''Hell's Island'' is a 1955 American

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

directed by

Phil Karlson Phil Karlson (born Philip N. Karlstein; July 2, 1908 – December 12, 1982) was an American film director. Later noted as a ''film noir'' specialist, Karlson directed ''99 River Street'', ''Kansas City Confidential'' and ''Hell's Island'', all ...

starring John Payne and Mary Murphy. The film was shot in the

VistaVision VistaVision is a higher resolution, widescreen variant of the 35 mm motion picture film format that was created by engineers at Paramount Pictures in 1954. Paramount did not use anamorphic processes such as CinemaScope but refined the ...

wide-screen format. ''Hell's Island'' was re-released in 1962 under the title ''South Sea Fury''. The

working title A working title is a preliminary name for a product or project. The usage is especially common in film and TV, gaming, music and publishing. It is often styled in trade publications as (wt) and is synonymous with production title and tentative ...

s of this film were ''Love Is a Weapon'' and ''The Ruby Virgin''. The film is told as a flashback with Payne narrating the story.

Plot

After being dumped by his fiancée, hard-drinking and depressed Mike Cormack (Payne) loses his job in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

district attorney's office and serves as a bouncer in a

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

. A wheelchair-using stranger, Barzland ( Francis L. Sullivan), hires him to locate a

ruby Ruby is a pinkish-red-to-blood-red-colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapph ...

that disappeared in a Caribbean plane crash. He lures Cormack into doing the job by telling him it may be in the possession of the very woman who jilted him, Janet Martin (Murphy), who is now married to the pilot of the downed plane. The ex-detective flies to remote Santo Rosario to find the stone and investigate the mystery. When he finds his old flame, her husband is in prison. Cormack, again falling for Janet, is coaxed into helping him break out of jail. Her husband shocks Mike by revealing Janet sabotaged his plane, causing its crash, out to collect on his life insurance. Janet also double-crosses Mike, who discovers she has killed a man and has the ruby. Barzland returns but plunges to his death, and Mike watches the police take Janet away to jail.

Cast

* John Payne as Mike Cormack * Mary Murphy as Janet Martin * Eduardo Noriega as Inspector Peña * Francis L. Sullivan as Barzland *

Arnold Moss Arnold Moss (January 28, 1910 – December 15, 1989) was an American character actor. Early years Born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, Flatbush, Moss was a third-generation Brooklyn native. He attended Brooklyn's Boys High School (Brooklyn), Boys ...

as Paul Armand *

Paul Picerni Horacio Paul Picerni (December 1, 1922 – January 12, 2011) was an American actor in film and television, perhaps best known today in the role of Federal Agent Lee Hobson, second-in-command to Robert Stack's Eliot Ness, in the ABC hit televisi ...

as Eduardo Martin *

Walter Reed Walter Reed (September 13, 1851 – November 23, 1902) was a United States Army, U.S. Army physician who in 1901 led the team that confirmed the theory of Cuban doctor Carlos Finlay that yellow fever is transmitted by a particular mosquito ...

as Lawrence *

Pepe Hern José Hernández Bethencourt (June 6, 1927 – February 28, 2009), better known as Pepe Hern, was an American supporting actor, who usually played Spanish and Latino (primarily Mexican) roles throughout his career.Robert Cabal Robert Cabal (born Harold Christopher McColgan; April 7, 1917 – May 11, 2004) was an American film and television actor. He was a regular cast member of ''Rawhide Rawhide may refer to: *Rawhide (material), a hide or animal skin that has not ...

as Miguel (the houseboy) * Sándor Szabó as Johann Torbig

Production

The film was based on a story by Jack Leonard and Martin Goldmsith, who wrote the story for ''

The Narrow Margin ''The Narrow Margin'' is a 1952 American film noir starring Charles McGraw, Marie Windsor, and Jacqueline White. Directed by Richard Fleischer, the RKO picture was written by Earl Felton, based on an unpublished story by Martin Goldsmith ...

''. The film was also known as ''Chubasco'', ''Love is a Weapon'' and ''The Ruby Virgin''. At one stage

Fernando Lamas Fernando Álvaro Lamas y de Santos (January 9, 1915 – October 8, 1982) was an Argentine-American actor and director of the Golden Age of Argentine cinema. He is the father of actor Lorenzo Lamas. Biography Argentina Fernando Álvaro Lamas y ...

and

Arlene Dahl Arlene Carol Dahl (August 11, 1925 – November 29, 2021) was an American actress active in films from the late 1940s. Born in Minnesota to parents of Norwegian descent, Dahl started her acting career in musicals before transitioning to film, wh ...

were discussed for the lead roles. The casting of John Payne and Mary Murphy was announced in April 1954. Filming started 7 June 1954. The film comes near the end of the film noir cycle and at a time when Payne's unsmiling and fatigued expression in film had become something of a ''noir'' icon. Phil Karlson said "we took '' The Maltese Falcon'' 941and we did... The Maltese Falcon! In our own way."Todd McCarthy and Richard Thompson. "Phil Karlson: Interview, November 19, 1973" Kings of the Bs; Working Within the Hollywood System, eds. Todd McCarthy and Charles Flynn (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1975), pp. 327-345. Rpt. Cine Resort, Oct. 7 2014
/ref>

Reception

Critical response

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' panned the film, "All to the credit of ''Hell's Island'' — and we mean all—is an unstartling usage of VistaVision, which merely widens some pretty, crystal-clear and synthetic tropical backgrounds. But what a picture! Produced, for no discernible reason, by Paramount's Pine-Thomas unit, with John Payne and Mary Murphy featured, it arrived yesterday with the Palace's new vaudeville program ... It's all slow-moving and obvious and exasperating to find Mr. Payne led around so willingly by the nose ... Mr. Payne and Miss Murphy remain examples of perfect casting and miscasting." The review by the staff of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' magazine was more positive, "the Screenplay rom a story by Martin Goldsmith and Jack Leonardunfolds in the Caribbean port of Puerto Rosario, where the adventuring twirls around the search for a missing ruby. Phil Karlson gives narrative a hard glossing in his direction, occasionally letting down his pace but generally delivering a briskly-told tale in which capable players lend realism to colorful characters ... Payne socks over a hard-hitting role in excellent fashion, and Murphy takes on her first heavy role very competently."

Political

The film was brought up in a Senate subcommittee investigating juvenile delinquency.

Estes Kefauver Carey Estes Kefauver ( ; July 26, 1903 – August 10, 1963) was an American politician from Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1939 to 1949 and in the U.S. Senate from 1949 until h ...

was trying to find a link between films and delinquency. During one session, the poster of the film - showing Payne clutching Murphy, wearing a bathing suit - was shown to Y. Frank Freeman, vice-president of Paramount. Freeman said the poster was "very bad. There's no excuse for it."

References

External links

* * *
''Hell's Island''
at BFI
Review
at ''Variety'' {{Pine-Thomas 1955 films 1950s adventure drama films American adventure drama films Color film noir Films directed by Phil Karlson Paramount Pictures films Films about treasure hunting Films set in the Caribbean Cockfighting in film 1950s English-language films 1950s American films English-language adventure drama films VistaVision films