Like directorRobert Rossen's later work, "Lilith", this film is at first dismissed as a total mess but then you start to re-evaluate it and by the time you're done you've elevated it into the somewhat loftier realm of interesting failure. To begin with the obvious flaws: 1) It was made 15 years too soon. If it had appeared around 1973, when there were beginning to be numerous sources of independent film financing, then it would not have had to worry, as Darryl Zanuck did at Fox, about distribution in the American South and you wouldn't have had those embarrassingly tepid "love scenes" between Joan Fontaine and Harry Belafonte and the slightly steamier Dorothy Dandridge/John Justin. 2) Alfred Hayes' script is too damn long and has too many needless subplots. The one between Joan Collins and Stephen Boyd, two of Hollywood's less compelling actors, is especially enervating. 3) Rossen shamefully neglects what could have been a fascinating study in Carribean political intrigue. The one scene of electoral drama is the rally at the docks with dueling speeches by James Mason and Belafonte. Its power is an indication that there should have been more such stuff, especially from the director of "All The Kings Men." Now the interesting aspects: 1) Wonderful studies of decadence, poignance, and excessive pride from Mason, Joan Fontaine and Belafonte. Indeed, it is not a stretch to say that these first two have rarely been better and the third, never. 2) Wonderful, lush cinematography from Freddy Young that ironically contrasts with and thus visually comments on the internal rot of many of the characters. 3) Two great Belafonte songs, even though the second is awkwardly stuck into the middle of what should be an intense scene with him and Fontaine.
Bottom line: Flawed but it stays with you. Give it a B minus.
Bottom line: Flawed but it stays with you. Give it a B minus.