Customer Reviews

Island in the Sun

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After many years of trying to finally catch this one on "the telly", I recently was afforded the opportunity. As a "period piece" and "social commentary", the film works fairly well. One most realize that miscegenation was still a taboo in the 50's when this film was made; thus, it was considered a violation of "the natural order of things" in much of the Deep South. While the "romance" between Dorothy Dandridge ("Margot Seaton") and John Justin ("David Archer") was displayed, all that Harry Belafonte ("David Boyeur") and Joan Fontaine ("Mavis Norman") could muster were some occasional glances and a verbal exchange about the pros and cons of interracial relations.

In light of the controversy surrounding the recent "Monster's Ball", we may not have matured as much as we think.

Many of the other roles are filled by those that were under contract to Twentieth Century-Fox, the releasing company: Joan Collins (Jocelyn Fluery"), previously seen in "Land of the Pharoahs", Michael Rennie ("Hilary Carson"), earlier featured in "The Robe" and the classic "The Day the Earth Stood Still", and Patricia Owens ("Sylvia Fluery")from"The Fly".

Even James Mason ("Maxwell Fluery") had been featured in the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz vehicle for Fox "Forever, Darling".

Future "Ben-Hur" villain Stephen Boyd ("Euan Templeton") is on hand as the romantic interest for Collins.

While the acting is equal to the talented cast, it is character veteran John Williams that steals the show. As "Colonel Whittingham", the police investigator of a character's demise, he seems as a precursor to television's "Columbo". Crafty, witty, and verbally adept, his "flatfoot" is not one's typical cop.

In all, the film is enjoyable, not only for the performances but for the lush scenery and the glimpse at how movies "dared" to do something different in the 50's.

I loved watching Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge getting a chance to act in this film. [instead of being a deletable sequence] It has intrigue, suspence, scandal, mistrust, lies, murder and romance. The romance however is lacking. Simply because Hollywood didn't want to offend by showing interrical couples [D.D. & John Justin, H.B & Joan Fontaine kissing.] So at crucial points in the film it seems strained, fake and a little silly. But, Nevertheless you get to see a colorful splice of life portrayed by some of Hollywoods greatest legends.

"Island in the Sun" is a beautiful film that was partially filmed in Barbados. It includes scenes of the sugar mill where my mother played as a child, which is now owned by my aunt, Shirley King, who, at present, is Secretary to the country's Prime Minister, Owen Arthur, and it gives the viewer a splendid shot of the beach where my parents walked with my older sister and me when I was a toddler.
The interracial romances may have raised a few eyebrows at the time, and I am all too familiar with life in the state that banned this film upon its original release. The majority of Americans probably couldn't relate to an educated Black populace
struggling for its independance, or shouting down the orations of a white politician they didn't trust, as was played by James Mason. But the charismatic character, David, played by a strapping Harry Belafonte, is typical of many Blacks in the Carribean. What Americans often fail to appreciate is the fact that the slaves of the Carribean were freed and educated sooner than they were in the United States, and that few who understand the culture of most Carribean Islands would bat an eyelash at the thought of their being in positions of leadership.This film was made to entertain an America that still had a long way to as far as improvement in race relations was concerned. Consequently, Dorothy Dandridge's Margot could not kiss her White lover.
But in showing the corruption of the White establishment, exemplified by Joan Collins, James Mason, et. al, we see the justification for the fight for the full citizenship of the Blacks of the island. Joan Fontaine is Harry Belafonte's love interest who is sympathetic to his plight, but still condescending towards the people he represents. Ultimately David sacrifices their relationship to appease those who would consider him a sell-out if he married a White woman while fighting on behalf of Blacks. Dorothy Dandridge, who is free of similar preasures, although not free of criticism, marries the man she loves.
This is a terrific presentation, filled with beautiful tropical scenery, and multiple tales about jealousy, murder,bigotry, scandalous behavior, sacrifice, of the rising status of some, and the declining status of others.It is also a tale of finding one's proper place in life, and remaining true to oneself.--A great movie! One of the best of 1957!

Island in the Sun makes you wish you where on the that Island. What can I say, Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, and Joan Collins were youngest and most attractive in this movie. This movie displays interacial relationships, pre-marital sex, marital affairs, and even murder. There's so many scandals going on in this movie you can hardly keep with all of them. The movie ending is so peaceful....almost like it started.....with a view of the Island.....It's a must see!

This movie exemplifies the racial paranoia of the 1950's. Dandridge and her white lover were even not allowed to kiss in their romantic scenes. In fact, John Justin could say "in love" (not "I love you") only after persistent pressure from Dandridge, who looks totally lost in the summer cottage after he professes his love. In an awkward moment of indecision Dorothy quickly puts on a record then abruptly brushes her cheek against his face when they should be kissing hard.

Dandridge was very angry because her character had not been developed beyond the "cute dumb chick" roles she was trying to avoid, according to Donald Bogle's bio.

The older matronly Fontaine and fiery young Belafonte are totally mismatched. Instead of acually touching they just stand around looking thoroughly confused and misdirected.

Collins' "black blood" dilemna is laughable (pure soap), but at least she is allowed to kiss (and screw!) her husband to be.

Only Mason gives a believable - and exceptional - performance.

This film is racist Hollywood at its best, trying to be daring, but utterly failing.

I saw "Island in the Sun" when it was released in 1957 and bought this video only because it offers one of few opportunties to see the ravishing Dandridge perform during an era when Hollywood had no place for a dramatic Black actress.

I had the chance to watch this film last night and even though "Island in the Sun" was produced in 1957 it should be recognized as indisputable breakthrough! There have been plenty of movies like this, but keep in mind that interracial relationships were political detonate at the time - and yet some of the film's observations remain upsetting even today.

In this film the wealthy whites are ridicule here once again, lording their money-driven power over the black Caribbean field workers in this timely but talky issue-film. Belafonte also stars here as a native son on the fictional West Indies island of Santa Marta who wants to wrestle control of the government from the ruling white British regime, here embodied by political candidate James Mason (who harbors a deep, dark secret of his own -- pun completely intended). Joan Fontaine essays a white woman who happens to be in love with Harry; Dorothy Dandridge plays a local girl in love with a white man (John Justin); and Joan Collins portrays Mason's sister, trying to get English lord Stephen Boyd to fall for her.

The location (Barbados/Grenada) of this film was just beautiful, and so is Harry Belafonte's voice, singing Jamaican songs at sunset. His relationship with Joan Fontaine is fantastic--if not especially romantic. The love story sidebars are soapy but not dull and they give the film what passion it has. Personally what I really wanted to see was more of Belafonte. He was at a peak here, and since he didn't get to use his own singing voice in "Carmen Jones", this is a great chance to watch and hear him perform unfettered.

I also recommend is "Stormy Weather" because it is a important piece of history, being one of Hollywood's first pictures to star an entirely African-American cast. Though some racial stereotyping is on-hand here and there.

This was a very unique movie for Hollywood in the 1950s because it explored interracial relationships from both a political as well as romantic perspective. No doubt, it made audiences extremely uncomfortable.

The cast is very strong (with Dorothy Dandridge, Joan Fontaine, John Williams and James Mason--who never disappoints,) and the storyline both intriguing and unpredictable. Harry Belafonte portrays a proud, outspoken labor leader who fights racial injustice on a British Caribbean island, but this is only a secondary plot line. The "forbidden fruit" of interracial relationships is explored from several different perspectives, giving this movie an important place in the history of American Cinema. Although racism and class-ism are common elements, the characters are empathetically portrayed. This movie was released in Jim Crow America and, younger viewers may not fully appreciate its' unique portrayal of Blacks in non-subservient roles. Blacks were typically cast as inarticulate maids and butlers, but Dorothy Dandridge (nominated as Best Actress for Carmen Jones in 1954) and Harry Belafonte (a top ten pop singer) were particularly stunning and sophisticated, an anomaly for Black actors in films roles at the time. Nevertheless, Belafonte's acting is often stilted, revealing that this was an early role while Dandridge's character lacks depth--though her acting superb, given that she has been given so little with which to work.

An important side note is that Harry Belafonte was a top-selling West Indian Calyso singer (Day-0-The Banana Boat Song) at the time that this movie was released and performed the title song. In addition to making a strong political statement about the need for racial justice--via his character in this film--he also was a high-profile figure within the Civil Rights Movement, marching with the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King.

Set on a fictional West Indian island under British rule, Island in the Sun has all the elements to be a great 1950s soap opera: exotic locations, all-star cast, jealousy, angst-ridden male protagonists, racial tensions, sex, interracial desires, political intrigue, murder. What a great movie someone like Douglas Sirk (Written on the Wind, the 1959 Imitation of Life) would have made with the same cast, location and storylines!

Unfortunately, producer Zanuck and director Rossen spend more time showing off the West Indian locations than developing the characters and speeding the pace so that we can keep up with the different storylines. By the time you get back to some of the characters, youve lost interest or forgotten what happened the last time we saw them. Of the all-star cast, only James Mason (as the angst-ridden male) and Harry Belafonte (as the angry black man) get to have showy scenes and make an impression. Joan Fontaine (as a wealthy woman who falls for Belafonte) and Dorothy Dandridge (as a sassy West Indian who falls for a white man) are criminally wasted in this film. Even though their storylines got the most publicity (the interracial romances) when the film was released, all the two actresses are made to do is look good (which they do) in their costumes. Joan Collins is just okay as James Mason's sister and Diana Wynyard has one good scene as their mother.

Overall, the most interesting aspect of the movie, and the only reason worth watching it nowadays, is the 1950s Hollywood depiction of interracial romance, although there were so many compromises made that none of the two couples really seem to have much sexual chemistry or desire for each other.

The film's Cinemascope location shots look great on the DVD transfer and the DVD also features the Biography episode on Dorothy Dandridge. (I skipped the commentary track.)

I don't want to rehash what the other reviewers have all said about the beautiful scenery and the plot. I just want to touch on a few things that I felt touched me personally.
"The Color Problem" was the theme of the newspaper article that revealed the "Negro" ancestry of plantation owner Maxwell Fleury(James Mason) who was the political rival of David Boyeur(Harry Belafonte).I gave the film 4 stars for the bravery they exibited in broaching the subject in 1957. This was filmed in the heat of the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin L. King was just getting started. I agree with "Red lips Raven hair" though that with trying to address so many themes they wound up not giving either the depth it deserved. Ferris State University's "Jim Crow Musem" (...)Lists this film as being the first to display a Black woman(Dorothy Dandridge) being held--lovingly-- in the arms of a White man in an American movie. Her character was also afforded the ability to fall in love and to leave the island with White man on a love plane to England where they would live happily ever after. Meanwhile Harry Belafonte's character was forced to deny the love that had developed between him and yond white woman(Joan Fontaine) in order to be a respected leader of the island people. Although dating apparently caused no problems. "If I married you my people would feel I betrayed them". In actually I think this is the only ending that Hollywood could swallow at the time.

The thing that gets me though is almost fifty years later things are not much different, albeit in many ways interracial relationships are at least tolerated by both races, but still not equal to same race marriages. As a Black male who has dated white women I can attest to the alienated treatment received by some from both races. Some of the same People who embrace and give their blessings to interracial relationships where the woman is Black, scorn the relationships with Black men. This 2005 attitude parallels this 1957 film.

I eventually married a Beautiful Black woman who I love and adore. Though I must admitt that I was very disappointed in myself for not having the guts and internal fortitude to fight the social pressures and stand up for the beautiful love I had before her with a woman who happened to be White.

My hat's off to these brave actors and film makers for approaching such a radical subject for its time. I also applaud all the interratial couples out there who are genuinely in love. Inspite the social pressures they are giving their love a chance. Bravo and God Bless you. If no one else is happy for you remember that I am. Hopefully in time this will be a non-issue.

I had long wanted to see this movie -- but somehow, never got
around to it till just this last week, when it was showing on
cable-TV. (Upon seening the very last scene, I remembered I
had seen just that -- ONLY the very last scene -- a few years
back....)

But this time, I saw the entire movie all the way through. It
might be construed by some as "not politically correct" -- and
so it would not be -- NOW. However, for the time in which it
was made, (release date: 1957), it was very "avant guarde"! It
is, I think, a movie which should be seen today by EVERYONE --
older people, to reflect upon just how much, (if at all) their
own attitudes towrds race and race relations have changed. And
younger people, too -- to see, "how it was then", in an engros-
sing, involving film, and also, to understand the views of
their own older friends and relations, (black and white, both),
and the situations and attitudes which, though not exactly
the same, still were pervasive at the time this movie was made,
and before then.

JAMES MASON plays a plantion-0wner, and son of a plantation-
owner. JOAN COLLINS, (younger, and even more beautiful than
ever she was on "DALLAS"), plays his sister. They are part of a
very small, very rich minority on a tropical island paradise,
ruled as a British colony. MICHAEL RENNIE is a member of an
exclusive, "Whites-Only" social club, to which James Mason's
character, and his father, belong. A friend of their's is
played by JOAN FONTAINE. HARRY BELAFONTE plays a rising young
black politician on the island -- a rarity in those days. Al-
though he is obviously better-educated, (an education earned
not just though hard studying, but by hard work to pay for
that education), and speaks English with greater ease and
vocabulary than most of the other black people in the movie,
you can tell he has definitely NOT forgotten his roots. He
has obviously educated himself not only to help himself get
up in the world -- but to bring up all the other black peole
in the island to a better standard of living, and to get more equality for them all. DOROTHY DANDRIDGE plays a lovely civil-
ian army secretary. And STEPHEN BOYD is a titled Englishman,
living with his father on their own plantation.

Joan Collins' and Stephen Boyd's characters soon begin to fall
in love. As do Dorothy Dandridge's character and a handsome,
(white) soldier. Joan Fontaine's character seems to have great admiration, and perhaps love, too, for Harry Belafonte's character.
.
Trouble ensues when it is revealed that Mr. Fleury, Sr., (James
Mason's and Joan Collin's character's father), has a black
person as an ancestor (!) The black person involved was his
grandmother -- who herself had both black AND white ancestry.
This makes Mr. Fleury, Sr. 1/16 black. But Joan Collins's
character is crest-fallen -- even though Stephen Boyd's
character says he loves her and wants to marry her, and even
Stephen Boyd's character's FATHER Ok's the wedding, Joan
Collins' character, (Ms. Fleury), cannot go through with it.
She imagines herself having black children, and how she, and
they, would be discriminated against in England. Though
she still loves Stephen Boyd's titled Englishman character,
she just cannot allow herself to go through with a marriage
to him.

Worse still happens when Jame's Mason's character is insulted
by Michael Rennie's character at the club. Hopefully, I am
not giving too much away, when I mention that an altercation
between the two of them leads to a police investigation, head-
ed by JOHN WILLIAMS, (who, in another film, plays AUDREY
HEPBURN's chauffeur father in "Sabrina", amongst many other
roles...)

How these tangled love affairs and the police investigation
proceed, fill up the remaining, exciting and engrossing scenes
of this film. Which couples will marry, and which will not?
And -- is Joan Collins' characters' mother telling the truth,
when she reveals her "secret"?

Happily or unhappily, each of the inter-twining love-stories
and the police investigation, reach a conclusion at the end.
Whether one agrees with all the outcomes or not, the viewer
must admit this is a well-done and engrossing movie, showing
attitudes as they were, when the movie was made....

...................................................

At the very end of this movie, my mind went to another movie,
mentioning "the sun": RAISIN IN THE SUN. In that movie, the
metaphor of the title told of a normal mostly loving
family, whose lives were always overshadowed by a tiny "raisin"
in the sun -- because they happened to be black. In the
movie here being reviewed, one wonders if its title "ISLAND
IN THE SUN", has a double-meaning, as well. Does racism
cut you off from much of the world that you might be enjoying?
Are you a lonely, "Island in the Sun"?

This is still a most relevant movie!

were influenced for the worse, b