|
"No
Man is an Island"
|
 |
Reviewed
by: |
Wayne A. Klein |
| Genre: |
Action |
| Video: |
1.85:1 anamorphic
widescreen |
| Audio: |
Dolby Digital
Surround 2.0 (mono) |
| Languages |
English |
| Subtitles |
English,
Spanish, French |
| Length |
114 minutes
|
| Rating |
NR |
| Release Date |
5/25/04 |
| Studio |
Universal
Home Video |
| Commentary:
|
None |
| Documentaries:
|
None |
| Featurettes:
|
None |
| Filmography/Biography:
|
None |
|
Interviews: |
None |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
None |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
None |
| Music
Video: |
None |
| Other:
|
None |
| Cast
and Crew: |
Jeffrey Hunter,
Marshall Thompson, Barbara Perez, Ronald Remy, Paul Edwards,
Jr., Rolf Bayer, Vincente Liwanag |
| Written
By: |
Richard Goldstone
and John Monks Jr. |
| Produced
By: |
Richard Goldstone
and John Monks Jr. |
| Directed
By: |
Richard Goldstone
and John Monks Jr. |
| Music:
|
Restie Umali
|
| The
Review: |
Loosely based on a true story, "Island"
features Jeffrey Hunter as George Tweed the only free survivor
on Guam after the Japanese invade the island. The film chronicles
his fight to evade the Japanese and stay alive on the island
until US troops can rescue him or he can escape. Tweed survives
only because of the friendly natives that shield him from
the enemy. Hunter's stirring performance continues to prove
that this leading man was an underrated actor who could have
offered so much more. His sharp, nicely played performance
and that of the supporting cast lends an air of credibility
to an incredible tale. While the film strays significantly
from the true story of Tweed, it remains an exciting and thought
provoking film. What's surprising is that even while Hollywood
practice bigotry that they recognized how wrong it was. The
message of tolerance of the natives is surprisingly ahead
of its time. ***
The writing/producing/directing
team of Richard Goldstone and John Monks Jr. create a mini-epic
on what is clearly a limited budget. The production design
and location photography help make "Island" a memorable film.
While Goldstone and Monks made a number of motion pictures,
they never achieved anything quite so memorable as "Island"
again in their career. Both were veteran producers and/or
writers-directors of a number memorable minor classics during
the 40's and 50's. "Island" became something of a last hurrah
for them in the motion picture industry. ---
|
| Image
and Sound: |
The vivid
Eastmancolor look of the film has been faithfully reproduced
for this classic war film. There's little in the way of compression
or transfer errors. This appears to be the first time that "Island"
has been released on home video in its original widescreen aspect
ratio (the dimension of the picture measured vertically and
horizontally). Luckily for those with HDTVs and widescreen TVs
it appears the film received a deluxe anamorphic transfer insuring
that the picture quality will remain high on these sets as well.
Nothing much has been done about the sound but it appears to
faithfully reproduce the mono soundtrack very well without any
noticeable flaws. |
| The
Extras: |
No extras
were provided here although a vintage newsreel from the 40's
featuring Tweed or interviews with him might have been useful.
Director/writer/producer Goldstone is still alive (as of this
writing) but its unknown if he was approached to do a brief
featurette. Given his advanced age (he's 92), it's also unclear
whether or not he might have been able to a featurette. It would
have been interesting to provide a brief background on the real
Tweed, perhaps biographical information on the late Jeffrey
Hunter (who also played Christ in "King of Kings" and was the
original captain in the first pilot for "Star Trek") and background
on the real event vs. the filmed version. During this time,
Hollywood would usually take a considerable amount of liberty
with any "true" story when it transferred it to the screen so
it doesn't surprise me how inaccurate the film is compared to
Tweed's real experience. --- |
| Commentary:
|
A film historian
or someone familiar with the war film genre could have provided
a fascinating commentary track. It appears that most of the
budget for producing this DVD went into the transfer. I'd rather
have a sharp transfer than extras or commentary. --- |
| Final
Words: |
A nicely
detailed and sharp looking transfer of this minor classic makes
it worthwhile to pick up for fans of these types of films. The
budget price for the DVD also makes it an inexpensive purchase
for Dad for Father's Day (or birthdays). While extras might
have been nice, I'm sure fans will be happy to have this available
on DVD. |
