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Savage Islands (1983)

Director: Ferdinand Fairfax

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2 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

More in the vein of Raiders of the Lost Ark thrills and spills than Fairbanks swash and buckle, the story is told in flashback with good old-fashioned cut-and-thrust. In the South Pacific islands in the 1880s, Captain Bully Hayes (Jones) saves maidens in distress, performs impossible feats of agility, does battle with a German count (Tilly) intent on nasty military annexations with the aid of an ironclad warship, in a plot that is as credible as Hitler's diaries. Which makes not a lot of difference, for the film is to be enjoyed on a tongue-in-cheek level: lots of stunts and not too much mushy lovey-dovey stuff. Originality never raises its head, but it'll keep the kids from clammering for a glimpse of those video nasties.

Author: FL 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

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User reviews of this film

  • Sylvia Sim said...
    Posted on Mar 05 2009 20:00 This story, in the right hands, would make for a great documentary or film. Barbara Crawford Thompson, a 13 year old girl, had a de facto marriage with WilliamThompson but considered herself to be wholly wed. She was shipwrecked and survived for five years with headhunting cannibals in the Torres Straits, the most exciting part of the story being the point at which she is rescued on the beach by sailors and officers from HMS Rattlesnake, whose Captain, Owen Stanley, took very good care of her until they eventually left Evans Bay and returned to Sydney where she was reunited with her family.
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  • R J Warren said...
    Posted on Jul 27 2008 00:54 Tommy Lee Jones is always great, I would like to see Philips and Whitehouse tackle the story of Barbara Crawford Thompson, a thirteen year old girl cast away with headhunters in the Torres Strait for five years in the 1840's [Google Wildflower The Barbara Crawford Thompson Story] she really did live on Savage Islands. The Ray Mears Goes Walkabout Show on BBC Television is running a short documentary on her story at the moment. Fairfax could probably do a very good job with this one too.
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Cast & crew

Director: Ferdinand Fairfax

Producer: Lloyd Phillips, Rob Whitehouse

Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Michael O'Keefe, Max Phipps, Jenny Seagrove, Grant Tilly, Peter Rowley full cast

Genre(s): Period/Swashbucklers

Duration: 99 mins


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