Island in the Sun (film)
Island in the Sun is a 1957 drama film produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and directed by Robert Rossen. It features an ensemble cast including James Mason, Harry Belafonte, Joan Fontaine, Joan Collins, Dorothy Dandridge, Michael Rennie, Stephen Boyd, Patricia Owens, John Justin, Diana Wynyard, John Williams, and Basil Sydney. The film is about race relations and interracial romance set in the fictitious island of Santa Marta. Barbados and Grenada were selected as the sites for the movie based on the 1955 novel by Alec Waugh. The film was controversial at the time of its  release for its portrayal of interracial romance. Plot. The film follows several characters, black, white and mixed race, and their relationships. It also chronicles the social inequality between the British who colonized the island and the native population. Maxwell Fleury (James Mason) is a white plantation owner's son who suffers from an inferiority complex and makes rash decisions to prove his worth. He is tormented by jealousy of his wife Sylvia (Patricia Owens), and he is envious of his younger sister Jocelyn (Joan Collins), who is being courted by the Oxford-bound Euan Templeton (Stephen Boyd), a war hero  visiting the governor of the island, his father Lord Templeton (Ronald Squire). David Boyeur (Harry Belafonte), a young black man emerging as a powerful politician, represents the common people and is seen by some as a threat to the white ruling class. Mavis Norman (Joan Fontaine), a woman from the elite white class, strikes up a romantic interest in Boyeur and much of the story explores the tension between these two. There is also an interracial romance between Margot Seaton (Dorothy Dandridge), a mixed-race drugstore clerk, and Denis Archer (John Justin), aide to the governor. Maxwell believes that Hilary  Carson (Michael Rennie) is having an affair with his wife. He strangles Carson during a quarrel, then tries to make it look like a robbery. Colonel Whittingham (John Williams), the head of police, investigates the murder. A journalist named Bradshaw (Hartley Power) writes an exposé revealing that Maxwell's grandmother was part black. Maxwell has decided to run for the legislature, but is jeered by the crowd, then insults everyone there. Jocelyn learns she is pregnant, but does not wish to burden Euan with a child of mixed race. Her mother reveals that Jocelyn's father was actually a white  man, the result of an undisclosed affair. She and Euan board a plane to England, as do Margot and Denis, to begin new lives. Maxwell, a broken man, contemplates suicide, then decides to go to Whittingham to confess. Mavis wishes to marry Boyeur and begin a new life of her own, but he decides the needs of the island and his people must come first. Production. Original novel. The novel was published in January 1956. "The New York Times" called it an "absorbing good reading and a considerable achievement in its own right." The "Los Angeles Times" called it "strong , suspenseful." The book sold over 900,000 copies. Development. Darryl F. Zanuck purchased screen rights to the novel for 20th Century Fox in May 1955, prior to publication. However by that stage it had already been accepted for serialization and was the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest Guild choice. Waugh received $140,000 for the rights. Zanuck said he was attracted to the novel because it contained multiple stories. "I like multiple stories," he said. "Either a story should concentrate on two people or it should for me at least have a number of people dramatically integrated. I don't  mean the "Grand Hotel" type of story but people whose lives and emotions - the drama of the story - are knit together." He went on to say that there were fourteen major parts, "and six of them it would be difficult to say who was the most important." He also liked the fact the book had "a novel and attractive background" which would suit filming in color and CinemaScope, and that the novel tackled miscegenation. "Our picture is highly controversial, but then I've made controversial pictures before," said Zanuck, who had made "Grapes of Wrath", "Gentleman's Agreement" and "Pinky . I don't know whether I'll ever be able to show the film in the south and it may be objected to in other areas but I am taking my chances because I believe this great story... If a picture has real significance and genuine theme and purpose, my contention is that it can be made no matter how controversial." He also said "it is not basically a picture about the color problem but it would not be possible to make a film about the West Indies without dealing with the color question. It is the essence of the  life of the place." In July 1955 Alfred Hayes was signed to write the script. Zanuck eventually left Fox to return to producing. As part of his agreement with Fox, he took the rights to "Island in the Sun". It was going to be the second of three films he was going to produce, the first being "The Sun Also Rises" and the third being "The Secret Crimes of Josef Stalin". In the end "Island" would be made before "Sun Also Rises" and the Stalin project was never filmed. In July 1956 Robert Rossen was hired to direct. Zanuck said  Rossen's "reputation was largely made on offbeat, unorthodox subjects - which this is - and I had confidence, which for a producer is absolutely essential, that he was the man." Casting. This was Dorothy Dandridge's "comeback" movie, as she hadn't made a film since 1954's "Carmen Jones", in which she played the lead. In 1955, she had been offered supporting roles in "The King and I" and "The Lieutenant Wore Skirts" but Otto Preminger, her lover and "Carmen Jones' " director, advised her to turn down the roles. This was Dandridge's first film role in three years: She  was billed third, but appeared in only a supporting role. Many of the lead actors were under contract to Fox, including Joan Collins, Michael Rennie, John Justin and Stephen Boyd. Zanuck said in October 1956 "Ridding myself of the obligation of conducting a large film establishment like 20th Century Fox hasn't meant any cessation of work. I have seldom done as much travelling as I expect to do in the next few weeks and that's because we are really trying to make this picture really come alive as a big tropical island exploit." Filming. Filming started 15 October  in the West Indies. The film was shot on location in Barbados and Grenada then in late November the unit shifted to London for studio work. The budget was $3 million. Reception. As a result of playing interracial love scenes with Harry Belafonte, Joan Fontaine received poison pen mail, including some purported threats from the Ku Klux Klan. Fontaine turned the letters over to the FBI. The film received mixed reviews and its interracial themes meant it found initial difficulty in being booked in theaters in the Southern United States. The film also received protests prior to its opening  in the North in St Paul-Minneapolis. It was banned in Memphis, Tennessee as “too frank a depiction of miscegenation, offensive to moral standards, and no good for either white or Negro.” Zanuck had previously said he would pay the fines of any theatre owners fined for showing the film. Box office. Premiering in June 1957, "Island in the Sun" was a major box office success, opening at number one in the country with a first week gross of almost $500,000 in the 16 cities that "Variety" reported. The film earned $5,550,000 worldwide, and finished as the sixth  highest-grossing film of 1957. It was the 8th most popular movie in Britain of that year. Legacy. A proposal was floated in 2009 to demolish the remains of the real mansion used in the film. The mansion is located at Farley Hill, Barbados. The mansion was gutted by fire in the mid-1960s, and all that remains are the foundations and exterior walls of the building. Music. The title song "Island in the Sun" was written by Harry Belafonte and Irving Burgie. There are now over 40 cover versions recorded by various artist such as The Merrymen, José Carreras, Caterina  Valente in German, Henri Salvador in French ("Une île au soleil") and The Righteous Brothers, just to name a few. It briefly was featured (and parodied) in the 1992 film "The Muppet Christmas Carol".