Isle of Fury (1936)

Directed by Frank McDonald. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Donald Woods, Margaret Lindsay, E. E. Clive, Paul Graetz, George Regas, Gordon Hart, Miki Morita, Sidney Bracey, Tetsu Komai.

Bogart fails to impress in this minor B-picture, one of his earliest leading roles before he became a star. He’s a pearl maven with a silly moustache on an island in the South Pacific, and he, his new wife (Lindsay), and a stranger (Woods) who’s rescued from an offshore shipwreck enter into a tepid love triangle; Woods is, of course, concealing a secret. Plodding suspense elements and dispassionate romance add up to a dull affair with a rushed and underwhelming finale. It may be tempting to watch just on the promise of seeing Bogie wrestle a rubber octopus, but it’s best to ignore those instincts.

37/100