Ebb Tide (1937) + Adventure Island (1947) DVD-R

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.