THE GIRLS OF PLEASURE ISLAND (1953). Director: Alvin Ganzer.
Towards the end of WW2 a contingent of marines come to a small island to build an air field. Among the island's inhabitants are a man named Roger Halyard (Leo Genn) and his three nubile daughters. Halyard is afraid his girls will get involved with one or more marines, but nature will have its way... If only this movie were the riotous, sexy romp that the poster suggests [pictured]. Instead it's a mildly pleasant and not-very-entertaining light romance that never rises above a superficial level and isn't even very funny; maybe songs would have helped. Elsa Lanchester is cast as the dithery housekeeper and alleged comedy relief. Don Taylor isn't bad as a marine who romances daughter, Hester (Audrey Dalton, who is better in this, her second screen appearance, than in several subsequent pictures) and Gene Barry of War of the Worlds, Burke's Law and Amos Burke Secret Agent fame, puts in an appearance or two as well. Dalton and the other "sisters" were introduced in Girls as "new Paramount personalities," but Dorothy Bromiley and Joan Elan -- the other two sisters -- had very low profile careers afterward.
Verdict: 1500 marines -- and still not a lot of action! **.
Towards the end of WW2 a contingent of marines come to a small island to build an air field. Among the island's inhabitants are a man named Roger Halyard (Leo Genn) and his three nubile daughters. Halyard is afraid his girls will get involved with one or more marines, but nature will have its way... If only this movie were the riotous, sexy romp that the poster suggests [pictured]. Instead it's a mildly pleasant and not-very-entertaining light romance that never rises above a superficial level and isn't even very funny; maybe songs would have helped. Elsa Lanchester is cast as the dithery housekeeper and alleged comedy relief. Don Taylor isn't bad as a marine who romances daughter, Hester (Audrey Dalton, who is better in this, her second screen appearance, than in several subsequent pictures) and Gene Barry of War of the Worlds, Burke's Law and Amos Burke Secret Agent fame, puts in an appearance or two as well. Dalton and the other "sisters" were introduced in Girls as "new Paramount personalities," but Dorothy Bromiley and Joan Elan -- the other two sisters -- had very low profile careers afterward.
Verdict: 1500 marines -- and still not a lot of action! **.
5 comments:
I would just like to know if the girls of pleasure island is ever going to be released on DVD.. I have been looking for it for years and have been unsuccessful.. is there a way to find out??
As of now there is no official DVD release of the film but you can occasionally find collector's copies -- taped off TV, for instance -- on such sites as ebay and ioffer.com.
Thanks for your comment.
I just happened to see that this movie is now available on Netflix, streaming only, still not on DVD though. Better than nothing; hopefully, it will be released on DVD at a later date. I saw it on TV as a teenager in the 1960's, and thought it was a really cute, fun and romantic movie. Remembered it all these years; I'll enjoy seeing it again!
Interesting that you can see this via Netflix streaming. It's unlikely that a marginal title like this will get full DVD treatment but you never know. Thanks for your comments, Bill
please recommend other similar type movies. just saw the movie and enjoyed it much. fun. thank you.
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