''Isle of Destiny'' (aka ''Trouble Over the Pacific'') is a 1940 American

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

adventure film set in the

South Seas Today the term South Seas, or South Sea, is used in several contexts. Most commonly it refers to the portion of the Pacific Ocean south of the equator. In 1513, when Spanish conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa coined the term ''Mar del Sur'', ...

. The film was directed by

Elmer Clifton Elmer Clifton (March 14, 1890 – October 15, 1949) was an American writer, director and actor from the early silent days. A collaborator of D.W. Griffith, he appeared in ''The Birth of a Nation'' (1915) and '' Intolerance'' (1916) before givi ...

and originally produced by Franklyn Warner for

Grand National Pictures Grand National Films, Inc (or Grand National Pictures, Grand National Productions and Grand National Film Distributing Co.) was an American Poverty Row motion picture production-distribution company in operation from 1936 to 1939. The company ha ...

in 1939. ''Isle of Destiny'' was the only

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

filmed in the ''Cosmocolor'' process with prints by Cinecolor.Flueckiger, Barbara
"Cosmocolor."
''Timeline of Historical Film Colors'', 2019. Retrieved: August 3, 2019. ''Isle of Destiny'' stars

William Gargan William Dennis Gargan (July 17, 1905February 17, 1979) was an American film, television and radio actor. He was the 5th recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1967, and in 1941, was nominated for the Academy Award for Be ...

Wallace Ford Wallace Ford (born Samuel Grundy Jones; 12 February 1898 – 11 June 1966) was an English-born naturalized American vaudevillian, stage performer and screen actor. Usually playing wise-cracking characters, he combined a tough but friendly-fac ...

June Lang June Lang (born Winifred June Vlasek, May 5, 1917 – May 16, 2005) was an American film actress. Early life Born Winifred June Vlasek in Minneapolis, Minnesota, she was the daughter of Edith and Clarence Vlasek, After the family moved to Los An ...

and

Gilbert Roland Luis Antonio Dámaso de Alonso (December 11, 1905 – May 15, 1994), known professionally as Gilbert Roland, was a Mexican-born American film and television actor whose career spanned seven decades from the 1920s until the 1980s. He was twice no ...

Plot

The glamorous heiress and daredevil pilot Virginia Allerton (

) is test-flying her

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...

"The Lady Bird" after some modifications made by her mechanic Max Raft (

Ted Osborne Theodore H. Osborne (February 6, 1900California Death Index
for Theodore H. Osborne. Retrieved 23 May ...

), also on the aircraft. They experience problems mid-air when they are caught in a tropical storm, and all the ships in the South Sea area are alerted to their distress. Virginia's brother, Lt. George Allerton ( Grant Richards), is stationed with the U.S. Marine Corps on the nearby island of Palo Pango when he hears his sister's distress calls. Virginia and Max head to the island to take refuge from the storm. Upon their arrival, Virginia and Max are welcomed by two U.S. Marines: "Stripes" Thornton (

) and "Milly" Barnes (

). Also present is Oliver Barton (

), who runs the trading post but is also in the business of smuggling guns. He invites Virginia to stay at his house for the night, and also challenges her to a flying race to

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

, betting $5,000 that he will win. Both Marines are soon smitten by Virginia, and she becomes attracted to Stripes. Virginia is unaware that Barton is planning to use her as cover for his shipment of guns about to take place on the steamer ''Albotros'', commanded by Captain N. Lawson ( Harry Woods). To help him, Barton has an assistant, "Doc" Spriggs (

Etienne Girardot Etienne Girardot (22 February 1856 – 10 November 1939) was a diminutive stage and film actor of Anglo-French parentage born in London, England. Biography The son of French painter Ernest Gustave Girardot, he studied at an art school, but le ...

), an old eccentric gentleman who believes in reincarnation. The race begins and Barton tries to outrun Virginia by taking a perilous shortcut over an island. Barton plays a trick on Virginia by faking his aircraft crashing into the jungle. Virginia lands on the water to rescue him but damages her aircraft in the process. It turns out Barton lives nearby and Virginia and Max are invited to be the guests of him and his Caribbean wife Inda (

Katherine DeMille Katherine Lester DeMille (born Katherine Paula Lester; June 29, 1911 – April 27, 1995) was a Canadian-born American actress who played 25 credited film roles from the mid-1930s to the late 1940s. The adopted daughter of director Cecil B. De ...

). Inda believes that Barton is smitten and becomes jealous of Virginia. Max finds evidence in Barton's aircraft of his gun smuggling operation, and a fight between the men ensues. Inda kills Max with a poisoned dart she fires from a

blowgun A blowgun (also called a blowpipe or blow tube) is a simple ranged weapon consisting of a long narrow tube for shooting light projectiles such as darts. It operates by having the projectile placed inside the pipe and using the force created ...

. Barton flees the island and goes back to Palo Pango. He lies to Stripes, telling him he has no idea where Virginia is, but Stripes finds a poisoned dart stuck into the hull of the aircraft and becomes suspicious. He deploys Milly and they follow Barton. Stripes hides aboard Barton's aircraft and manages to tell the others where they land. He finds Virginia in Barton's jungle home, but Inda alerts Barton and Stripes and Virginia are quickly surrounded. Still, Stripes manages to hold Barton captive. The group escape boarding Barton's aircraft but it will not start. Barton runs off in the midst of a shoot-out, Milly arrives, armed with his hand grenades, and joins in to help Stripes. Barton captures Virginia and brings her with him in his escape, but Inda spots the two of them, and furious with jealousy, gives the order to have him shot. A ship of Marines arrive on the scene and save the day, helping them back to Palo Pango. Virginia and Stripes marry and fly off to Honolulu together on a honeymoon, leaving Milly, now promoted to sergeant, behind. June Lang in Isle of Destiny

Cast

as Pvt. "Stripes" Thornton *

as Pvt. "Milly" Barnes *

as Virginia Allerton *

as Oliver Barton *

as Cincinnatus "Doc" Spriggs *

as Inda Barton * Grant Richards as Lt. George Allerton * Tom Dugan as Sgt. Reikker * Harry Woods as Capt. Lawson *

Ted Osborne Theodore H. Osborne (February 6, 1900California Death Index
for Theodore H. Osborne. Retrieved 23 May ...

as Max Raff * The Sportsmen Quartet as Singing Marines * Bill Days as Bill - member, Sportsmen Quartet *

Thurl Ravenscroft Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft (; February 6, 1914May 22, 2005) was an American actor and bass singer. He was known as one of the booming voices behind Kellogg's Frosted Flakes animated spokesman Tony the Tiger for more than five decades. He was also ...

as Thurl, member, Sportsmen Quartet * John Rarig as John, member, Sportsmen Quartet * Max Smith as Max - member, Sportsmen Quartet * Ray Walker - Cpl. Jones aka Jonesy, Radio Man

Soundtrack

The Sportsman Quartet perform "Moonlight Magic" (composed by

Irving Bibo Irving Bibo (August 22, 1889 – May 2, 1962) was an American composer, songwriter, and publisher. Biography Bibo composed the songs "Those Panama Mamas", "Am I Wasting My Time on You", "My Cutey's Due at Two-to-Two To-Day" and "Sweet Lit ...

and Eddie Cherkose) in the ''Isle of Destiny''. Music was under the direction of Constantin Bakaleinikoff as Music Director and David Chudnow, Music Supervisor.

Production

The working title for the film was ''Trouble over the Pacific'' with principal photography beginning in 1939 on Santa Catalina Island, California. Produced by Franklyn Warner originally for

, however, by the time of the film's production, in late 1939, Grand National had gone bankrupt, subsequently, RKO bought the distribution rights to the film.

Karen Morley Karen Morley (born Mildred Linton; December 12, 1909 – March 8, 2003) was an American film actress. Life and career Born Mildred Linton in Ottumwa, Iowa, Morley lived there until she was 13 years old. When she moved to Hollywood, she attend ...

was originally cast in the role of Virginia, but due to illness, was forced to leave the film and was replaced by June Lang. There was a two-week shooting period on location in Catalina, California from May 24 to late-September 1939. At the time of its production, ''Isle of Destiny'' had the biggest budget of any Fine Arts picture to date and marked the introduction of Cosmocolor to feature films."Notes: 'Isle of Destiny' (1940)."
''TCM.com'' (Turner Classic Movies), 2019. Retrieved: August 3, 2019. Aviation film historian Christian Santoir compared the scenario depicted in ''Isle of Destiny'' to that of the real-life tragedy of Amelia Earhart being lost in the South Pacific. He also described the aviation elements as relying on a

Sikorsky S-39 The Sikorsky S-39 is an American light amphibious aircraft produced by Sikorsky Aircraft during the early 1930s. The S-39 was a smaller, single-engine version of the S-38. Operational history Spirit of Africa Filmmakers Martin and Osa Johnson ...

-CS Special c/n 914, NC-52V and a

Stearman C3 Stearman is a surname. Notable people with the name include: * Lloyd Stearman (1898–1975), American aviation pioneer * Richard Stearman (born 1987), English footballer * William Stearman (1813–1846) English cricketer * William L. Stearman (b ...

R aircraft for the "air race".

Reception

B.R. Crisler in his review of ''Isle of Destiny'' for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', noted, "The authors of the Rialto's current excursion in melodrama, "Isle of Destiny," certainly deserve to be commended for their resourcefulness, if for nothing else, because they have succeeded in cramming into one feature-length picture practically all of the tricks known to the adventure story. In fact, the writers seem to have been so impressed by the plethora of material that they didn't pay much attention to continuity. As a result the film becomes somewhat entangled at times in its own plot manipulations."Crisler, B. R
"The screen; 'Isle of Destiny'."
''The New York Times'', August 19, 1943. Film historians Richard Jewell and Vernon Harbin in ''The RKO Story'' (1982) considered ''Isle of Destiny'', "laughable exoticism" with "... wretched screenplay ... frenzied direction and inept performances by the lead actors..."Jewell and Harbin 1982, p. 146.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Jewell, Richard B. and Vernon Harbin. ''The RKO Story''. New York: Arlington House, 1982. .

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Isle Of Destiny 1940 films American aviation films 1940s English-language films Films directed by Elmer Clifton Grand National Films films Cinecolor films Films set in Oceania Films about the United States Marine Corps American adventure comedy-drama films 1940s adventure comedy-drama films 1940s American films