![]() The fighting sequences aren't staged particularly well, but I did find myself engrossed in the plight of the two main characters.īattle of Blood Island (1960) ** 1/2 (out of 4) American GI's Moe (Richard Devon) and Ken (Ron Gans) are the only survivors of their platoon and they wash up on an island held by the Japanese. I'm guessing this stems from the Philip Roth story on which it is based. At one point Moe says to Ken, "Why you, I oughta." For a low budget "war film" the movie is actually more thoughtful than action oriented. Ken is kind of a whiner (like most Yankee players and fans) and he gets on Moe's nerves. ![]() Moe and Ken then have the island and the movie entirely to themselves. They periodically kill off a Japanese soldier here and there, and eventually the Japanese soldiers figure there is no way to get out of the movie other than to kill themselves. At first Moe and Ken must survive hiding in a cave as the island is occupied by the Japanese. Ron Kennedy plays Ken who is a pitching prospect for the Yankees in civilian life. Richard Devon plays Moe, who in civilian life is a happily married accountant. Oops.Ī couple of soldiers are stranded on an island in the Pacific during WW II. ![]() And, for that matter, they cannot talk like a parrot of mynha bird. This bird lives ONLY around the Caribbean as well as Central and South America-not the Pacific. By the way, the film really blew it with the toucan. When the healthy guy was finally discovered by the soldiers who were rounding up the goats and pigs, wouldn't have been wild if at that point it turned out there really WAS only one survivor on the island and the sick guy had died long before and was only now a figment of the other man's imagination? This "Twilight Zone" ending would have improved the film considerably-especially since the ending otherwise didn't make complete sense. But, I think they missed their chance for a great twist ending. I predicted that the island would be Bikiki or some other island used for nuclear testing because goats and other livestock were released on the islands to see the effects of the bomb on them (that's kind of sad, huh?). But, despite this, the film still is different and pretty well acted. A gay love interest seems to be the only answer. I especially was intrigued by what I thought was a gay subtext late in the film when the one healthy guy did NOT try to communicate with the American ships passing by-making you wonder if he really liked the idea of spending the rest of his life with the other man! But, sadly, the film didn't really follow up on this.making you wonder WHY the healthy guy didn't try to signal the ship. The relationship between the two men makes up an interesting second half of the film. This is a pretty novel idea and without a working radio, I am sure there must been a few cases like this at the end of the war. Now the two men realize that although they will indeed survive, perhaps no one will ever come to rescue them-after all, the island is small and the Americans probably assumed the entire unit was wiped out in the earlier attack. When the two soldiers have mustered up the nerve to attack the dozen or so occupants, just before they do so, the Japanese soldiers obligingly kill themselves-apparently they just found out they lost the war and decided to commit mass suicide. The healthy guy saves the wounded one and they hide from the tiny occupying Japanese force through the first half of the film. Two manage to survive.but one just barely. When the story begins, a small group of US Marines have already been killed as they were trying to take this small Pacific island (though the film was actually made in Puerto Rico). There really isn't any battle-at least not that you'll see in this action-less action picture. The biggest problem with the film is probably the title. However, unlike the wretched and extremely boring "Shell Shock", "Battle of Blood Island" manages to be entertaining despite its many shortcomings. Both are ultra-low budget WWII films that were made during the post-war period. This film and "Shell Shock" have been packaged together by Something Weird Video.
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