Taglines: He dared to love a cannibal princess.
Enchanted Island movie storyline. Two 19th-century sailors, Abner (Dana Andrews) and Tom (Don Dubbins), jump ship after their captain, Vangs (Ted de Corsia), refuses them shore leave and warns them what a dangerous place this particular island is. They disobey him and soon discover their tropical paradise is a cannibal stronghold.
There are two tribes on the island, one friendly, but the other, the Typee, a cannibal tribe. Jimmy Dooley (Arthur Shields), a white man like themselves, befriends the newcomers and offers them a “hideout,” but it turns out Dooley has been hired by Vangs to find his missing men.
Abney becomes acquainted with the beautiful Fayaway (Jane Powell), adopted daughter of the chief, Mehevi (Friedrich von Ledebur), from a long-ago relationship between a shipwrecked sailor and a native girl. When a fight between tribes breaks out, Tom wants to flee but Abner likes island life and the girl. He fights with the Typee and saves Mehevi’s life.
Tom takes off, determined to get away from here and back to civilization. The chief approves of the love between Abner and Fayaway and permits them to wed. But soon comes the discovery that Tom did not get away, and when Abner and Fayaway interrupt a cannibalistic ritual, they are sentenced to death by Mehevi.
Enchanted Island is a 1958 Technicolor adventure film distributed by Warner Bros., directed by Allan Dwan, produced by Benedict Bogeaus, and written by Harold Jacob Smith, James Leicester, and Al Stillman. It is based on Herman Melville’s novel Typee, which was also the film’s working title. The title song, “Enchanted Island”, written by Stillman and Robert Allen, was performed on the soundtrack by The Four Lads, who had a hit recording of the song on Columbia Records.
The film started out as an RKO movie, but when RKO when bankrupt, it was released by Warner Bros. Enchanted Island was also the next-to-last film directed by Dwan, whose prolific career dated back to 1913. It was the last big-screen appearance of one of the film’s stars, Jane Powell.
Enchanted Island (1958)
Directed by: Allan Dwan
Starring: Dana Andrews, Jane Powell, Don Dubbins, Arthur Shields, Ted de Corsia, Friedrich von Ledebur, Agustín Fernández, Francisco Reiguera, Dale Van Sickel, Eddie Saenz, Paul Stader
Screenplay by: James Leicester, Harold Jacob Smith
Cinematography by: Jorge Stahl, Jr.
Film Editing by: James Leicester
Art Direction by: Hal Wilson Cox
Makeup Department: Burris Grimwood
Music by: Raúl Lavista
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: November 8, 1958
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