Cast performances are uniformly good, with the stand outs being Constantine who makes for a good Bondian type alpha male, Attenborough a telling slime-ball and the gorgeous Angeli as the pivotal lady of the piece.

Some of the dialogue is twee and the model work is not high grade stuff, while unlikely coincidences are evident throughout, but this is definitely worth seeking out by anyone interested in tight and taut British thrillers. 7.5/10

I saw this in a theater as a child. It was extremely memorable to the point that my brother and I would frequently bring it up and wonder what the name was. 50+ years later Google came to the rescue. I found a DVD available and snapped it up. YES! It was much as I remembered.

A better quality version would be much better since this was a grainy full frame affair. The story held up however.

Richard Attenborough is the big-name star of "SOS Pacific," and got the top billing for the film. And, which his character is particularly important for the plot, his role is about fourth or fifth in screen time. The main character and "hero" of this film is Mark Reisner, played by Eddie Constantine. And the female lead is Pier Angeli as Teresa.

This is an interesting film set somewhere in the Pacific Ocean but away from the Southern vacation and tourism islands. It's an interesting plot, and the only film I can think of that was made that had an aspect of the nuclear tests in the ocean. That's the best part of the film that take a considerable time to get to that point. But the buildup is necessary to give the audience the background on the characters. Unfortunately, that also seems quite slow after a while, and the early part doesn't have the better acting.

To say more about the plot would be to dampen the effect and enjoyment of this movie. It's worth seeing.