Wonderfully offbeat film!

Who payed the critics

Overrated

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

I don't know what director Whale told actor Lockhart, but the actor's buffoonery just about kills the movie. After a plane crashes in the Pacific, the survivors manage (we're never shown how) to get to an island where a mysterious man (Boles) lives with his Chinese servant. It's a motley crew of survivors, including a rich woman, a gangster, a state senator, two fast-talking operators, a floozie, and several others. Meanwhile, forming new relationships and making needed adjustments carry the narrative.Perhaps the biggest influence on the film is leftist screenwriter Lester Cole, later one of the blacklisted Hollywood Ten. The movie's subtext shows how social distinctions lose their meaning on the island. Even money. At the same time, the working people's skills take on vital value in new surroundings, while the privileged can contribute little. Then too, I expect Lockhart's generally useless character amounts to Cole's shot at politicians of the time. Good lessons here, and ones not restricted to that Depression era.Anyway, helping the film are good special effects, especially the frenzied plane crash. Even the studio blended beach shots are well done, a surprise for cheapjack Universal studios. Too bad the acting's uneven, but then the hour-long format doesn't provide for much character development among the large cast. Perhaps the biggest surprise for me was Ping (Fung), the manservant. I expected he would be nothing more than the usual foolish stereotype. But, not so.Anyway, there's a good movie stymied somewhere inside the brief runtime and Lockhart's over-acting. Check out the thematically similar Five Came Back (1939) to see a much better version.

For a film from the late 1930s it's not a bad film. The technological limitations for special effects and cost of shooting on stage verse on location are apparent, but the story is fairly compelling enough.A band of assorted individuals with various pasts and agendas take flight aboard a "flying boat", and find themselves challenged in a new environment.The film by today's standards may seem somewhat racist in regards to one Asian character, but is more or less a product of its time, and the character in question is noble to a fault, and in fact key to helping the rest of the characters.Marion Martin shows that her acting chops weren't quite there yet (and she had yet to engage in an exercise regime), Bruce Cabot of King Kong fame shows his range, and a number of other well known actors of the time do well to bring to life the characters in this film.Again, the shortcomings are the technical aspects, Martin's lack of theatrical training, and money. Otherwise it's a solid B-performer that'll help whittle away a lazy Sunday afternoon.If you need a classic film on your TV or computer, you could do worse, but you could also do better. Either way, give it a shot and see what you think.Not a great film, but nor a bad film.Give it a shot.

Getting set to write my 800th IMDb review,I decided to search around on Amazon UK for titles by directing auteur James Whale.Getting near the end of the listings for his famous Horror movies,I was surprised to stumble upon a near-forgotten Adventure Drama that Whale's had made,which led to me getting ready to pay a visit to paradise.The plot:Desperate to each get away from their troubled lives,a group of people get on board a luxury sea plane to China.On the way to China,the plane gets caught in the middle of a tropic storm,which causes it to crash in the ocean.Barely surviving the crash,the handful of survivors spot an island near the wreck,and decide to swim to the shore.Reaching the island,the survivors start to fear that they will not be found,due to the island appearing to be completely deserted.Searching round the island,the survivors are shocked to discover 2 inhibitions:one called Jim Taylor and the other one being his loyal servant Ping.Placing their hopes on him helping them to get off the island,Taylor reveals that he has other plans,as he uncovers each of the survivors hidden pasts.View on the film:Filmed when the change in studio head had led to him losing his main supporters,directing auteur James Whale is only about to show the edge of his past, eye-catching, stylised canvas.Whale & cinematographer George Robinson (who had worked with Whale on the interesting The Road Back) cleverly use a minimal amount of flames to create a scorching hot atmosphere on the island.Despite working on a low budget,Whale's is impressively still able to continue on some of the main themes featured in his work,thanks to the survivors trying to keep their shady upper-class backgrounds hidden,by each giving themselves a "humble" appearance on the island,which the lower-class Taylor is able to reveal as a facade.Taking a scatter-shot approach in their focus of the island residences ,the screenplay by Harold Buckley/Louis Stevens/ Lester Cole & Robert Lee Johnson is disappointingly unable to give each of the characters "their moment" to shine,which whilst allowing Jim Taylor to stand out as a boo-hiss baddie,leads to most of the survivors not being given any distinctive features.Along with a fun cameo from Dwight Frye, John Boles gives a marvellous performance in his reunion with Whale,as Boles curls Taylor's lips on every order that he barks to his fellow islanders,as the crash survivors discover that this is an island far from paradise.

A group of totally different people on a plane to China are stranded on a desert Island during a storm, where they meet the Island's only two inhabitants, handsome Jim Boles ("Stella Dallas") and the as-always comical Willie Fung. They include slimy politician Gene Lockhart, tough-as-nails Marion Martin, tarot card reader Nana Bryant, rich business woman Charlotte Wynters, and nurse Madge Evans, as well as several business men of a rather shady nature. Boles doesn't want them there, and forces them to make their own way. Several of the men finally make their way off the Island on Boles' boat with the reluctant (but formidable) Mr. Fung, who may seem like he may not have what it takes to stand up to them, but ultimately he does. Boles, in the meantime, falls for nurse Madge, while tough-as-nails Ms. Martin lets her guard down with an ex-con who isn't all that bad, either. It turns out that Boles has a reason for being away from society, which ties in with another one of the castaways.James Whale was one of the best directors at Universal in the 30's. He had an eye for detail and could always be counted on to add a lavishness to his films not usually found at Universal during its day as one of the lower "A" studios. By 1936, Universal was prospering thanks to the Deanna Durbin musicals, although the horror genre of the early 30's was beginning to fade thanks to the legion of decency and the production code. While there may be some cheap special effects in this film, there are some riveting action sequences, particularly the plane crash and the ship fight between two men and Mr. Fung at sea. Like "Gilligan's Island", there are constant jokes about "fish for dinner again?". This is a handsome "B" film to look at, if one can get past the story flaws that aren't quite plausible.As far as the cast is concerned, Boles is a bland hero, and Evans does best as she can with her not well defined character. She has a great scene at the beginning telling her husband (Alan Edwards) at the airport that she is leaving him, but after that, her spunk all but disappears. Ironically, Ms. Wynters resembles Tina Louise ("Gilligan Island's" Ginger) to some degree, but doesn't get anything really substantial to do but act snooty and above the rest of the riffraff she is unfortunately stuck with. Gene Lockhart is insufferable, as usual, typecast as he was in many films, as a shady politician and businessman. He would be doing roles like this well into the 40's. I always confuse him with another similar character actor of the era, Grant Mitchell. They were never given the chance to expand their portrayal of these characters by making them more sympathetic or understandable like a Charles Coburn or Edward Arnold would. I'd hate to think that people like Lockhart's character are being elected into public office today, let alone when this movie was made.The one actor who stands out to me is Marion Martin, who is so lovably tough that I bet it would be fun to try and melt the exterior to find the warmth inside hidden by years of disappointments. Actors like Ms. Martin, Barbara Pepper and Iris Adrian (the lower class Joan Blondells and Ann Sheridans of their era) were delightful even with their bit parts in films of the 30's and 40's, and deserved better than what they got. Audiences had to wait until the 50's when Shelley Winters made these type of characters the focus of films like "South Sea Woman" and "Larceny". I didn't care much for the ruthless businessmen (particularly the one carrying a satchel of cash). Having pompous Reynolds representing the seedy side of high society was enough for me. Some people are quite offended today by the typecasting of Willie Fung, but he is probably more well defined and consistent in his actions here, making him more believable than his characters in other films I've seen him in. I wish there was more of the always lovable Nana Bryant, playing a role similar to Elisabeth Risdon's in "Five Came Back" and Beaulah Bondi in "Back From Eternity".In conclusion, at 63 minutes, "Sinners in Paradise" is the perfect 30's double bill fare that audiences clamored for in the late depression years, but would forget about seeing until it popped up on TV years later. It is fun to watch for some campy lines, a few memorable performances, and some attractive Island scenery. I'm glad to find that it is on DVD after seeing it at the Film Forum in New York as part of a James Whale triple bill.