Very clever stuff from the pen of veteran Roland MacLane, popular tv writer who was a regular contributor to LEAVE IT TO BEAVER, among many other comedies. It does NOT get any better than this as each of the castaways figures prominently in the mysterious death of the distinguished Randolph Blake. Who? It seems, according to news headlines, one of the bunch bumped him off and hopped on board the SS MInnow in Hawaii to make their escape. One cool storyline for the books! Directed by Stanley Z. Cherry, an old friend of Bob Denver, who directed many episodes of his old show, DOBEY GILLIS.
Everybody goes nuts and begin accusing each other... but the best of the best has the crew re-staging their last moments with Mr. Blake, particularly Mr. And Mrs. Howell, in a film noir scene you cannot miss. This is abso-fabulous fun stuff, obviously a take-off on classic movie mysteries with some neat wardrobe changes. The on-going question, the one that has bugged me for decades, is WHERE did they get all their clothes???? Hilarious invention department: the professor's cocoanut guillotine --and you can see the fake cocoanuts? Prime suspects: Ginger and Mary Ann cooking up poison for mice???
Note the color in these restored episodes is absolutely stunning, comparable to the restored BATMAN episodes. From SEASON 2 CBS dvd box set.