User Reviews

An interesting south seas island adventure & romance with a young Humphrey Bogart in a uncharacteristic early leading role as a fugitive on the run but now living an honest & reformed life as a romantic adventurer. The movie has a rather good plot with some twists & surprises, a young handsome detective sent to get Bogart is suspected of being a fugitive & we discover later that Bogart is the real fugitive instead. Bogart is very convincing & authoritative & even romantic in his role, a foreshadow of things to come. He even sports a mustache. This film bears a slight resemblance to "Red Dust", it has all the earmarks of a Clark Gable vehicle. The only weak aspect of the film is the ridiculous & laughable scene where Bogart gets attacked by an octopus while diving during a pearl hunting expedition. Bogart later denied ever making this movie, but the evidence is there & has survived. The scene would've had much more stronger impact if Bogart got attacked by a shark instead of an octopus. This movie will appeal to die hard Bogart fans as well as to film buffs of B movies & obscure, forgotten movies. For only 60 minutes running time it's worth a viewing if you can find it. Good Luck!!!!!

With a quick "I Do" and a hasty good bye kiss, Val Stevens (Humphrey Bogart) takes off to save a handful of sailors caught in a furious tropical storm off the island of Tankana, the "Isle of Fury" of the title. With a look that asks "Did I do the right thing?", wife Lucille (Margaret Lindsay) questions her circumstances even more following the rescue of Eric Blake (Donald Woods), a handsome man who begins to fall for Lucille as the film progresses. In a desperate attempt to keep his pearl diving business alive and pay off their island home, Val is blind to his new wife's insecurity, and even encourages Eric to spend time with Lucille as he recuperates.

The moral conscience of the film is provided by Doc Hardy (E.E. Clive), a friend of the Stevens', who inserts sage advice at appropriate times, even recounting at one point the Biblical story of David and Bathsheba. It was David who sent Bathsheba's warrior husband off to war to be killed, so he could take up with the widow.

In the film's back story, Tankana's nearby island natives are refusing to dive for Val, following the disappearance of two villagers in the waters off the island. To prove there is nothing to fear, Val himself dons diving gear and heads for open water as the watchful natives stare in anticipation.

Pay attention as Val and Eric prepare to head off to the natives' island. As Eric greets Val with "Good morning, Skipper", Val responds to Eric with a hearty "Good morning Val". Neither actor batted an eye, nor apparently did the director, as the scene remained in the film.

Val's deep sea dive turns unintentionally funny as just behind him and unseen, a rather awkward looking octopus is revealed to be the cause of the natives' fears. Going hand to tentacle in unarmed combat, Val is a sure goner when his lifeline and oxygen supply both rip free of the fishing boat. Eric proves heroic, diving into the deep to defeat the beast and save Val from certain death.

In a gesture of generosity, Val offers Eric a 50/50 partnership in the diving business to remain behind, but heeding the good Doc's advice, Eric knows he must return to civilization. After all, Eric is the law, and Val was his fugitive quarry, on the run from authorities following the death of a man, though it's not clearly established whether Val was actually guilty or not. What matters is that Eric doesn't think so, having seen Val act with honor and integrity on Tankana.

Though still early in his career, Humphrey Bogart had appeared in about a dozen films by the time "Isle of Fury" was released. Following his career progress through the early films, one recognizes a more and more confident actor, though this film suffers from awkward editing at times. That's no less a recommendation though, do see it if you can find a copy of this unreleased Warner Brothers adventure, or stay attentive to classic movie cable listings.

This is not Bogart's worst film-that honor is reserved for Swing Your Lady-but Isle of Fury is a serious contender. In a perfect world, this would have starred Gable for Bogart; Mary Astor/Jean Harlow for Lindsay; anonymous WB pretty-boy in the Donald Woods role.

Thoughts/Remarks/Observations:

* The octopus here makes the octopus in Bride of the Monster seem like it came from a Spielberg epic.

* Bogart does many, many things well-but sporting a pencil-thin mustache and/or a pith helmet are not among them.

*E.E. Clive was either very adept at playing drunks, or actually was drunk for most of the film.

I just watched this a second time, and I'm going to upgrade my rating a bit.

I am trying to keep in mind that the year was 1936. I can believe that Bogart once denied he ever made this film. Hardly the highlight of his career, but on the other hand, it was a B picture and the first time he got star billing.

I admit that the scene where the octopus is attacking Bogie (yes, really) is pretty fake looking...but maybe not so bad considering the year involved.

I will admit that with a little better writing and a little better cinematography, this film could have been pretty decent. A man with a less than stellar past is on the lam in the South Seas where he has turned over a new leaf (that's Bogart). At the beginning of the flick, he is getting married to Margaret Lindsay. In a storm (some good footage here), a ship wrecks on the reef, and a young man is saved (Donald Woods). That young man is secretly there to arrest Bogart, but he becomes his friend and falls in love with his wife.

Bogart is "okay" here. Except for an awful moustache! Margaret Lindsay probably did the best acting in the film. Although Donald Woods was not too bad. E. E. Clive was perhaps getting too old. Paul Graetz as the captain...how did he ever get in pictures?

The reason to watch this film is to see the birth of a career, at least in terms of star billing, even if it is a B picture.

Just don't go into it with high expectation. Accept it for a what it is. And have a little fun.

**SPOILERS** Base on the W. Somerset Maugham novel "Narrow Corner" the 1936 movie "Isle of Fury" has to do with a mixed up love triangle between Tantana island's pearl salesman Val Stevens, Humphrey Bogart, his newly wed wife Lucille, Margaret Lindsey, and the mystery man of the film Eric Blake, Donald Woods.

It's Eric who showed up at Tantana unexpectedly when the ship he was on was grounded on the island in a violent Pacific typhoon. With Eric as well as the ship's Captain Deever, Paul Graetz, saved by the valiant and fearless Val he soon was captivated by Val's new bride Lucille whom he hopelessly fell madly in love with. Val for his part never suspected any hanky panky going on between Eric and Lucille even going so far as offering Eric a job on the island that would keep him and Lucille close together when he went out, on his boat, on pearl diving expeditions. What Val also didn't suspect is exactly why Eric was on Tankana in the first place! This had to do with something that he did back in the states that he's been running from the last two years!

Humphrey Bogart, as the valiant Val Stevens, looking trim and fit as well as salty, from diving for pearls and fighting a giant octopus, tries to start a new life for himself on the South Pacifc island of Tankana but his somewhat dark & shady past keeps him from doing that. It's later in the film that we find out that Capt. Deever had some idea of what his passenger Eric Woods was really after in going to that out of the way island in the Pacific and it wasn't for it's sunshine and coconuts.

***SPOILERS*** Deever trying to stir up trouble, in order to make whatever his his plans were much easier, between Val & Eric plants this false and vicious rumor that Eric was sleeping with Val's old lady Lucille. Val whom Eric had earlier saved from being killed by the killer octopus now goes to confront, and kill, both Eric and Lucille for what they were doing behind his back! It's then that the psychotic and kill crazy Val is talked out of doing what he planned to do by Doc Hardy, E.E Clive, who knew the truth behind Val's flight from justice back in the US. Doc also knew that Eric had come to the same conclusion to what he did about Val being the Innocent victim or pasty in the murder of Richard Lord: whoever he was!

The one thing standing in the way of Val's freedom from a life sentence or execution by the state was the greedy and money hungry Capt. Deever who had shown earlier, in trying to rip off Eric's billfold, what a low down skunk he was. Luckily for everyone in the movie, except Capt. Deever, old man Chris Anderson, Gordon Hart, who was hiding in the bushes, and drinking his spiced gin & tonic, just happened to show up unannounced at the scene. Coming up on him from behind Chris put Deever's sinister plan, together with himself, in turning Val over to the police, for a hefty reward, on ice!

. . . "What this country needs is a good five cent flick in which 'Bogart' wrestles an octopus." Always willing to do its patriotic duty, Warner Bros. soon released ISLE OF FURY, in which "Humphrey" does just that. This always eponymous film studio also takes advantage of FURY to warn American men that "Once she's seen Hawaii, she'll yearn for Paris, France." Fickle "Lucille," the bride of Bogart's "Valentine" here, hits upon any dude washing ashore, hoping such beachcombing will get her to a Mainland. (It's like Eve telling Adam, "Gardens might be nice for SOME ladies, but they give me the hives.") The sole reason that Val makes Lucy his missus in the first place is because she's literally the ONLY chick on the whole island. (If you're skeptical, just check the cast list for ISLE OF FURY.) Initially, Lucy is similarly limited (unless she wants to commit incest or miscegenation). However, Val soon learns that the fun goes out of shooting fish in a barrel when another barrel hits the beach. Warner warns viewers NOT to count their fish before they hatch, unless they don't mind sleeping with the octopi.

Somerset Maugham's "The Narrow Corner" haf its second film version at Warner Brothers within a span of three years. This time, it has been reduced to a B film, cut down to an hour's length yet every bit as exciting and even faster paced than the original. It tells the story of diving boss Humphrey Bogart on a lost island in the Pacific, newly married to Margaret Lindsay and too busy to have a real marriage. When they rescue Donald Woods during a storm, the last thing that Bogart expects as his wife to fall in love with Woods. The squid later stolen bye Ed Wood for "Bride of the Monster" makes an appearance in the film, or at least I think it's the same squid, causing fear in the minds of the natives who refused to dive, causing Bogart to make the dive himself. of course as boggart becomes wise to what's going on with his wife, his attitude changes, making him as dangerous as Duke Mantee in "The Petrified Forest".

While the film is action-packed and certainly luscious to look at, it is obvious that a lot of the sets are paintings and that the squid is as phony as Tarzan's rubber crocodiles. Lindsay and Woods have absolutely no chemistry, and Bogart's feisty performance allows him to easily steal the film, the very same year that he became a full-fledged star with the film version of "The Petrified Forest". There's a religious theme with one of the older men on the island using the story of David and Bathsheba to provide a warning to Woods about stealing another man's wife. That was done more profoundly in the original version which as a film had better casting among the second leads. The appearance of the seemingly dancing squid creates a few unintentional chuckles, but overall this is too entertaining and a major milestone in Bogart's career to pass over.