Escape from Hell Island

1963's "Escape from Hell Island" is a no budget yawner directed by its star, Mark Stevens, who in the 1940s had worked opposite such actresses as Lucille Ball and Olivia De Havilland. As a director, he at least showed ingenuity in filming off Key West, as a captain hired to rescue some escaping Cubans from Castro's regime. Unfortunately, the ease with which he conducts the rescue leaves the film lurching through its final hour with nothing but a romance with a woman whose weakling hubby spends the last couple of reels keeping our hero from boarding his own boat, while a little stock footage (very little) of swimming sharks makes for a feeble attempt at suspense. This was one of the 16 Crown International titles that popped up on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater during the 1976-77 season, paired on Jan 1 1977 with second feature "The Lost World" (1960), which at least had the advantage of being in color. Mark Stevens subsequently kept busy in Europe, where he shot the German "Frozen Alive," a more suitable title for Chiller Theater that alas never appeared.