Saturday Island (1952)
A South-Seas Shangri-La of romance and adventure beyond your wildest dreams!
When their hospital ship sinks in the South Pacific during WWII, military nurse Elizabeth Smythe and Marine Michael Dugan find themselves stranded — and soon enough, falling in love — on an idyllic tropical island. But when British pilot William Peck crash-lands on their cozy little atoll, Dugan suddenly discovers he has a rival in love.
- Date of release
- 1952-03-20
- TMDB
- 5.6 / 10 (7)
- Runtime
- 1h 33m
- Genres
- Adventure, War, Romance
- Director
- Stuart Heisler
Casting
- Linda Darnell — Lieutenant Elizabeth Smythe
- Tab Hunter — Marine Corporal Michael J. Dugan
- Donald Gray — William Peck
- John Laurie — Grimshaw
- Sheila Chong — Tukua
- Russell Waters — Dr. Snyder
- MacDonald Parke — Ship's Captain
- Michael Newell — Eddie
- Lloyd Lamble — Officer of the Watch
- Peter Butterworth — Wounded Marine
- Harold Ayer — Marine Sergeant
- Diana Decker — Mike
Interesting facts
Saturday Island is a 1952 British south seas adventure romance film directed by Stuart Heisler and starring Linda Darnell, Tab Hunter, and Donald Gray. The film was produced by independent company Coronado Productions with the financial backing of RKO Pictures who distributed it in Britain. It was released in America by United Artists under the alternative title Island of Desire.
Production
The film was based on a novel by Hugh Brooke which was published in 1935. The New York Times called it "a delightful adventure". Variety called it "an amiably pleasant novel... Few are likely to remember It, but those who read It will enjoy It."
Film rights came into the hands of David E. Rose who set up the project in England under Warner Bros. Stuart Heisler signed to direct and Linda Darnell agreed to star, her first British film. Don Taylor was originally set to be Darnell's co star. Donald Gray signed to play the second male lead.
Location filming started in Jamaica on 1 July 1951.
The male lead eventually went to Tab Hunter. Hunter was recommended by Paul Guilfoyle a character actor who heard Heisler was looking for an unknown. Hunter went to see Heisler who asked the actor to take off his shirt. Hunter says screenwriter Stephanie Nordeli was enthusiastic about him. He tested on Saturday and by Monday was getting his passport to travel to Jamaica.
Interiors were shot at Walton Studios near London. The film's sets were designed by the art director John Howell.
Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.
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