Island in the Sun
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Movie Reviews of Island in the Sun
Movie Review: Island in the Sun
Summary: 5 Stars
A Review of Island in the Sun
By: Noran L. Moffett
In an era for which the racial hegemony was challenged by the liberation struggles of the formerly enslaved Africans, the complex circumstances of life, love and legalities were centrifugal in the movie.
In the initial scenes of the movie, the primary characters surfaced on the screen with tacit commentary and documented tension over social, political and economic life forces, love choices and legal limits.
For the viewer of Island in the Sun, the social dynamics of racial taboos over love choices were confounding the characters who were engaged in legal and social polemics. Yet, the movie rapidly explores the dynamic political leadership of the African and Multiracial majority against the established socially, politically and economically powerful European minority.
The movie ends with the emergence of the true love for the political realities facing the Afro Caribbean population by the Afro Caribbean leader (played by Harry Belafonte) over the obvious passion for him by the Euro Caribbean woman. As a result of the movies multifaceted mood, tenor and tone, the viewer can recognize historical evolution and the introduction of interracial romantic revolution.
Movie Review: Island in the sun
Summary: 5 Stars
Had the VHS...But the DVD. is a great improvement with many on screen features, shows great too...like it a lot...You done know the story is moving and good to go...Sweet sweet Grenada, Isle of spice...Island in the Sun...God bless!!...Love you... :))Movie Review: A place like this can hide many things!
Summary: 4 Stars
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.
Movie Review: Well-regarded
Summary: 4 Stars
Even as a youngster I found this movie melodramatic but not any-the-less involving on issues regarding prejudice and racial matters. That the politics and the romantic liasons were less than stimulating, the homicide investigation and the exchanges involving James Mason and the inspector (John Williams, from 'Dial M for Murder') were entertaining enough to be recalled still.
Who's to tell what influence studio boss Zanuck - and director Rossen, given his political convictions - did not contribute with 'Island in the Sun' to motion pictures that followed? The studio could have - for whatever reason Zanuck mistakenly might have seen fit - reconsidered and chosen to tame the original story, even against Rossen's objections. Elia Kazan's 'Gentlemen's Agreement' and Otto Premiger's 'Advise and Consent' also seem less than riveting today than they did at the time, but courageous enough they were. 'To Kill a Mockingbird' was not too far away in the future but it took literary criticism of a book to make the proposition socially credible. Director Abraham Polonsky's 'Tell Them Willie Boy is Here' (1969) was disparaged and still does not rate DVD restoration. Even today there is the occasional circumspect production or the forced manipulation of audience response. At any rate, credit is due each of these movies, 'Island in the Sun,' included.
Movie Review: It's Freddie Young's impressive Cinemascope photography of the tropical paradise that really dominates the film...
Summary: 3 Stars
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...
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