''Unknown Island'' is a 1948 American

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...

directed by

Jack Bernhard Jack Bernhard (November 28, 1914 – March 30, 1997) was an American film and television director. His films include ''Decoy (1946 film), Decoy'' (1946), ''Blonde Ice'' (1948), ''Unknown Island'' (1948) and ''The Second Face'' (1950). Personal l ...

and starring

Virginia Grey Virginia Grey (March 22, 1917 – July 31, 2004) was an American actress who appeared in over 100 films and a number of radio and television shows from the 1930s to the early 1980s. Biography Grey was born on March 22, 1917, in Edendale, Calif ...

Phillip Reed Phillip Reed (born Milton LeRoy; March 25, 1908 – December 7, 1996) was an American actor. He played Steve Wilson in a series of four films (1947–1948) based on the ''Big Town'' radio series. Early years Reed was a star athlete at Eras ...

and

Richard Denning Richard Denning (March 27, 1914 – October 11, 1998) was an American actor who starred in science fiction films of the 1950s, including ''Unknown Island'' (1948), ''Creature from the Black Lagoon'' (1954), '' Target Earth'' (1954), ''Day the ...

. Shot in

Cinecolor Cinecolor was an early subtractive color-model two-color motion picture process that was based upon the Prizma system of the 1910s and 1920s and the Multicolor system of the late 1920s and the 1930s. It was developed by William T. Crispinel and ...

it was released by

Film Classics Film Classics was an American film distributor active between 1943 and 1951.Slide p.72 Established by Irvin Shapiro, the company initially concentrated on re-releases of earlier hits by other studios, but began to handle new independent productions ...

and in Britain by

General Film Distributors General Film Distributors (GFD), later known as J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors and Rank Film Distributors Ltd., was a British film distribution company based in London. It was active between 1935 and 1996, and from 1937 it was part of the Rank Or ...

Plot

Adventure-seeker Ted Osborne (Phillip Reed) and his fiancée Carole (Virginia Grey) are at a cafe in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, looking for a charter to an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

supposedly inhabited by

dinosaurs Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

. They come across the ruthless, two fisted, alcohol-suffering Captain Tarnowski (Barton MacLane). They decide to talk, and Osborne asks if Tarnowski is willing to give them a charter in his ship to the unknown island. Initially Tarnowski refuses, but then Osborne tells that during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he was a pilot in the US Navy. He had flown over many remote islands, and on one he reported seeing large, moving creatures that looked like Dinosaurs. He shows Tarnowski a photo, and the captain finally agrees to take them there. Before departing, Tarnowski introduces them to John Fairbanks (Richard Denning), an old friend of his, who agrees to help them with their quest. Fairbanks and a group of friends had been shipwrecked on the island with Fairbanks being the lone survivor of attack by the dinosaurs. As Fairbanks had been drinking incessantly to forget the events of the past since his rescue, his account of the dinosaur island was believed to be the result of alcoholism and insanity. Since Fairbanks and Osborne's stories collaborated, Tarnowski agrees to allow his ship to be hired, but specifies that no one in the crew be told of their destination. They sail aboard Tarnowski's ship, heading for weeks in the direction of

French Polynesia )Territorial motto: ( en, "Great Tahiti of the Golden Haze") , anthem = , song_type = Regional anthem , song = " Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui" , image_map = French Polynesia on the globe (French Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of Frenc ...

, where the island is supposed to be located. During the voyage, it becomes clear that Fairbanks is obviously becoming attracted to Carole, even though she is the fiancée of Osborne. Some of the crew realize they are headed to a dangerous island, so they mutiny and attack the officers. They lose the fight and are forced to proceed to the island. The next morning, the ship's first mate spots the island in the distance. As they approach, he spot a

Brontosaurus ''Brontosaurus'' (; meaning "thunder lizard" from Greek , "thunder" and , "lizard") is a genus of gigantic quadruped sauropod dinosaurs. Although the type species, ''B. excelsus'', had long been considered a species of the closely related ''A ...

. With the confirmation of living dinosaurs inhabiting the island, they become cautious. They unload supplies, and a camp is set up in a forest clearing not far from shore. Whilst exploring the island, they find two Brontosaurus and a

Dimetrodon ''Dimetrodon'' ( or ,) meaning "two measures of teeth,” is an extinct genus of non-mammalian synapsid that lived during the Cisuralian (Early Permian), around 295–272 million years ago (Mya). It is a member of the family Sphenacodontid ...

. Then, as they venture out onto the flats of the island, a crewmen is killed by two

Ceratosaurus ''Ceratosaurus'' (from Ancient Greek, Greek κέρας/κέρατος, ' meaning "horn" and wikt:σαῦρος, σαῦρος ' meaning "lizard") was a carnivorous Theropoda, theropod dinosaur in the Late Jurassic Period (geology), period (Kim ...

. Knowing these creatures can be a threat, the crew are ordered to guard the camp at all times. After a near fight between Fairbanks and Osborne because of Carole's safety, a

Ground sloth Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. The term is used to refer to all extinct sloths because of the large size of the earliest forms discovered, compared to existing tree sloths. The Caribbe ...

appears near the camp. Carole screams and the men are alerted, but the sloth moves away quickly. The next morning they go back to the flats where they find many Ceratosaurus. The crewmen try to persuade them to leave, and when the first mate agrees with them, he gets into a fight with Tarnowski and is killed when one of the crewmen accidentally throws a knife into his back. The crewman is shot and killed by Tarnowski while the officers focus on driving away the dinosaurs with

rifle grenade A rifle grenade is a grenade that uses a rifle-based launcher to permit a longer effective range than would be possible if the grenade were thrown by hand. The practice of projecting grenades with rifle-mounted launchers was first widely used du ...

s and explosive bullets. Fairbanks still tries to convince Osborne to leave the island but still he refuses. Eventually though, he feels he has observed the dinosaurs long enough and decides to leave shortly. Tarnowski, however, will not leave the island until he brings back one of the dinosaurs alive, which none of the other men think is right. He starts saying bad things about the men due to the overdose of whiskey he has been drinking. The crewmen, knowing that the officers are not treating them well, try to steal the lifeboat and get off the island. The officers are alerted, but the crewmen are able to dodge their gunfire and escape. However, they are all killed when a giant wave topples and smashes the boat. The survivors come back to the camp and find it destroyed, because Tarnowski carelessly threw away his match. Knowing that they must soon leave the island, they gather wood and begin building a raft. While Fairbanks and Osborne are working on the raft, Carole is grabbed by Tarnowski, who plays a cruel trick on her. A Ceratosaurus arises but Tarnowski kills it with two grenades and kidnaps Carole. While Fairbanks and Osborne argue about her safety again. Tarnowski tries to convince Carole to leave the island secretly with him but she refuses, and eventually, after he says he will protect her, she doses off with him. Fairbanks meanwhile sets off in search of Carole. While Carole and Tarnowski are waking up, a Dimetrodon appears but Carole kills it with Tarnowski's gun. Next, Tarnowski tries to kiss Carole but Fairbanks arrives. The two men fight and Tarnowski is knocked out, giving Fairbanks and Carole time to escape. The sloth reappears and kills Tarnowski. As Fairbanks and Carole reach the shores of the island, they are trapped behind a rock during a fight between the sloth and a Ceratosaurus. The sloth wins by knocking the dinosaur off a cliff and walks away. Carole and Fairbanks are shortly reunited with Osborne and another passenger, and the four break camp and leave the island on Tarnowski's boat.

Cast

as Carole Lane *

as Ted Osborne *

as John Fairbanks *

Barton MacLane Barton MacLane (December 25, 1902 – January 1, 1969) was an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. He appeared in many classic films from the 1930s through the 1960s, including his role as General Martin Peterson on the 1960s NBC ...

as Captain Tarnowski *

Dick Wessel Richard Michael Wessel (April 20, 1913 – April 20, 1965) was an American film actor who appeared in more than 270 films between 1935 and 1966. He is best remembered for his only leading role, a chilling portrayal of strangler Harry "C ...

as First Mate Sanderson *

Dan White Daniel James White (September 2, 1946 – October 21, 1985) was an American politician who assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, on Monday, November 27, 1978, at City Hall. White was convicted of manslaugh ...

as Edwards *

Phil Nazir Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as a root term ...

as Chief

Lascar A lascar was a sailor or militiaman from the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, the Arab world, British Somaliland, or other land east of the Cape of Good Hope, who was employed on European ships from the 16th century until the middle of the 2 ...

Ray "Crash" Corrigan Ray "Crash" Corrigan (born Raymond Benitz; February 14, 1902 – August 10, 1976) was an American actor most famous for appearing in many B-Western movies (among these the Three Mesquiteers and Range Busters film series). He also was a ...

as the sloth *

Snub Pollard Harold Fraser (9 November 1889 – 19 January 1962), known professionally as Snub Pollard, was an Australian-born vaudevillian, who became a silent film comedian in Hollywood, popular in the 1920s. Career Born in Melbourne, Australia, on 9 No ...

as a Singapore Barfly * Harry Wilson as Barfly

Public domain

''Unknown Island'' is in the public domain. The film did have copyright filed on December 1, 1948, which was renewed on April 22, 1976. However, as the film was released on October 15, 1948, and the law stated that a film must be copyrighted before release, the copyright wasn't filed on time and is, by implication, invalid. Stock footages of ''Unknown Island'' was used in the American version of ''

Godzilla Raids Again is a 1955 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Motoyoshi Oda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Produced and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd., it is the second film in the ''Godzilla'' franchise. The film stars Hiroshi Koizumi, Setsuko Waka ...

'' and in ''Adventure at the Center of the Earth''.

References

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Unknown Island 1948 adventure films 1948 films Films about dinosaurs Cinecolor films American adventure films Films scored by Raoul Kraushaar Films set on fictional islands Films directed by Jack Bernhard 1940s American films