Miss Robin Crusoe

The classic Robinson Crusoe story is given a makeover with a role reversal in this cheaply shot B film.

It's Amanda Blake who went to sea in male drag that's the survivor of a shiowreck and stranded in a tropic island off Brazil in the 17th century. And as in the Daniel Defoe classic she rescues Rosalind Hayes, a tribal woman slated to be a sacridice to their Deity. She's less than thrilled with the honor.

Blake and Hayes live well on the island and there's more than a hint of lesbianism in the relationship. It all changes when hunky George Nader of the British navy also gets stranded.

This film should have a place of honor in the gay cinema. Sadly it looks like it was a dental floss budget that was available.

Amanda Blake (Miss Kitty from "Gunsmoke") plays "Miss Robin Crusoe" in this low-budget, rather crudely made female version of the Daniel Defoe classic. Blake--who bears a striking resemblance here to British beauty Hazel Court--is the survivor of a shipwreck whose lifeboat beaches on a deserted island. She tries her best, but the script is weak and contrived, and the fact that most of it is filmed on a sound stage by director Eugene Frenke--a longtime European producer who was married to Anna Sten, here credited as "technical adviser"--in a routine, by-the-numbers fashion doesn't help, either. Blake saves native girl Friday (Rosalind Hayes) from being sacrificed by her tribe, and not long afterward hunky George Nader washes up ashore, the survivor of a shipwreck. There's somewhat of a twist in the proceedings when Nader attempts to take charge of things and plans to take the lifeboat out to search for passing ships, but is firmly told by Blake that SHE is in charge on the island and SHE decides what actions are to be taken.

Unfortunately, though, the film soon degenerates into a sappy love triangle when Friday--who Blake basically treats like a slave and at one point actually refers to her as "a savage"--in a fit of jealousy lets Nader eat some poison fruit that almost kills him, and Blake starts to fall for him.

About the best that can be said for it is that it's well photographed, but since most of it is, as noted, shot on a sound stage, that doesn't matter much. Frenke was a better producer than he is a director; Nader is, as usual, bland and colorless; relative unknown Hayes doesn't make much of an impression as Friday; and Blake, while looking fetching in a skimpy outfit similar to that worn by Jane in the "Tarzan" movies, tries but can't overcome a poor script and slovenly direction.

Worth watching once for the novelty of seeing a female version of the classic novel, but no more than that.

For the past year or so, Turner Classic Movies has been digging up several forgotten obscurities that probably haven't seen the light of day since their original release dates. Such an oddity is MISS ROBIN CRUSOE, a 1954 Fox pickup shown in a pristine, beautifully Pathecolored print this morning at 6 AM. The two other reviews have gleefully pointed out this unpretentious programmer's shortcomings. In defense, I'd like to list its merits. For one, while one critic griped that the movie was obviously shot on a studio soundstage, this is untrue. Several scenes were filmed on location with the stars cavorting in front of spectacular Pacific Ocean vistas(no process shots here!). Then-newcomers Amanda Blake and George Nader could easily have sleepwalked thru the proceedings but act with such sincerity and conviction that it's no wonder both of them quickly went on to stardom: Ms. Blake on TV's legendary 20-year series "Gunsmoke", while Nader was quickly signed to a Universal-International contract (and starred in such 'A' features as "Unguarded Moment", "Away All Boats", "Four Girls in Town", "The Second Greatest Sex" and the unjustly overlooked superior second-feature "Man Afraid"--I've always been grateful to this gentleman for responding to my fan letter, at the age of 8, with a personally autographed 5x7 photo and a hand-written letter of appreciation!). Feminists could write a fascinating thesis on this gender-reversed take on Dafoe's classic novel. (The censors must have been comatose when, towards the conclusion, Ms. Blake and Nader engage in an oceanside coupling that, for pure eroticism, outdoes the similar-but-much-celebrated clinch in "From Here to Eternity" and did I detect a sapphic undertone in the scene where the female Friday gazes at and touches the sleeping Ms. Blake's body?) All of this packed into an action-packed 73-minute running time, scored by the then-unknown Elmer Bernstein. I'm by no means recommending that you go out of your way to track down "Miss Robin Crusoe" but the next time (if ever) it turns up on TCM, you might give it a try. It's certainly far more fun than the Peter O'Toole/Richard Roundtree "revisionist" version of Dafoe's tale, the godawful "Man Friday"!

Extremely silly and tiresome, but the actors do try and the cinematography is vivid. It's not to be confused with Luis Bunuel's brilliant version, released a few months later.

It's 1659. Miss Robin Crusoe (Amanda Blake) gets stranded on a tropical island after losing her family when her ship sinks in a storm. She manages to fight off a lecherous crewman and pushes him off a cliff. She befriends a monkey and builds a tree top home. She rescues a native girl from being sacrificed by her tribe. She gives her the name Friday. The two women live comfortably in isolation until another shipwreck survivor Jonathan washes up onshore.

The first thing I noticed with this female castaway is that she has plenty of makeup but no fire. It's telling that the fire isn't shown until the man makes one. Here's the deal. I think people back in the day panned it for changing the gender of the role. There is definitely a lot of man-hating female empowerment which would be off-putting back then. It also whiplashes back which is just as off=putting. It struggles with its own gender agenda. For me, the bigger problem is the dated colonial views of the source material. In the end, it's better than expected but nothing to write home about. They should have gone full Tom Hanks' Cast Away but that's asking too much for this B-movie. At least, there are some scenes of nature and animals and wave lapping shores. The acting is somewhat bad and the writing is worst. It's interesting for pushing the gender envelope but it folds up that envelope just as quickly. The romantic melodrama is a matter of bad writing and chaotic story telling. It leaves Robin in a bad light. In the end, this is an interesting attempt but ultimately, a failure. It's also noteworthy that non of the writers or director is a woman. It's noticeable with the words coming out her mouth. The dialogue is generally clunky. I'm a sucker for Survivor but this has too many problems.