Isle of Forgotten Sins

Plot synopsis:
=== At the "Isle of Forgotten Sins" ===
Somewhere on one of the English-speaking South Sea Islands, at an indefinite present time, with no mention of the fact that it is the middle of World War II, Marge (Gale Sondergaard) is the proprietress of a nightclub/restaurant/gambling hall/brothel called "Isle of Forgotten Sins". In the morning, she knocks on the doors of the individual rooms of her sleeping hostesses, Olga (Betty Amann), Bobbie (Patti McCarty), Mimi (Marian Colby), and Christine (Tala Birell) announcing, "get up, the Southern Queen is here". Riding in a launch from the ship is an inspector from the "Criminal Investigation Bureau" who compares a fingerprint card with a photograph of "Betty Nelson" to one with a photo of a somewhat older "Marge Williams", shows it to the commissioner (unbilled C. Montague Shaw) and tells him, "we'll go there tonight". Marge, surrounded by eight hostesses, is asked by one, "what can we do to please him?" and answers, "he doesn't want to be pleased, he's looking for an excuse to close us up". As the sarong-clad girls leave, one of them, Diane (Rita Quigley) tells Marge, "oh, I suppose it's silly of me but I feel so self-conscious in this costume" and Marge responds, "I know how it is when your modesty's taking a beating, don't let it get you down".
=== On Burke's boat ===
On a small boat moored in the harbor, its owner, deep sea diver Jack Burke (Frank Fenton), is shaving in preparation of visiting Marge's place, while his diving partner/friendly rival Mike Clancy (John Carradine) awakens from drunken sleep to find that Burke has tied him to the bunk bed. He offers to pay for drinks if Burke unties him, but Burke wants to see the cash first. Clancy tells him that it's in his pocket, so Burke reaches in, takes all of it, and leaves without untying him, as Clancy shouts angrily and struggles to loosen the bonds.
=== The Isle in turmoil ===
The inspector and the commissioner arrive at Marge's and, after having been seated at their table, the commissioner says, "don't look so disappointed, you'll see murder and mayhem any moment now" and the inspector answers, "I [it?] wouldn't surprise me any". Mimi comes out to sing "In Pango" [by Leo Erdody and Ann Levitt] ("I roamed all the world seeking gladness, but found in my heart only sadness") accompanied by two guitarists, a percussionist and a female accordionist. At another table, Krogan (Sidney Toler) is sitting with Johnny Pacific (Rick Vallin) and, when Diane serves them drinks, tries to grab her bare arm. As she pulls away, he laughs unpleasantly while, observing disapprovingly from his table, the inspector comments, "rather unusual there". When Burke enters, Krogan tells Johnny Pacific, "the other will be showing up any minute now, when Burke hits this port, Clancy's never far behind". Burke is waiting for Marge in her upstairs room, explaining that Clancy drowned and giving her the pocket watch she once gifted to Clancy.
Meanwhile, Clancy enters and asks Christine, "where's Marge?", while in her upstairs office, Marge tells Burke that since Mike Clancy was the reason she stayed, she'll be leaving and Burke suggests, "that with Mike gone, you might marry me". Before she can answer, Clancy knocks on the door and, as the astonished and relieved Marge tells him what happened, asks her to step outside, and starts trading punches with Burke. The fistfight progresses from Marge's room to the downstairs dining area, as tables and chairs are broken and overturned. Clancy ultimately knocks out Burke and is proclaimed as "the winner" by Krogan, who tells everybody, "The drinks are on me", as all the disarranged diners smile and break into happy applause. Krogan continues, "I have another little treat for you", explaining that "a nameless young man whom I fished out of the sea so I called him Johnny Pacific" will entertain. Johnny Pacific goes to the piano and plays the second movement (Adagio cantabile) of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 (the Pathétique) and, while the familiar classical theme continues to be heard in the background, Clancy deals with Burke who regains consciousness and starts swinging fists, by telling him that he recognized Krogan and Johnny Pacific as the captain and purser of the steamship Tropic Star which, six months earlier, disappeared in the Coral Sea with three million dollars in gold, and that they must have hidden the loot, but "we can find it first". Burke agrees and Marge gives Clancy the money to finance the expedition, but just after he and Burke leave her place, a scream is heard from upstairs, then a shot, and a customer (unbilled I. Stanford Jolley) staggers out and falls from the upper landing. Olga, holding a gun, runs downstairs in front of everybody and then up another staircase. The dying man blurts out, "that girl, she took my money", to the inspector, who announces that "I am placing you all under technical arrest as material witnesses". As Krogan, Johnny Pacific and the diners rush for the exits, Marge tells the girls that "we're between the devil and the deep and that's no quotation", as they grab money from the cash register and head for Burke's boat.
=== Hurried departure ===
Alone on the boat, as they prepare to leave port, Clancy tells Burke, "there'll be so much money for both of us, there'll be no reason for us to doublecross each other" and sings, "when whisky comes near my nose, Whisky Johnny". in the midst of their parting drink, Marge, Diane, Christine and Bobbie descend into the hold with Marge announcing that "Olga closed up for us — for keeps", as Christine adds, "sure, she's only murdered the guy". Burke refuses to get involved, but Clancy says that he'll cut them in if they help with getting the gold. Burke raises his fists for another brawl, but Marge breaks a bottle over his head, knocking him out. Clancy tells the three crewmen to cast off and goes back downstairs as Burke regains consciousness and quickly agrees to include the girls in the deal. The plan, as explained by Clancy, is to arrive at Marana island, where Krogan and Johnny Pacific are running a plantation, and take the gold for themselves, with the six of them sharing half a million each. Diane refuses to participate based on her moral principles, but Olga, who apparently followed them to the boat and hid until now, steps out and announces that "I'm cutting myself in for her share". Burke says "let's put her over the side", with Clancy adding "good idea", but Olga pulls out a gun, stating, "I've already shot one man tonight in self-defense, you better play nice with me if you want to get your hands on that gold" and, in another quick agreement, Clancy says, "all right, we'll cut you in for a share".
=== On Krogan's island ===
The boat comes close to Marana island and the arrival is noted through binoculars by Krogan who tells Johnny Pacific that "our little game of hide and seek is about to begin". They explain to native girl Luana (Veda Ann Borg), who lives with them, that "two very much bad men come in that boat, they try to find our gold, where we hide it", with Krogan adding, "lotta fun is when we take it away from them". Clancy, Burke and the five women arrive at Krogan's house, with Marge explaining to Krogan that "things got too hot for us at Pango Ango after what happened" and asking if he could "put us up for a few days until we can make other plans". Krogan replies that they've arranged "a little party of welcome for tonight".
As night comes and a full moon shines over the lagoon, Luana leans against a tree and sings, "Sleepy Island Moon" [by Leo Erdody and June L. Stillman] (accompanied by orchestral music and an unseen chorus of male and female voices) as a man and a woman are seen rhythmically swimming back and forth through the lagoon. At the end of Luana's song, Marge says that "this part is beginning to remind me of an old nursery rhyme: mother may I go out to swim? Yes, my darling daughter, hang your clothes on a hickory limb, but don't go near the water." As the girls, Krogan and Johnny Pacific go for a night swim, Clancy kicks Burke, who wanted to swim with Luana, and tells him that "now's our chance to frisk the house". In the meantime, Krogan and Johnny Pacific, while swimming with the girls, guide them to a view of a spectacular underwater cave, hidden just a few feet beneath the lagoon. Searching the house, Clancy points out to Burke the Tropic Star log, with a map, which indicates that the gold is still underwater on the ship, waiting to be salvaged. As Krogan and the girls come out of the water, Clancy and Burke are lounging on the shore, commenting that they'll be leaving in the morning. In the house, Krogan shows Johnny Pacific the place in log where Clancy tore out the map and says that "it didn't take him long to smell out the bait", while Johnny Pacific comments that "he must be awful dumb to fall for anything as phony as a treasure map".
The next morning, Marge and Diane visit Clancy and Burke on the boat, as they prepare to look for the gold and Burke tells Clancy that Luana "sort of grows on you". However, Krogan, Johnny Pacific and Luana are observing the situation from the island, with Krogan commenting that "a couple of expert divers like Burke and Clancy oughta do the job in half a dozen trips" and as soon as the gold is brought up, "five of my best boys will be on the job at dawn".
On the boat, Clancy again sings "Whisky Johnny" ("now I got a gal, her name is Lize, for she put whisky in her pies"), as they examine their air hoses and prepare to take turns in putting on the diving suits and going down with the help of their three crewmen. As Burke descends, accompanied by the sound of Wagnerian choirs, Clancy says, "give my regards to Mrs. Jones". Burke finds the Tropic Star and, back on the boat, Clancy tell him that "the barometer's been dropping steadily all the time you were down, looks like we're in for a blow". Meanwhile, on the island, Luana jealously accuses Johnny Pacific of infidelity and their loud quarrel brings Krogan, who calms the situation, but then a native runs in with some disturbing news. The girls grow uneasy and Christine says, "yeah, there's something in the air that makes you feel that something's going to happen". A native chief (William Edmonds) arrives at the house and tells Krogan, "much bad magic now in sky and sea", explaining that "big wave ready to walk some more" and pointing at Rorschach test-like formations of threatening black skies, advises everyone to leave the island. After he departs, Krogan and Johnny Pacific take guns and go off, telling the girls to be careful about tigers which are still occasionally spotted since "these islands at one time were a part of Asia".
=== Gold, greed and monsoon ===
During his underwater descent, in a diving suit, Clancy's voice is heard on the boat, "the agitation of the water will be due to my hearty laughter". More loud choral singing ("the diver diving down below"), accompanied by music, is heard as Clancy walks on the sea bottom . He finds the gold, while, on the island, Krogan and Johnny Pacific are watching through binoculars. Clancy pretends to be in distress so that Burke would bring him up before the gold and, as the trunk full of bullion is aboard and below the deck, Burke gives a few gold bars to the crewmen and tells them to divide it among themselves and then announces to Clancy that he is claiming 60 percent of the loot because he provided the boat and the crew. Clancy protests and they start a violent struggle during which Krogan, Johnny Pacific and their men board the boat, with Krogan pointing his gun and ordering them to "stick 'em up" and continuing, "you guys tried to steal our gold, you're not gonna get away with it". Locking them in the boat's back room, Johnny Pacific nails the door shut and tells them "I'm building a nice coffin for you guys" and adds, "so long boys, hope you enjoy your nice dive to Davy Jones' Locker". As they board their small launch, Krogan and Johnny Pacific light a fuse to explosives which they attached to Burke's boat. Seconds before the boat explodes, Clancy and Burke manage to kick the door open and jump off into the water. Ominous choirs are heard intoning as the black skies give way to high winds and tall waves.
Krogan, Johnny Pacific and the five natives return to the island and walk through the ever-increasing storm, reaching the house as the waves are lapping at its edges. Krogan says, "well, any of you gals ever see what three million dollars looks like". Olga and Luana excitedly approach the trunk, while Marge, Diane, Christine and Bobbie warily stand back. Krogan continues, "there, take a look, isn't that beautiful, three million dollars in gold, think of all the luxuries that'll buy". Marge asks what happened to Clancy and Krogan answers that "you want to see them, you've got to get yourself a diving suit, because they're down at the bottom of the lagoon, along with the Tropic Star". Johnny Pacific tells the four women that "you gambled on the wrong team so you get nothing". Olga protests that "I was playing on your team", but he replies that "you didn't tell us a thing we didn't know" and Krogan adds, "we figured Burke and Clancy had enough larceny in their hearts not to put the finger on us" and tells Olga, "I'll pay your fare to the mainland, if you keep out of my sight, that's more than you deserve". Olga then reaches in the back of her sarong, points a gun at Krogan and orders him to "start dishing out my share of those sacks", but he calmly says, "go on and shoot" and, as she pulls the trigger, the gun only clicks. Krogan lets out his familiar laugh and tells her, "you see, I remembered your fine habit about shooting people, so I had Luana take all the cartridges out of your gun" and hits her across the face, making her fall, and then continues, "you're all a lot of dirty double-crossing rats, all of you, except Diane, she's the only decent one among you". Turning to Johnny Pacific and Luana, he says, "and that goes for you too", accusing them of planning to double-cross him. Johnny Pacific pulls out his gun and they shoot simultaneously, killing each other. Just then, Clancy enters with Burke, commenting, "nice shootin', boys, now that's what I call being pals". Luana points a gun at them, but Burke takes it away from her and pulls her towards him, "take it easy babe". As Clancy proclaims, "Marge we're rich", the winds hit the thatched house which is then washed away by the surging waves. Clancy and Marge are in the sea as he tries to keep her afloat, but both are swamped by a new surge.
=== Coda ===
An overhead sign marks the entrance to "The Bird Cage Cafe". Inside, as dance music plays, Marge is seated at the side bar cash register, with what appears to be a large framed photograph of Diane and Burke as a happy couple, propped up against it, while Clancy, wearing a captain's cap and jacket, surveys the place, then sits by her and says, "I'll have to put the bite on you for about fifty dollars", explaining that he'll tell her more later, adding, "you haven't forgotten about that bundle on the Riviera, have you?" She gives him the money and rings up "NO SALE".

Tags: murder

Review:
How often do you get the opportunity to see Gale Sondergaard and John Carradine play characters better suited to Humprhey Bogart and Lauren Bacall?
ISLE OF FORGOTTEN SINS is a thoroughly enjoyable South Seas adventure with Carradine and Sondergaard, cast completely against type, doing terrific work for low budget miracle worker Edgar G.
Add Frank Fenton as Carradine's battling buddy, Sidney Toler as their jovial adversary, Rik Vallin as Toler's classical piano-playing second mate and Veda Ann Borg as a treacherous native girl, clever use of a puppet (!) for the deep sea diving scenes and a climactic monsoon -- what more do you need?NOTE:  The running time of this film is usually listed as 82 minutes.
This Producers Releasing Corporation distribution straight from poverty row has just about everything you could imagine or want to see and hear in a B picture second biller: barroom brawls, sunken treasure, a treasure map, an underwater grotto, double-crosses, fist fights, hold ups, restless natives, menacing drums, a big storm, and a flashlight-wielding marionette in a diving suit.
But wait, there's more: classical music, torch songs, island ballads, synchronized swimming, beautiful girls wearing sarongs, Gale Sondergaard and above all, Sidney Toler naked to the waist and dripping wet in a bathing suit.
Gale Sondergaard, John Carradine, and Sidney Toler give the cast some good leads, and they help keep things going despite some stretches of weak dialogue.The main part of the story has Carradine, as a diver, and his partner/rival (Frank Fenton) matched in a deadly battle of wits with Toler and his accomplices.
Sondergaard plays the owner of a disreputable haven for seafarers, who is close to Carradine's character.
The story features a couple of interesting turns, and the approaching monsoon adds some extra drama.Sondergaard gets a lot of screen time in the earlier scenes, but her character gradually fades into the background, and becomes a spectator for most of the last part.
Carradine and Toler both give entertaining light performances, exaggerating their characters somewhat.
From it's wonderful opening with the credits on the sand to the Monsoon ending (and the use of Wagner's music for the underwater sequence; the opening of the Rheingold which actually takes place under water) this a great way to spend a little over an hour with two of Hollywoods most entertaining actors; Sondergaard and Carradine are both cast against type and are wonderful.
John Carradine and Frank Fenton fight over Gale Sondergaard and over gold that Sidney (Charlie Chan) Toler and Rick Vallin have hidden.
There's too much going on and at times it's a little too slow, which is kind of odd considering all that happens in the films 80 minutes.
This is a classic "watch at 2 am movie" with lots of bad commercials and public service announcements interrupting it.
Carradine seems to be enjoying having the lead in an adventure film.
Sidney Toler, forever etched in my mind as Charlie Chan is wonderfully evil as Carruthers, and a joy to see him on the other side of the law.This movie also has a shoot out used in It Came From Hollywood where two guys shot at each other, back and forth dying as they did so until the guns were empty.
Isle of Forgotten Sins is a rousing low budget adventure from Edgar G.
Ulmer's low-budget poverty row pictures he made for PRC.
John Carradine and Frank Fenton are rivals for gambling club owner Gale Sondergaard but they put aside their differences for a chance to get sunken treasure.
Ms. Sondergarrd and her girls (which includes a crafty Veda Ann Borg) come along but all of them seem to be pawns for Sidney "Charlie Chan" Toler and his partner Rick Vallin.
Enjoyably and breezily fast-paced (whenever possible) B-movie that benefits from Ulmer's expert direction and a suitable underscore by Leo Erdody (who like me was born in Chicago, Ill.) mixed in with some public domain classical music.
This little, low-budget film was directed by that once shining star Edger G.
That being said, innovative use of struggling finance and truly imaginative uses of actors and camera angles do not necessarily make for a great film.
Nonetheless, because of the talent here, Ulmer, John Carradine, Gale Sondergard, and Sidney Toler, and a quick, zippy pace, and some campy dialog, etc..- Isle of Forgotten Sins is better than one could or should expect.
Toler, Charlie Chan himself, has a great time playing a heavy in the film.
Sondergaard looks great and is fun in the role.
A few of the bit players, as was the case in the lesser studios, look like basset hounds with long hair.John Carradine is kind of wasted in the role of the hero.
Sidney Toler, so upstanding as Charlie Chan, is not nice here at all.Edgar G.
Ulmer does a fine job with this low-budget affair.
I had never heard of it, and I thought I'd seen all his movies.It's most fun when it stays within the genre, ruled over by Marlene Dietrich, of the good woman with a bad reputation working in a place with a terrible reputation.
But it's not a bad movie.And Ulmer may have been the director who best, and most frequently, used classical and operatic music in his movies.
John Carradine and Frank Fenton drink a lot and get in fist fights, some over Gale Sondergaard who's a bar owner/madam (?) of a bunch of American bar girls/hookers(?) on a little south sea island.
ISLE OF FORGOTTEN SINS (1943) aka MONSOON is another of those South Sea Adventures so beloved by Hollywood in the 'GOLDEN AGE' of the studio system.
Like TYPHOON this ends with a big special effects scene done with all the skill PRC could muster.
I have seen children do better in their bathtub.The participants of this film were either needing a fast buck or had fallen on hard times starting with Director Edgar G.
Sidney Toler must have wanted to stretch himself from his CHARLIE CHAN roles at MONOGRAM.
John Carradine obviously was in it for a fast buck and phoned in his role.
Mid stream in his Charlie Chan gig Sidney Toler switches to villainy as Captain Krogan in this B clunker pasted together by cult favorite Eddie Ulmer.
South Seas adventurer Mike Clancy (John Carradine) blows into town to see his brothel running honey (Gale Sondergard) when he gets word there's a 3 million dollar booty at the bottom of the sea that the shady Captain Krogan knows where it is but unable to access without Clancy's diving expertise.
Isle of Forgotten sins is no Hurricane (39) but it does have a rousing tsunami to Deus ex Machina matters and a cast of unrepentant greedy characters wrapped up in the glitter of gold from the perverse captain to the bevy of hookers with flowers in their hair.
Ulmer offers a couple of slight of hand moves and snappy dialogue to get around censors but the lobby cards for this piece of flotsam and jetsam featuring babes in sarongs and the leering desires of Toler is probably where the real genius was to be found..
On their shoddy 50 Movie set's DISK 3 / SIDE A, TreeLine gives the synopsis for the likewise titled "Monsoon" (1952) starring George Nader, but what you get is "Isle of Forgotten Sins" (1943) starring John Carradine.
In the end, it's six of one, and half a dozen of the other.Herein, Mr. Carradine (as Mike Clancy) and seafaring pal Frank Fenton (as Jack Burke) brawl over madam Gale Sondergaard (as Marge Willison) while Captain Sidney Toler (as Carruthers) shows off the same facial expressions he uses under the "Charles Chan" make-up.
Ulmer ~ John Carradine, Frank Fenton, Gale Sondergaard, Sidney Toler.
As noted in other reviews, Carradine and Fenton are professional divers/adventurers in the South Seas who plot to steal a sunken treasure chest out from under the noses of the men who scuttled the ship it was on.
The fact is that this isn't one of Ulmer's better-directed films; it's pretty much by-the-numbers hackwork that could have been done by Elmer Clifton, Sam Newfield or any of PRC's stable of schlock directors, although there are a few Ulmer "touches", notably his use of classical music throughout the picture.
PRC's cheapness shows through in every frame, from the laughably chintzy "special effects" to the tinny score to the murky photography to some of the worst-staged fight scenes--and an especially pathetic gun battle--you're likely to see.
In true PRC fashion, no thought was given to try to make the stuntmen resemble the actors they were doubling even a little bit--Carradine's stuntman is much shorter, quite a bit heavier and has much darker hair than he does.The upside to the picture is that the bargirls who figure in the story are pretty and spend most of the picture strolling around in sarongs, which is a pleasant diversion from the cheesiness going on around them.
Carradine actually does a good job--another reviewer said he "phoned in" his part, which really isn't true--and Gale Sondergaard seems to be having a good time, but Sidney Toler apparently forgot this isn't a Charlie Chan movie and keeps his eyes squinted and his delivery in that Chan "singsong" voice throughout the picture; he isn't even remotely convincing as a villain.
Frank Fenton as Carradine's partner isn't particularly good, but Rick Vallin--a decent enough actor who unfortunately spent most of his career toiling away at the bottom end of the Hollywood food chain, as he is here--isn't too bad as Toler's "partner", although he doesn't really have all that much to do.
Veda Ann Borg is always a welcome sight but just doesn't cut it playing a monosyllabic native girl who talks like an Indian in a '30s Z-grade western ("Me see you talk him!").Overall it's pretty low-rent, as would be expected from PRC, and definitely not one of the better ones Edgar G.
John Carradine and Gale Sondergaard.
1943's "Isle of Forgotten Sins," more familiar by its rerelease title "Monsoon," may have been bottom of the bill program fodder, but had 'A' budget aspirations, by PRC standards.
Ulmer and star John Carradine do the honors in a most unlikely setting, the South Seas, where heroes fight over women, and villains fight over sunken treasure.
Casting the lanky, cadaverous Carradine as a two fisted action hero is akin to casting Bela Lugosi in the title role of 1934's "The Return of Chandu," no doubt both actors had a grand time getting the girl.
In this case, 'the girl' is played by Gale Sondergaard, madam for a kind of South Seas brothel (the 'isle of forgotten sins'), with the sluts on hire including such luscious lovelies as Tala Birell and Veda Ann Borg (who also played Carradine wives in Monogram's 1943 "Revenge of the Zombies," and the 1958 episode of THE RESTLESS GUN, "More Than Kin").
As the villain with the sickly smile, Sidney Toler was in between Chan studios, finishing at Fox in Oct 1941, not beginning his Monogram series until Sept 1943.
ISLE OF FORGOTTEN SINS (Edgar G.
While I would not consider director Ulmer's cult reputation as overrated, I cannot deny having been disappointed by some of his work which is generally deemed as above-average; one such title is THE STRANGE WOMAN (1946) and another would be the film under review.
Tropic-island adventures are usually good-looking, action-packed and spectacular – but this is (typically for Ulmer) a low-budget and studio-bound production which resorts to repetitive, if highly energetic, fisticuffs for excitement...while the climactic monsoon (the film was re-issued under that name, by the way, borne also by the copy I watched) is dealt with so quickly one could be excused for taking it as an afterthought had it not been anticipated in the dialogue!
Though the casting of the principals looks promising on paper, it is rendered futile by miscasting (John Carradine as a lusty man of action!) and undernourished or otherwise clichéd characterization (Gale Sondergaard and Sidney Toler respectively)!
Interestingly, the South Sea saloon setting, deep sea-diving backdrop and rivalry over sunken treasure recalls or looks forward to three fine John Wayne vehicles i.e. SEVEN SINNERS (1940), REAP THE WILD WIND (1942) and WAKE OF THE RED WITCH (1948) respectively – comparisons to which do not really do favors to Ulmer's much more modest effort....
In this picture we have a cast of veteran actors, namely: John Carradine, (Mike Clancy) known for his acting as a vampire with Boris Karloff and also Sidney Toler, (Capt.
Then, Gale Sondergaard, (Marge Wilson) who appeared in many horror films and also with Basil Rathbone in Sherlock Holmes.
In this picture the cast is all involved in trying to find 30 million dollars in gold on a sunken ship and believe it or not Sidney Toler plays the bad guy.
If you've ever wanted to see what the classic brawl at the end of THE SPOILERS would look like if one of the guys weighed 110 pounds, this is your chance.
John Carradine, just a couple of years after being robbed of the Oscar for his role as preacher Casy in THE GRAPES OF WRATH, here plays the romantic tough-guy lead in a South Seas adventure film which calls on him to have several fistfights with his partner, the comparatively hulking Frank Fenton, and to win them!
And it's only a little less bizarre seeing Gale Sondergaard as his madam lover.
I've always liked Sidney Toler, but after seeing this, I realize he was much, much better suited to play Charlie Chan than anything else.
And the less said about Toler in a bathing suit, the better.
All in all, it's an amazingly cheap-looking little tropical blunder, interesting for the sets and props which look like Toys R Us rejects and for the chance to see Carradine do something different, even if it's way outside his range..
P.R.C. is one of the lowest-budget film studios of its day and its best movies were below the quality of rival Monogram Studios (and that's saying a lot!).
There films are known for having rotten sets, poor scripts and second-rate acting--they were for many in the movie industry the "purgatory" of Hollywood!!
As usual, this film shows all the usual earmarks of a P.R.C. production, though its stars are a tad better than usual--as Sidney Toler and John Carradine (both veterans of the low-budget Bs) were on hand to give this movie a little bit of clout--but only just a bit.
That's because Toler had just finished the Charlie Chan series at Fox Studios and hadn't yet signed with Monogram to finish the series--so he was free and in need of cash.
Carradine, never really an established actor but a familiar face in low-budget films added a bit of color.Sadly, despite the low budget, the story wasn't very good either.
The film is set on a tropic isle, though the natives look like extras from California and have, for the most part, American accents and hairdos.
Yep, one of them plays Beethoven on the piano in this dive(!).Two other guys (Carradine and his sometimes friend) spend most of the time imitating Popeye and Bluto, as they fight and fight for no reason in particular.
Later, though, Carradine gets the idea of trying to steal Toler's treasure.
In the end, it's one twist after another but thankfully the action is all ended when a monsoon hits and wipes out this god-awful island.The bottom line is that the print looks lousy, the plot stinks, the acting is generally grade-Z and the special effects are really, really bad.
It's a hot spot on the map of horny sailors and pirate types, run by slinky Gale Sondergaard in perhaps her only leading role.
She's in cahoots to locate lost gold from a sunken ship with sleazy John Carradine, but outside efforts by others and mother nature herself threaten to snowball their plans.In spite of the exotic locale, outrageous plot, pretty girls and a few songs, this is actually pretty creaky, risen by Sondergaard's presence.
Also featured in this pot boiler are Sidney Toler as the main villain, Frank Fenton as Carradine's more handsome rival for Sondergaard, and Veda Ann Borg as one of her toughest "ladies".
What strikes me is that once under way, the story made no sense at all, considering the sunken treasure at the center of it was literally at the doorstep of Captain Krogan's (Sidney Toler) native hut.
Why didn't he and partner Johnny Pacific (Rick Vallin) just get it themselves instead of luring Clancy (John Carradine) and Burke (Frank Fenton) into this convoluted scheme?
But I guess then you wouldn't have a story.While the men are involved in all manner of intrigue and fisticuffs, Gale Sondegaard provides a mysterious and exotic presence as Marge Wilson, proprietor of a gambling den on the Isle of Forgotten Sins.
She's partial to Carradine's character, but I never got the attraction; in profile he looks anorexic, and the stripes didn't add any pounds to his frame.
Considering they were partners, Clancy and Burke sure took out a lot of furniture over the course of the film, and if this were a Western, their first brawl would rank right up there as one of the best.But oh those underwater scenes!
There were a couple of times when the diver looked like he was about to fall over, and that's not easy when you're under water.
Well you get what you pay for with these low budget poverty row efforts, and Producers Releasing was one of the poorest.Still, it's an interesting mix of actors with Carradine, Toler and Sondegaard in the mix.
I got a kick out of Toler when he broke into Charlie Chan mode speaking to an island girl at one point.
The finale is a hoot as Toler's Krogan shoots it out with partner Johnny at point black range, and they both empty their guns before finally going down.