SERPENT ISLAND (1954)
Article 2018 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date:9-23-2006
Posting Date: 2-20-2007
Directed by Tom Gries
Featuring Sonny Tufts, Mary Munday, Tom Monroe

A woman hires a hard-drinking harbor bum to accompany her on a quest for a fortune of gold. However, the captain she hires to take them to Haiti also has his eyes on the prize….

Don’t let the fact that Bert I. Gordon produced this movie fool you; there are no giant monsters to be found in this rather lame tropical island/jungle tale. The fantastic aspects consist of stock footage of a voodoo ceremony, an element which really doesn’t play into the story at all, but merely serves as a mood enhancer once the action moves to the island during the second part of the movie. The first half of the movie mostly takes place on the boat, with a budding romance between the two main characters and someone trying to steal the letter with the info about the treasure. You should be able to figure out who the latter character is; you know it isn’t one of the two main characters, and of the only other three characters who exist in the cast outside of the stock footage, only one is on the boat. The acting is weak, the dialogue is clumsy, and there is little to recommend here; the best thing about it is that it manages to be just watchable enough to see you through the length of the movie, much of which is due to the fact that the hokey dialogue is good for a few laughs. Both Gordon and director Tom Gries would go on to better movies.