A Ilha dos Amores

Plot synopsis:

Sterling Hayden is a salt farmer on an island in the Bahamas. When his father dies in an accidental fall, it pushes his unstable mother (Flora Robson) over the edge. She believes he was murdered by the natives of the island. She asks to leave the island and takeup residence on another island.

Leo G. Carroll and his daughter Madeline Carroll (no relation) arrive at the island and help them out. Sterling Hayden is married and does not reveal this fact to Madeline Carroll, and she falls in love with him. When she finds out he is married she is upset and feels like a fool for falling for him.

Meanwhile, Flora Robson has gotten Leo G. Carroll worked up and he believes as well that the islanders are out to kill them. In a weak moment he shoots and kills a native boy, and the trouble begins for everyone.

The film was shot on location in the Bahamas and the scenery is breathtakingly beautiful. The film was shot in technicolor and the colors originally must have been bright and vibrant. Watching the movie made me wish I was there.

Madeline Carroll is breathtakingly beautiful in this film. Dressed most of the time in white she gives off a inner glow. Sterling Hayden will surely make female hearts flutter (and a few men too) he seems to spend the better portion of the film shirtless.

The supporting cast is good and able. Mary Anderson plays Hayden's wife, though she appears in only one brief scene. Dorothy Dandridge appears as a maid in this film, early in her career, and is only in a few scenes.

This film is still under copyright and is not available on VHS or DVD. If you can get a copy of this film I suggest you watch it. The scenery and the cast alone make it worth while.