Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

best movie i've ever seen.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Jane Powell and Dana Andrews star in this exotic, south seas story by Herman Melville. Sailor Aber Bedford falls for island beauty "Fayaway". Mean whaler captain Vangs tells the men they have only ONE hour ashore. There's a cheesy fight scene on the beach, when two of the sailors decide to stay on the island, but that's the beginning of the trouble. One of them has an infection from a knife wound, and they have stumbled into the cannibal part of the island. Don Dubbins is "Tom", the wing man. I think part of the charm of this film is that not many people were traveling in the 1940s and 1950s, so seeing a film about "south sea adventures" was extra fun. The story itself is okay. But why would sailors WANT to stay in the village where they could be killed by the natives? They had numerous chances to leave. Run-of-the-mill love story. Boy meets native girl. Boy falls for native. Can this work out, or will their traditions get in the way? Directed by Allan Dwan... he only directed one more film after this one. Pretty good film, mostly for the island adventure theme.

According to her memoir Jane Powell was initially excited about doing Enchanted Island in which she sang not a note, donned a black wig as there were not too many blonds inhabiting the South Seas and spoke in monosyllable Tarzan style dialog. But Jane did not show her acting chops and it turned into a bad location with a disinterested director in Allan Dwan and a leading man in Dana Andrews who was at the height of his alcoholic problems.Add to that the fact that RKO the producing studio was going out of business and Enchanted Island was sold in a studio fire sale to Warner Brothers. All in all it was a disaster.I suppose a vacation to Acapulco standing in for the South Seas was worth something to all involved in Enchanted Island. A New Bedford trading ship puts in to a South Sea Island and just as the men are starting to loosen up with the women, Captain Ted DeCorsia who is a true New England puritan abruptly calls a halt to things. That doesn't sit well with two of the crew Dana Andrews and Don Dubbins. They take off for the interior of the island where they run into Jane Powell's tribe reputed to be cannibals.Just about what you would expect to happen happens in this setting. Dubbins gets homesick for his girl in New Bedford and that starts everything unraveling. According to Jane Powell the ending was changed so that she would not die. But if the indifferent performances hadn't spoiled the film already, the changed ending certainly did. This film is definitely not what author Herman Melville had in mind when he wrote his novel Typee on which this film is based. Typee incidentally is the name of the tribe Jane belongs to.The one saving grace of the film is Arthur Shields as the cheerful Mr. Dooley who has gone native as the British would say with gusto. He's populated the island with all kinds of children and they all seem to be girls. But Powell isn't one of his. He attributes her blue eyes to a passing Swede who was her father. I guess RKO couldn't afford contacts for Jane as they were liquidating.Except for Shields no one comes out of Enchanted Island the film with any kudos. I should also say though that The Four Lads did get a hit record out of the title song.

This odd adventure film, set in the tropics and probably shot in Hawaii, stars the horrendously miscast Dana Andrews as a lawless sailor who falls in love with an island maiden, essayed here by whiter than white Jane Powell in an equally turgid performance. I can't comment on the faithfulness of the adaptation, as I haven't read Melville's novel Typee, but Enchanted Island looks cheap (regardless of the colourful locales), is poorly acted, and is thoroughly dull. Even Jorge Stahl's colour cinematography looks like it was shot on leftover stock or 'ends'. A less than satisfactory late career move by director Allan Dwan, Enchanted Island is only for extremely loyal Andrews completists.

This is an interesting and fun movie. Evidently filmed in the Pacific - the extras appear to be Polynesian. Typical of '50's movies, however, the stars are all white. The use of the native Polynesian language adds an element of realism. The ending is more romantic than Melville's book, but the movie appears to have kept the general feeling of "Typee" from which the story is taken. In all it is movie to enjoy.