Isle of Fury (1936) **

 Release Date: October 10, 1936

Running Time: 60 minutes

Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Margaret Lindsay, Donald Woods, E.E. Clive, Paul Graetz

Directed by: Frank McDonald

Early in the history of Hollywood, studios would sign actors to contracts and then would throw them into as many pictures as they could shuffle out to get the most bang for their buck. As long as your films weren’t bombing consistently you generally stayed on contract. If your Star was rising significantly during this time when it came time to renew that contract you could use that as leverage to get a better contract, even if that meant going to a rival studio who was willing to pay more for your box office appeal. Meanwhile, the average up-and-comer had little to no clout when it came to choosing what they would or would not appear in. It was a catch-22. If you complained too much you were labeled as ‘difficult.’ If you said nothing and just did whatever you were told you risked being sunk by terrible films. The best you could do was be good in something, even if that something was terrible. Christopher Lee made the observation that every actor makes bad films. The trick is to not be bad in them. Such is the case with Isle of Fury, a film that would not be out of place in the Roger Corman catalog. 

One of the films real highlights is Humphrey Bogart playing the enigmatic Val Stevens. Val is living on an island in the Pacific, managing local pearl divers. When we first see Val he is getting married to the lovely Lucille Gordon (Margaret Lindsay) when the ceremony is interrupted by news that a ship off the coast is sinking. The remainder of the ceremony is quickly concluded and Val rushes off on a rescue mission, saving Captain Denver (Paul Graetz) and a passenger, Eric Blake (Donald Woods). Val is painted as a bit quixotic but ultimately friendly and welcoming to the two strangers.

Blake, upon recovering from the shipwreck, is soon smitten by Lucille, a feeling that plagues him even after hearing that she is a married woman. He is also deeply troubled upon hearing the name of his rescuer. The name is familiar to him but he gives no indication as to why. Blake’s fondness for Lucille goes unnoticed by Val but not to the local doctor and friend of Val’s, Dr. Hardy. In one conversation between the two, Dr. Hardy spells out a comparison between Blake and Lucille with that of King David and Bathsheba in the Bible. The conversation is heavy handed and a bit on the nose, yet not to the point of being preachy. It does, however, feel like the Blake and Lucille moments were written into the film to shew-in this comparison. Donald Woods fails to convince us that he truly has romantic interests in Lucille. 

Meanwhile, Val’s character is being put to the test when his pearl divers refuse to dive anymore thanks to several of the men not returning to the surface. Val sees no value in threatening them or trying to force them into the water. Instead, he puts himself in danger by going down himself to prove there is nothing to be afraid of. It is during his dive we get a real Cormanesque flavor to the film, twenty years before Corman made his first film. The effects during that dive and what is found down there are laughably bad. Movies in the mid to late 50’s would center their whole movie around this premise. Thankfully, Isle of Fury relegates it to just a few short minutes, then seems to completely forget about it.

Ultimately it is revealed that Blake is there to arrest Val who has a warrant issued for murder. Blake, upon getting first hand experience into Val’s character, begins to doubt the validity of the claims against Val and must make a choice between arresting him of leaving without him. The finale, along with the moral decision Blake must make feels rushed and incomplete. This type of thing would have been better served cropping up early in the film and wrestled with throughout the majority of it. Instead it is just a few short minutes towards the end. 

This is the type of film actors early in their careers takes on because they have no choice. Lessor performers would just sleepwalk through it, accepting that it was bad but taking the paycheck. Bogart looks genuinely happy to be here, something he would not be able to do a few years later in such films as The Return of Doctor X or The Two Mrs. Carrolls. Here he is still having fun in the part, even if, even this early in his career, the part is beneath him.