Associate producer: Dennis Van Thal. Produced by Ian Dalrymple. A Modern Screen Play Production. A Columbia Picture.
New York opening at the Fine Arts: 14 December 1957. U.S. release: April 1958. U.K. release: 21 July 1957. Australian release: 27 February 1958. 8,399 feet. 93 minutes.
Alternative U.S. release title: PARADISE LAGOON.
SYNOPSIS: Butler takes charge of a shipwrecked yacht party.
NOTES: Other film versions of the Barrie play: In addition to Cecil B. De Mille's Male and Female, there's also a British silent directed by G.B. Samuelson, released early in 1918, using the play's original title. Basil Gill starred as Crichton, Mary Dibley was Lady Mary, while Lennox Pawle played Lord Loam. (Sony market an excellent DVD of this 1957 version).
COMMENT: Reasonably entertaining. The screenwriter no doubt realized that the satire was somewhat dated, so the comedy aspects are not stressed.
Romance and the making-do Robinson Crusoe desert island adventures are uppermost in the writer's mind and the players play it that way with even the climactic Martita Hunt inquisition acted out more for its drama than comedy.
Kenneth More is looking a little old, but the girls are attractive, the cast competent and the direction capable, if somewhat unimaginative.
Aside from some rather obvious special effects and process work, credits are likewise capably serene.
OTHER VIEWS: Not the definitive version, but a most enjoyable one. Mere froth and bubble, it is all most stylishly played (especially by More and Miss Howes), directed with wit, and beautifully in period. — E.V.D.
New York opening at the Fine Arts: 14 December 1957. U.S. release: April 1958. U.K. release: 21 July 1957. Australian release: 27 February 1958. 8,399 feet. 93 minutes.
Alternative U.S. release title: PARADISE LAGOON.
SYNOPSIS: Butler takes charge of a shipwrecked yacht party.
NOTES: Other film versions of the Barrie play: In addition to Cecil B. De Mille's Male and Female, there's also a British silent directed by G.B. Samuelson, released early in 1918, using the play's original title. Basil Gill starred as Crichton, Mary Dibley was Lady Mary, while Lennox Pawle played Lord Loam. (Sony market an excellent DVD of this 1957 version).
COMMENT: Reasonably entertaining. The screenwriter no doubt realized that the satire was somewhat dated, so the comedy aspects are not stressed.
Romance and the making-do Robinson Crusoe desert island adventures are uppermost in the writer's mind and the players play it that way with even the climactic Martita Hunt inquisition acted out more for its drama than comedy.
Kenneth More is looking a little old, but the girls are attractive, the cast competent and the direction capable, if somewhat unimaginative.
Aside from some rather obvious special effects and process work, credits are likewise capably serene.
OTHER VIEWS: Not the definitive version, but a most enjoyable one. Mere froth and bubble, it is all most stylishly played (especially by More and Miss Howes), directed with wit, and beautifully in period. — E.V.D.