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Virgin Island (film)

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Our Virgin Island
Virgin Island
1959 theatrical poster
Directed byPat Jackson
Written byRing Lardner Jr.
Produced byLeon Clore
StarringJohn Cassavetes
Virginia Maskell
Sidney Poitier
CinematographyFreddie Francis
Edited byGordon Pilkinton
Music byClifton Parker
Distributed byBritish Lion Film Corporation
Release date
  • October 1958 (1958-10)
(UK)
Running time
94 minutes[1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Virgin Island (U.S. title: Our Virgin Island) is a 1958 British drama film directed by Pat Jackson and starring John Cassavetes, Virginia Maskell and Sidney Poitier.[2][3] It was adapted by Ring Lardner Jr. from the 1953 memoir Our Virgin Island by Robb White. The American release in 1960 followed the title of the novel.[4][5]

Premise

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A British woman marries an American writer in spite of her family's disapproval and goes to live with him on a tropical island.

Cast

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Production

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It was filmed on the British Virgin Islands.[citation needed]

Freddie Francis said he was "pressured" into doing the film by producer Leon Clore.

I don't think Pat Jackson particularly wanted me to do it. But Leon wanted me to do it. Not that there was any bad feeling between dear old Pat and myself but once again Pat was the wrong guy I think for the picture because the two stars were John Cassavetes and Sidney Poitier. And let's face it, those two guys with dear old Pat whose such a nice bloke and basically a documentary director, he was way off... I remember one night I was having dinner in the yacht club in one of the Virgin Islands and Sidney Poitier and Cassavetes came over and said would I take the picture over. I said listen I can't do that, you better go and speak to Leon. So anyway they went to Leon and obviously Leon said no you can't do that. So it was a very unhappy picture from that point of view.[6]

Critical reception

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The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "So long as this film makes no effort to create a dramatic scenc or to talk seriously to the audience it is gaily and romantically successful; the comedy is unforced and the high spirits infectious. But when John Cassavetes, always too intense, begins to sermonise on independence, Virginia Maskell to preach about the tribulations of writers, and Isabel Dean to speak an uncomfortable monologue about being cut off from life, the film discloses an unnerving capacity to raise a squirm among the more worldly audiences. Sidney Poitier's outrageous caricature of the laughing West Indian hovers constantly on the verge of the sinister, but his ebullience,vand the crisp, clean-living appeal of Miss Maskell in her less serious moods, are the film's two undeniable assets."[7]

References

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  1. ^ Film Review 1959-60, p.98
  2. ^ "Virgin Island". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  3. ^ "BFI | Film & TV Database | VIRGIN ISLAND (1958)". Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk. 16 April 2009. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  4. ^ British Virgin Islands, Report - Page 6 Great Britain. Foreign and Commonwealth Office - 1958 GENERAL The Colony was the location for the film Virgin Island shot by Countryman Films Ltd. of London during the period September to November, 1957. The film was based on Robb White's book Our Virgin Island which had its setting on ...
  5. ^ Film Review - Page 22 F. Maurice Speed - 1959 But one girl who did get a really big chance in 1958 and made the most of it was Virginia Maskell, the girl from Shepherd's Bush who made a delightful impact with her performance in her first major role in the British Lion film Virgin Island.
  6. ^ "Interview with Freddie Francis". British Entertainment History Project. 1993–1994.
  7. ^ "Virgin Island". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 25 (288): 152. 1 January 1958 – via ProQuest.
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