Sat 24 Mar 2007
ON THE ISLE OF SAMOA. Columbia, 1950. Jon Hall, Susan Cabot, Raymond Greenleaf, Al Kikume. Directed by William A. Berke.
Jon Hall made a career out of making movies (and television shows) taking place in jungles, deserts, and South Seas islands, and obviously this is one of them. Checking out his biography on IMDB, among other items of interest I learned that he was of Swiss/Tahitian descent, and that his mother was a Tahitian princess, and I believe that explains a lot.
And which makes a movie like this one right up his alley, except that as a B-movie it rated a sub-B budget and (as the old saying goes) it probably escaped rather than being released. Hall is also a villain, which is hard to take, given that I remember him most as the star (and hero) of Ramar of the Jungle on TV, episodes of which I believe are available on DVD. I’ve hesitated in picking them up, however, as I’ve been disappointed before in watching what was wonderful when I was ten or twelve and might not be quite so wonderful today.
As badly-tempered Kenneth Crandall in this short film, barely over 60 minutes long, he flees the successful burglary of a nightclub in Australia in a stolen plane, only to crash on an uncharted island during a hurricane (which was more likely a typhoon, if anyone had taken the time to check). The island is inhabited by beautiful women, strong men and one aged missionary (Raymond Greenleaf), who does his best to convince Crandall to renounce his evil ways. But even with the beautifully vacuous Moana (Susan Clarke) as a love interest, Crandall stays remarkably thuggish and unpersuaded.
The only suspense in this film is how long he will resist. To avoid giving away the ending, let me suggest to you that he may never see the error of his ways, and he dies before his heart (and mind) ever softens at all.
April 10th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
Dear Steve:
Just to tell you that I saw this movie when I was 8-10 years old (around 1955) and the scene of the typhoon/tsunami I never forgot…(the mind of a kid…keeps some facts forever..)
Some time ago (around 2004) I saw another picture: “The Hurricane” (in DVD) also with Jon Hall. It shows also a scene with typhoon/tsunami. This movie is older than “On the Island of Samoa”. May be of 30’s. But I think this one is in island of Tahiti.
Sincerely.
Carlos Adib, Brasil
>> “On the Island of Samoa” was obviously filmed on a very low budget. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the footage of the typhoon scene was taken from some other movie. If it happened to have been “The Hurricane,” wouldn’t that have been ironic?
I have been told, or I read somewhere, that the crash landing of Jon Hall’s plane on the island was taken from “Five Came Back” (1939). I suspect that all the various long distance group scenes of the native islanders feasting, diving and coming in from the sea in boats were also selectively chosen from other old films. Back in 1950, when I was about as old as you, things like this didn’t bother me much, and you’re right. It made movies like these into something special.
— Steve