As directed by Stuart Heisler (The Glass Key) and produced by David E. Rose, this slick and glossy, Technicolor-drenched romantic melodrama stars two onetime screen heartthrobs, Linda Darnell and Tab Hunter. She's a nurse, Elizabeth Smythe, and he's a Marine corporal, Michael "Chicken" Dugan; the pair wind up stranded on a tropical isle following the explosion of a military ship in the Pacific. For some time, Michael and Elizabeth find themselves at odds, and spend lengthy periods quarreling, but romance eventually blossoms and the two fall in love. Unfortunately, that romance soon hits the rocks given the arrival of a third party on the isle, a gravely injured RAF pilot named William Peck (Donald Gray). Elizabeth nurses William back to health, and in the process, competition between the men for Elizabeth's affections grows overly fierce. This saga was originally released under the title Saturday Island but was also issued in some quarters as the more-alluring Island of Desire.
I first saw this movie when it came out in 1952 and for years have looked for it for my collection. It is sad that Hollywood has not tried to save this film and others like it. Tab Hunter was exciting to young women at that time because he was young and had a great body. Ms. Darnell was a sexy nurse that Tab (a young U. S. Marine) saves after their ship is torpedoed by the Japanese. They make it to a lush tropical island where a budding romance begins. The scenes are beautiful and so are the suggestive scenes of their attraction for each other. Their romance is interrupted when Mr. Laurie crashes his plane in the water off their island and is rescued by Tab. Darnell and Laurie are closer in age and their love grows. I loved this movie and hope that someday technology will allow the distribution on DVD this film.
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