5/5 E N G R O S S I N G....S T I L L -- R E L E V A N T.....H I S T O R Y....L E S S O N.
  by Patricia (Queens, New York, USA)
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





3/5 It's Freddie Young's impressive Cinemascope photography of the tropical paradise that really dominates the film...
  by Roberto Frangie (Leon, Gto. Mexico)
At the center is Santa Marta, an imaginary small island in the British West Indies... Leading the story is David Boyeur (HarryBelafonte), a homegrown revolutionary, whose skin is his country... But the issue here is not just one of color... The issue here is who is really best fit to represent the people in the colorful island? Who knows them the best? Who feels for them the most? Who's really a part of them? On the other hand, one of the other important fights, for Boyeur, is against tradition as Santa Marta shackles with traditions...

Sizzling around the edges is Mavis Norman (Joan Fontaine) who happens to be in love with this charismatic leader... Mavis Norman feels that he is superior to most men...

As a public figure, there is Maxwell Fleury (James Mason) who seeks the election to revenge himself upon the whites whom he now thinks despise him... Fleury is ready to use the black people so that he can still rule in that world that he still belongs to...

Delving into his personal life, we see him jealous of Hilary Carson (Michael Rennie), the gentlemanly English drifter... Fleury envies him because he thinks that his wife (Patricia Owens) is attracted to him... Blind by love, he thinks that his wife had fall in love with Carson who is better suited to her...

There is also Euan Templeton (Stephen Boyd), the governor's son, who wants to be married before he goes back to England... His fiancé, Jocelyn Fleury (Joan Collins), is the most difficult person to get a wedding ring on for some powerful reason... Caught in a tangle of rumors, she comes out to her mother (Diana Wynyard) who placates her by revealing a secret of her own...

There's also the governor's aide Denis Archer (John Justin) who thinks that there's always a point at the beginning of a love affair where a man can draw back, where he's still safe... His love interest Margot Seaton (Dorothy Dandridge) delivers some of the film's best moments...

And let us not forget the police inspector John Williams--in a really outstanding performance--who easily identifies an unpremeditated murder... Colonel Whittingham considers the murderer not strong enough to bear the burden of his guilt... But to tell you more would be to reveal too much too soon...

Robert Rossen manages a few winningly odd performances from Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, and John Williams whose presence give the film some strong dramatic qualities...

3/5 Not what it could have been
  by Kona (Emerald City)
On an island in the West Indies, four couples struggle to find happiness, with varying results. Plantation owner Maxwell Fleury (James Mason) fears his wife is unfaithful to him, his sister (Joan Collins) falls for a young British nobleman but carries a dangerous secret, his sister-in-law (Joan Fontaine) falls for a political organizer (Harry Belafonte), and a store clerk (Dorothy Dandridge) has an affair with a British officer.

This movie deals with two inter-racial romances and was quite controversial in 1957. It tried to be daring and ground-breaking, but any semblance of inter-racial affection was censored out, resulting in a shallow, uninvolving melodrama. It moves too quickly from couple to couple in order to serve the large cast, and the result is that none of the plot lines is developed and all are fairly incoherent. Mason overacts but at least is interesting and Dandridge is beautiful, but Fontaine is totally miscast and Belafonte remains an enigma.

This is a noble effort that suffers from a poor script, terrible editing, and the worst fault that can befall a movie - it's boring. On the plus side, the Extras include a very good biography of Dorothy Dandrige.

3/5 Island In The Sun
  by Ms. 90 (Maryland)
This is a movie about relationships - interracial, parental, romantic - set in the beauty of the Caribbean. The visuals in this film are just spectacular. Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge are sparingly used; Dandridge's character is never really explored. I enjoyed watching this film although all of the relationships were not clearly developed. The story moved along at a good pace and the ending left me quite satisfied. I found it amusing that with all of the passion that Dandridge had for her paramour, they weren't allowed to kiss. Glad to have this in my collection.

4/5 A place like this can hide many things!
  by Jenny J.J.I. (That Lives in Northern Nevada)
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.