Dead Man's Island

I hated this movie. The title and plot description may make it sound interesting, but believe me - it isn't.

The first scene sees our hero, Barbara Eden getting into a boat to go to the island, when an Indian man - who happens to be sat at the dock - tells her, "That was Dead Man's Island. And it will be again.", or words to that effect.

From then on, I could tell what sort of entertainment I was in for. The plot was completely unrealistic - in a bad way. Every cliche in the book was present here - I could predict every twist, including the ending, before it had happened.

To be frank - for a TV thriller - this film didn't thrill me at all. I don't know why Barbara Eden - a fine actress - ever agreed to do this. She probably did it in an attempt to rescue it, but unfortunately, she is beaten by the poor script and talentless cast members, (including William Shatner, who I used to think was talented).

Caught Dead Man's Island on ITV in the UK recently and was completely bowled over by how stupendously bad it was. It was brilliant! What a cast -- Barbara Eden! William Shatner! Morgan Fairchild! Traci Lords!!!! Don (not Donny) Most!!! Christopher Atkins! Olivia Hussey! (poor thing) Malcom McDowell!! (Wasn't Rosie Grier available?) The writing and the acting were cringe-inducing from the start.

Overflowing with cliches -- the tough but genteel Southern journo-cum-investigator (that would be Barb Eden, playing Henrietta O'something -- better known as Henry O.), the wealthy industrialist (that would be Shatner as Chase Prescott), the secluded island cursed by Indian legend. I'm not making this up!

Best of all was Barbara Eden's outrageous lime green poly-blend pantsuit she wore as she interrogated the others about their whereabouts when the shots rang out that nearly killed Chase Prescott. Barbara, honey, you look positively Boca Ra

I enjoyed every minute of this, sure there were cliches, but who cares. The only thing which would have improved it is if (Henri O')Barbara Eden was in danger instead of Chase (Shatner).That would have increased the suspense. Also she should have worn a pink, purple or orchid pant suit instead of green, which would have suited other hypercritical viewers better but that is just an unimportant preference. I felt there was a lot of mystery as to who was trying to kill Chase (Shatner). He wasn't especially likeable. Mystery, suspense, surprise, all the good ingredients for a good movie. Would make any normal viewer happy.

A fine movie with a rather unusual plot. William Shatner who plays Chase Prescott , a man with a business empire is very well cast. Barbara Eden as his designated detective is excellent and very convincing. It seems that everyone on the island except Barbara Eden (Henri O) is suspected of trying to murder him. Many mysterious occurrences makes the viewer wonder what is going to happen next. Henri O (Barbara Eden) as the detective is also in great jeopardy. William Shatner and especially Barbara Eden are very convincing. As in all her movies Barbara is always in control and courageous.

I knew nothing about "Dead Man's Island" when I started watching it, other than the casting of Barbara Eden and William Shatner (whose famous shows aired during the same years on NBC in the '60s), and the setting on an island. As it progressed I noticed a little similarity between the movie and Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None". In the end the movie turned out to be OK, not great. What caught my eye throughout the movie was that Eden's reporter stood out from the rest of the characters: most of them wear neutral colors most of the time, but she almost always wears bright colors, as though she's an anomaly in this group.

What I mainly say about the movie is that the casting of Barbara Eden, William Shatner, Roddy McDowall, Olivia Hussey and Don Most means that a beautiful genie meets a captain traveling through space meets an intelligent ape meets drama's most famous lover meets a 1950s goof-ball.