Enchanted Island * (1958, Dana Andrews, Jane Powell, Don Dubbins) – Classic Movie Review 8881

‘He dared to love a cannibal princess!’

Director Allan Dwan’s colourful 1958 action adventure drama Enchanted Island is a cheap and none too cheerful version of Herman Melville’s less famous novel Typee, though it is quite nicely shot in Technicolor in Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico, by Jorge Stahl Jr [George Stahl].

A couple of 19th-century sailors heave overboard from a US whaler and hove up at a Polynesian paradise island, where they find unlikely blue-eyed local Fayaway (Jane Powell), a cannibal princess, and a gang of fine young cannibals.

One of the sailors, Abner ‘Ab’ Bedford, is played by Dana Andrews, and, because he gets top billing, gets the girl.

Also in the cast are Don Dubbins, Arthur Shields, Ted de Corsia, Friedrich von Ledebur [Friedrich Ledebur], Agustín Fernández, Les Hellman, Francisco Reiguera, Eddie Saenz, Paul Stader and Dale Van Sickel.

Enchanted Island is shot by Allan Dwan, runs 93 minutes, is made by Benedict Bogeaus Production [Waverly Production], is released by Warner Bros (1958) (US) and Exclusive Films (1958) (UK), is written by James Leicester and Harold Jacob Smith, based on Herman Melville’s novel Typee, is shot in Technicolor by Jorge Stahl Jr [George Stahl], is produced by Benedict Bogeaus, is scored by Raúl Lavista and is designed by Hal Wilson Cox.

It is one of the last films produced for distribution by RKO Radio Pictures, for an intended release in 1957. But by the time it was made, RKO had ceased production and distribution, and it was released by Warner Bros, though some prints open with the RKO Radio Pictures logo and some with the Warner Bros logo.

Jane Powell recalled it badly: ‘It was a terrible movie. It was really a fiasco. Dwan had no interest in it and Dana Andrews was drinking at the time. The best thing about it was that it gave the family a great vacation in Acapulco.’

Powell’s blue eyes are explained away by noting a Swedish sailor had once been on the Polynesian island.

Dwan previously made Slightly Scarlet (1956) and The River’s Edge (1957) for producer Benedict Bogeaus, and went on to make Most Dangerous Man Alive (1961).

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8881

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