Get the original film, Ebb Tide (1937), and the remake, Adventure Island (1947), for 20% off their individual prices!

EBB TIDE (1937)

Starring Oskar Homolka, Frances Farmer, Ray Milland, Lloyd Nolan, Barry Fitzgerald

Directed by James P. Hogan



Print: black/white

Runtime: 94 min.

Genre: adventure

Print Quality: B



Technicolor is the main attraction of this overheated South Seas adventure. Ray Milland,

Akim Tamiroff and Barry Fitzgerald play three shifty sailors who commandeer a

smallpox-ridden boat and set out to sea. A typhoon washes them ashore on a faraway

Pacific island, which is ruled by a white religious fanatic (Lloyd Nolan) who has set himself

up as the local god. The three sailors anxiously await an opportunity to appropriate the

"god's" valuable stash of pearls and head for the mainland. Only one of the sailors escapes

to tell his story; check out the cast list and guess which one survives. The third filmization of

Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osborne's novel, Ebb Tide is rough going until Lloyd Nolan

shows up to deliver the picture's best and subtlest performance.

ADVENTURE ISLAND (1947)

Starring Rory Calhoun, Rhonda Fleming, Paul Kelly, John Abbott, Alan Napier

Directed by Sam Newfield



Print: color

Runtime: 66 min.

Genre: adventure

Picture Quality: B



Rory Calhoun, Paul Kelly and John Abbot are beachcombers/semi-derelicts on an unnamed

but well-policed tropical island. Kelly, a sea captain in disgrace, is ordered to pilot a ship full

of champaigne to Sydney, that has been lying in the harbor since its captain and most of the

crew died of plague. He takes the other two along and plans on sailing elsewhere to sell the

cargo. After anchors aweigh, they discover that Rhonda Fleming, the daughter of the

deceased captain, is on board. This complicates matters, as does a fire on board, as does

the discovery that the champaigne cargo is really water. They arrive at an uncharted island

ruled by Alan Napier, a sophisticated British gentleman who is several cards short of

playing with a full deck. Crazy as a bedbug. More complications arise, such as snake pits

and acid-assassination attempts. Napier likes to keep his island tidy...something Sam

Newfield was unable to do with this film as the director. At PRC, he was used to Buster

Crabbe and "Fuzzy" St. John riding in and connecting the dots.