Flame of the Islands

I'm sure the cast and crew of Flame Of The Islands was grateful to Herbert J. Yates and Republic Pictures for a nice vacation in the Bahamas which were still a British colony when the film was released. The scenic cinematography of the Bahamas is the best thing that this film has going for it next to Yvonne DeCarlo's beauty. A pair of natural wonders.

As to the film itself it's a muddled cross between an action adventure film and a Back Street soap opera which I had trouble figuring out. Career woman DeCarlo is summoned by the widow Frieda Inescourt and given $100,000.00 in hush money as DeCarlo was Inescourt's late husband's Katharine Hepburn to his Spencer Tracy.

She takes the money and goes to the Bahamas to invest it in a new gambling club with Kurt Kaszner and on general principles one does not go into business with Kaszner and the characters he plays. Along for the ride is Zachary Scott. While in the Bahamas she meets up with both preacher/beachcomber James Arness and society lion Howard Duff and his Barbara O'Neil. Back when she was a teen Duff did her wrong.

One thing that you can rely on is that every male member in this cast was panting hot and heavy for Yvonne. Even the gangsters that Kaszner brought in as silent partners were giving her the once over. Who in this soap opera will Yvonne wind up with. That's for you to find out by watching.

A most subpar soap opera helped by Yvonne DeCarlo and those low cuts items she wears.

An enjoyable escapist fantasy shot in gleaming Trucolor in which Yvonne De Carlo sashays about the Bahamas while plainly seldom leaving the studio.

The men are mainly there to be infatuated with her. The competition comes in the form of two neurotic middle-aged women united in their loathing of De Carlo: the cool Frieda Inescort (playing an invalid with a stick and in reality already suffering from multiple sclerosis), and Barbara O'Neal - best remembered as Scarlett O'Hara's mother in 'Gone With the Wind' - again playing an ill-fated mother, this time Howard Duff's.

This film is a gem, epitomising the best of 1950's ' trashy films '. It is Camp in its way, and there are scenes of Yvonne de Carlo getting drunk in it worthy of Susan Hayward. The version I saw had lost some of its glowing colours, but better a poor copy than no copy at all. It has everything you want in this kind of ' exotic ' film of the period, when the poor flocked to their local cinemas to see places that only the rich could afford to go to. And often the dream is better than the reality, and in films like this Hollywood excelled peddling such dreams for a low price of admission. Howard Duff and Zachary Scott add to the colour of gamblers doomed to eventual failure, and there is a very camp scene where de Carlo swims to safety with a tall blond hunk, and both sexes would have swooned at such an erotic scene of tropical paradise. Track it down. Unavailable to find on DVD ( prove me wrong ) it should be restored to its glorious, if garish colour, and the 1950's furniture is an antique dealer's dream in itself. A definite 8 for those who need trash cinema as well as cinematic classics. And Yvonne de Carlo was definitely a presence on screen to be fondly remembered or for those who cry, who's she ? to discover.

Merely it had been filmed as an A movie it would have been a great movie since it has all the elements to be a hit: beautiful scenery and sets, scandal, money, and splendid Yvonne the Carlo at her best. Sadly, Republic was not MGM and so they made a B movie instead. Dance and sing scenes do not quite fit Miss de Carlo's style, choreography especially. Still, they are nice to watch and she looks gorgeous. Doug Duryea's character would have fit much better to Zachary Scott -who is totally wasted and has little to do with his role- rather than Howard Duff. The story has some similarity with Scarlet Angel but would have much improved with a better direction and script. Nice and entertaining film anyway.

The acting is absolutely appalling. The script is awful. The only saving grace is the location. Shall I keep repeating myself until I get to one hundred and fifty characters.