Island of Desire

Great old classic

Island of Desire stars Linda Darnell (who was part Cherokee), one of the most breath-takingly beautiful actresses to ever grace the screen and one of the most underrated actresses of all time. The film focuses one nurse (Linda) and one U.S. sailor (Tab Hunter) who are shipwrecked in an island in the Pacific during World War II. They are later joined by a downed British flyer. A rivalry soon ensues between the two men for the affections of the nurse. A sensitive and human drama develops by the three people. Linda gives a heart-felt and moving performance caught between the affections of the two men and her own human needs. Tab Hunter (who was only in his early twenties) gives perhaps his best performance in his career, in love with a women who is at least 15 years older. British actor Donald Gray, as the downed flyers is also excellent. The film was directed by Stuart Heisler (i.e. The Glass Key, Smash-Up, etc.); and the stunning cinematography by the Oscar-nominated Oswald Morris, a highly decorated RAF pilot during World War II.LInda Darnell is a treat for the eyes and the heart.

Linda Darnell and Tab Hunter play two survivors of a ship that sinks in the ocean and wind up on a deserted island together.Linda Darnell is beautiful,as usual, in this movie and it was Tab Hundter's first movie and he does very well. Acting of all of the three main characters is very well played and the scenes of love between Linda & Tab and the subsequent triangle when a downed pilot lands on the island, are all done tastefully unlike today's movies.The resolution and color are beautiful and the sound is very good too. It is a nice wholesome movie and can be watched by the entire family and it has a nice ending.The only thing in the movie that I questioned was Tab Hunter's character's ability to build so many huts in so little time and Linda making beautiful outfits, one dyed red, from a loon and threads made from within the bark of some native plants. But, it isn't distracting and makes for a nice story.I highly recommend the purchase of this movie. It is certainly worth the cost which is not expensive.I received the disk well packaged and in a short period after ordering it. I am glad that this movie was so greatly copied on to a dvd. I am in my sixties and had never seen it before even though, when I was young, my parents, who were movie buffs, took my sisters and me to most movies that played in the late forties & fifties until we were old enough to go on our own.Buy it if you liked the late Linda Darnell or like Tab Hunter and you won't be sorry. It is a nice relaxing movie that is not dull or boring and moves along at a nice pace.

As a child when seeing this 'desert island' film on B&W TV, I could only dream of having that experience, myself. I've waited many years for the current grade A DVD transfer, and it is finally here, thanks to KIT-PARKER-FILMS and VCI Entertainment distributor. Linda Darnell was a beautiful TX gal, and having met her sister, Undine, I mentioned this film as a favorite. Ron Davis wrote a terrific biography of Linda, a most desireable woman who wouldn't play the Hollywood casting couch game, so her career was made to suffer. She still triumphed over the studio heads showing her grit before her tragic end as a fire victim. As for Tab Hunter, a dreamboat blond Adonis of that or any era, who went on to become a mature and handsome man with much improved acting skills well-exhibited soon after in "Battle Cry" and a few years later in "Damn Yankees" is the perfect protagonist for this, his first film. Mr. Hunter (his Studio name), whom I met in Hollywood, remains a classy gentleman who learned and got much out of life, as displayed in his autobiography. He is perhaps one of the most genuine people Hollywood ever produced. The new transfer reveals a beautifull Technicolor film, though a more innocent Hollywood product than the overstuffed, overproduced, pretentious fantasy film products of today. Perhaps that, along with it's stars, recommends the film more than anything else. Donald Gray, the one-armed actor who played Mark Saber, P.I. on British TV, plays a downed pilot on this "Island of Desire" aka "Saturday Island" who creates the third party in this eternal love triangle. I thank David Rose for producing, Stuart Heisler for directing and Stephanie Nordli for scripting the original film.

Granted it’s very campy especially the clothing being made out of beating a type of palm against a tree to make beautiful costumes. Take away the “camp” and the “first 20 minutes” and you get a very touching movie about the love between a handsome young man and a older lady. I really enjoyed this film and was Tab Hunter’s first film. It’s enjoyable and nothing more. Film today sucks. There is nothing great about most films made in the past 20 years. Film should entertain. We live with realism every day of our life. The last thing I want is to watch a movie and read about the same thing going on in our world. This film is innocent and fun. Hope this helps.

Shipwrecked on an uninhabited South Seas atoll, a Canadian nurse (Linda Darnell) and a young Marine (Tab Hunter) initially clash, but as the weeks turn into months, begin to see each other through different eyes and give in to their natural impulses. But when an RAF flyer (Donald Gray) crashes on the island, the tropical love story is complicated by that familiar bit of romantic geometry, the Eternal Triangle. Made in 1952, let me first say, what a handsome man Tab was. Linda was pretty gorgeous too. I loved the story and I loved how Tab was so much younger and Linda some older. The scenery was gorgeous, too. Why 4 stars and not 5. Well, 2 things really, no one would take Donald Gray over Tab Hunter! Ever! The second, Tab seems to be able to build anything from bamboo, we had a fully furnished home, plates, tables, chairs, you name it! Really!

In his recent autobiography Tab Hunter rather denigrates his performance in this, his first starring role and certainly the critics weren't particularly kind to him, but, even disallowing the fact that he'd had precious little acting experience when he made the film and seems to have been chosen for the part mainly because of his good looks, it must be admitted that he makes a surprisingly good impression alongside his experienced co-star, Linda Darnell. The glamorous pair successfully carry off the bulk of the film with no co-stars in attendance other than a few wild pigs, crabs, lizards, a shark and a human skeleton.The film , as you might expect, is pure hokum; it's never explained, for example, how, with the limited resources available on the desert island on which they were shipwrecked, the lovely Linda manages to create her elaborate, haute couture costumes, several of which are topped by some fancy matching snoods in which she binds her lustrous, luscious locks. Nor are we shown by what means Tab keeps himself so perfectly clean-shaven. Still, I found this a rather endearing film in its silly way, my four star rating reflecting my enjoyment of it rather than the film's intrinsic quality.There are quite a few familiar English faces to be seen in the opening scenes of the film trying to "do" an American accent, including Peter Butterworth of later "Carry On" fame. 50s American songstress Diana Decker also puts in a brief appearance and the background score is by the distinguished English composer William Alwyn.

SASTIFIED

love linda darnell

Interesting and colorful but too bad about 20 minutes was cut. Prudish censors even today!!!Where are we, Iran????