kapelusznik18 ****SPOILERS**** Gilbert Roland as prisoner #129 or Dan Curtis is stuck on the penal island of Curuba where his wife using a fake name Diana Bryce,Helen Gilbert,is planning to help him escape. That with the help of prison doctor Henry Brown, Alan Mowbray, by faking his death from typhoid and sneaking him off the island on a docked freighter delivering supplies. Diana got herself on the island by having the ship she was on attacked by a slow and lumbering Japanese bomber that she may have paid off to strife it and now is using her time on the island to get Dan or "Danny Boy" off it. It's just as Dan was about to get freed that Diana found out that he was really a low down and two timing creep and decided to leave him. That after paying off the captain of the freighter "Mariposa" Capt. Sanchez, Ernie Adams, with her last dollar as well as wedding ring.Dan pressing his luck starts up with Sanchez and his crew on the "Mariposa" only to get overwhelmed and killed by them in the process. It's now up to Diana to get herself off the island without being implicated in trying to have her husband brake out and end up being there as the only woman among some 200 woman hungry men imprisoned there! Forgotten little movie that should have stayed forgotten to save the reputations of all those in it-That are very probably all dead by now-in any of their future film endeavors.It's the beautiful blonde bombshell Helen Gilbert as Diana Bryce that makes the film as well as her well worth watching. She in fact switched horses in mid stream and ends up with the Governor of the penal colony Merrill Hammond, John Howard, after leaving her cheating husband "Danny Boy" twist in the wind. And having him end up getting his just deserts when he tried to, like he did Diana, double cross Captain Sanchez who's crew mates ended up doing him in.

boblipton That's the first and frankly the best thing I can say about this movie. In more than fifty years of watching movies from Monogram, mostly on TV, this is the best print I've ever seen of a movie from the MGM of the South. It's sharp, bright and undimmed by wear.What that usually means with very old movies is that the original elements have not been bothered for a long time. No pulling off 16 mm. prints for the TV market. In other words, an absolute bomb.And, despite the beauty of the photography, that's what we have here. Writer-director Oswald started out in Germany in the 1910s and did a lot of work with the Expressionist movement in Germany, so this movie about how John Howard brings an assortment of Types to the prison colony he runs is full of great symbolic meaning that might have appealed to the audiences in the big cities, but not to the markets that Monogram sold into: small towns and Saturday matinées. It's also shot on underdecorated sets that remind me of many cheap off-off-off Broadway plays that I saw in the days when I looked at such things.He has assembled a decent cast. John Howard was one of those leading men who never got a decent vehicle; Alan Mowbray and Gilbert Roland always gave worthwhile performances with twinkles in their eyes and Helen Gilbert plays a classically trained pianist with an attitude and unlimited peroxide on a tramp steamer.Oswald's direction is stolidly Teutonic as everyone yearns for a better world, one in which Japanese bombers do not attack and prison colonies on tropical islands are where lovers can meet. It's the stolidity that is paramount, however.

Jay Raskin Like most Monogram films, about three sets are used for 75% of the picture. Unlike most Monogram films, this one has some fine writing, acting and direction.The best thing about this film is Helen Gilbert. In the film, two men fall madly in love with her and basically commit crimes and throw away their careers away for her after seeing her only a few times. Helen is just beautiful enough to make this believable. He is posed, intelligent and plays the piano beautifully.In real life she was married seven times between 1938 and 1950. One can only imagine how many proposals she turned down. She only starred in four or five movies and it is hard to understand why she did not become a much bigger star.As usual, Alan Mowbray gives a wonderfully comic performance, as the doctor who quickly losses his objectivity over Helen. As usual, Gilbert Rowland is effective as a convict trying to escape from a prison island.Nothing much happens in the film. It doesn't quite fit into any genre type, being a mix of romantic comedy and escape from prison melodrama. Yet, it manages to be mostly surprising, breezy and fun. Its a nifty little picture from Monogram, well worth the one hour and six minutes it takes to see it.Seven of my eight points is for Helen Gilbert.

zardoz-13 Veteran Teutonic producer & director Richard Oswald made nearly a 100 silent and sound films in his native Germany before he sought voluntary exile in Hollywood after Adolf Hitler and the Nazis rose to power in 1933. Oswald and Robert Chapin adapted the Gina Kaus and Ladislas Fodor play "The White Lady" and retitled it "Isle of Missing Men." This low-budget, 67 minute, black & white, B-movie about deception and betrayal takes place on an obscure, uncharted island near Australia that serves as a penal colony in the South Pacific. The storyline concerns a attractive but mysterious lady who pulls the wool over an unsuspecting bachelor's eyes. Although "Isle of Missing Men" takes place against the backdrop of World War II, the politics of the war are never discussed in any detail. Governor Merrill Hammond (John Hammond of the "Bulldog Drummond" franchise) has been dying to meet Diana Bryce (Helen Gilbert of "The Secret of Dr. Kildare") who booked passage aboard the S.S. Bombay in Calcutta in route to Australia. The night before he is scheduled to be dropped off at the island of Caruba, Hammond gets the chance to talk to the sultry blond. Hammond persuades Diana to spend a week on Caruba and then catch a supply ship back to Melbourne where she intends to meet her brother. Little does the amorous Prison Governor of Caruba suspect that Diana is playing him for a sucker. Hammond allows Diana to occupy a bungalow that he had built years ago for his wife who died because the climate didn't agree with her. The night that Hammond and Diana meet, a Japanese bomber drops a load of bombs on the S.S. Bombay. Shrouded by the fog, the ship escapes without a scratch. When Diana and he reach the island, Hammond introduces her to George Kent (Bradley Page of "Top Sergeant"), the lieutenant governor of the colony, and Bob Henderson (Kenneth Duncan of "Code of the Outlaw"), his secretary. Hammond arranges for them to dine with Diana and he, along with colony physician Dr. Henry Brown (Alan Mowbray of "Footlight Fever"), who displays considerable cynicism. The doctor has had his hands full lately not only with prisoner who died during an escape attempt but also an outbreak of typhus. Dr. Brown and George Kent don't see eye to eye on how to treat inmates afflicted with typhus. Hammond isn't particularly happy that Kent ordered the shooting of the fleeing inmate. Hammond and Kent remain at odds with each other throughout the film. Kent is particularly suspicious about Diana. After dinner, Diana sits is playing the piano when she is startled by the sight of Thomas 'Dan' Bentley, alias Curtis (Gilbert Roland of "Our Betters"), at the window. Kent brandishes a revolver and catches Curtis before he can get away.Once everybody has left, Curtis sneaks back to the bungalow. Diana assures him he can have whatever he needs to escape. Naturally, Curtis is overjoyed to see her. He likes it that she has the prison governor "wrapped around her little finger." He tells her he has been convicted of murder. Nevertheless, he claims he is innocent and acted only in self-defense when he killed a man. Curtis has been locked up on Caruba for two years but faces eight more years. "I lost my head. When I was arrested, I was afraid of a scandal and I gave the name Curtis." Dan didn't want to involve Diana. She observes that Dan isn't the same man. "There's a tramp steamer due here day after tomorrow. Everything is arranged with the captain. He has a forged passport for me and clothes. With his help, I can get to a safe port. He better not double-cross me." Diana urges Curtis to seek a new trial. Dan insists a new trial would take far too long. The ever suspicious Kent barges into the bungalow. He says he heard Diana talking to somebody. She points out that she was reading aloud from a book of Shakespeare's sonnets. Kent hears somebody approaching the bungalow. He threatens to shoot until he learns Hammond has come to see Diana. The prison governor has brought a detective novel for Diana to read. Kent leaves. Curtis hides in another room while Diana refuses to stroll in the moonlight with Hammond. Later, Curtis is caught by a guard in the jungle. The authorities find the jewelry and money Diana had given Curtis. Kent's snooping around puts Diana in a bad light, but Hammond suspects no ulterior motives on her part. Nevertheless, despite his desire to see her stay on Caruba, Hammond urges Diana to leave. When she decides to stay, Hammond takes her to Dr. Brown so he can vaccinate her against the many maladies that infest Caruba. Like Hammond, Brown has tumbled head over heels for Diana. Indeed, she persuades him to fake the death of inmate 129, her husband. Earlier, Brown's obese Nurse Pauline (Kitty O'Neil of "Back Street") had him sign two death certificates for inmates who had succumbed to typhus. Diana convinces Brown, in spite of his friendship and loyalty to Hammond, to stage Dan's death. After he leaves, Diana scrutinizes her husband's records. He has three occasions, one for forgery, another for bigamy, and the third for second degree murder. The unrelenting Kent gathers more evidence that implicates Diana and Curtis. Hammond refuses to act on this new information. Meanwhile, Brown takes Kent to solitary where Curtis dies from typhus. Brown arranges to bury Curtis' body. For once Kent doesn't probe Curtis' death. Curtis meets Diana at the dock when the tramp steamer Mariposa docks. She realizes he isn't the man that she once loved. The last five minutes of this romantic Monogram Pictures' release contain several reversals not only in the narrative but also in the attitude of various characters. Oswald directs this tolerable little potboiler with efficiency so that the action never bogs down.