Good concept, poorly executed.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

An interesting adventure film from the early ' 70s based on a Jules Verne story. Off the bleak location of Cape Horn around 1865,three light-house keepers: jaded ex-miner Will Denton (Kirk Douglas), Captain Moriz (Fernando Rey) and young Felipe (Massimo Ranieri) are confronted by wreckers led by pirate captain, Jonathan Kongre (Yul Brynner). After his companions are brutally murdered, Denton ekes out a passive existence in a cave till he resolves to fight back assisted by Montefiore (Renato Salvatore) a survivor from one of the ships lured to the rocks by the pirates. The desperate situation is complicated by another survivor, a young English woman, Arabella, who is used by Kongre to imitate Denton's former love, Emily Jane. Douglas and Brynner act with flair, Douglas gives another heroic Nietzschean performance vis a vis 20,000 Leagues under the Sea (1954) and Ulisse (1955). In appearance he looks like a Nineteenth-Century hippie adventurer - bearded and with straight light brown hair. Brynner is a flamboyant counter-point. Despite some squeamish scenes and some illogical phases the extraordinary Spanish settings - the white-topped rising arches and surreal, psychedelic colours give this film a metaphysical feel.

A lighthouse circa Cape Horn is cared by a keepers(Fernando Rey , Massimo Ranieri, Kirk Douglas). A gang of pirates attacks the lighthouse .The pirates(Aldo Sambrell,Jean Claude Drout, Tito Garcia, among others) are fiercely commanded by Kongre(Yul Brynner). Handsome hero named Will Denton(Kirk Douglas) with only company a little monkey ,suffering misfortunes for the conditions in which unlucky is forced to exist. Denton soon realizes that the island in the base of pirates who lure ships to their doom on the rocky coast and arrange shipwrecks(appear castaways as Samantha Eggar and Renato Salvatori) for profit . Denton discovers the truth and confronts Kongre in a fight to death.This is an enjoyable adventures tale with tension, suspense, thrills and good action scenes. Some fierce hand-to hand combats and pursuits scenes will have you on the edge of your armchair. However the ending is some ridiculous, unconvincing and overblown. Spectacular landscapes shot in Spain : Cadaques and Manga Mar Menor, great location-footage of both locations, the Spaniard coast is the best thing about movie. Duo starring is frankly extraordinary. Kirk Douglas gives vigorous physical performance, he's magnificent as individualist, stubborn hero, such as ¨Spartacus, Vikings,Ulysses and 20000 leagues under the sea(also by Jules Verne)¨. Impressive Yul Brynner, as usual, playing exotic roles, such as ¨Taras Bulba, Salomon, The buccaneer and King and I ¨. The film displays a colorful cinematography by Henri Decae and Cecilio Paniagua , furthermore evocative musical score by Piero Piccioni. The picture is regularly directed by Kevin Billington. This is a highly agreeable movie and suits marvelously . I can recommend this work to everybody who enjoy good adventures and spectacular maritime outdoors, however no for small kids by violent and realistic scenes.

This is an adventure film based on a Jules Verne's novel about a pirate captain and his crew that take over a small island with a lighthouse on it; the idea is to turn out the light at night when ships are at sight so that they crash against the rocks and the pirates can easily steal everything from the passengers and the wrecked vessel. The point is that one of the lighthouse servers -the only survivor- manages to escape into the island and will try to ruin the pirates sinister plans.Though not a great film at all and a bit slow, "The Light at the End of the World" doesn't lack some sort of charm and interest perhaps because of the lone man's fight against the whole bunch of criminals all by himself and perhaps also because of the hostile and lonely atmosphere in which the action takes place.Kirk Douglas is the lonely fighter and Yul Brynner plays the flamboyant and deadly captain Kongre, leader of the pirates. The feminine touch is brought by Samantha Eggar as a survivor of a ship wreck that is captured by Kongre's men.Not a great adventure film, but sort of original and worth a look in my opinion for fans of the genre.The film was shot in the coast of Spain, but Verne's novel settles the action in the "Isla de los Estados", a small Argentine island a few miles east of its most southern province called "Tierra del Fuego" (Land of Fire) where you can still visit the lighthouse that inspired Verne.

I'd never heard of this Jules Verne story before watching this movie - and after watching this movie, I think I know why. I don't know how closely this movie follows the story, but since there is hardly any action - or dialogue - I'd guess the story is a dull romp as well.Poor special effects, lack of continuity, subplots barely treaded on then abandoned, the worst mannequins-for-bodies you can think of, characters that act stupid (especially Eggar's character) make a movie that you can miss. I have no idea why Douglas was attracted to this movie - maybe he thought lightning could strike twice after the success of 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA. He even produced this movie - maybe that explains things, including why there are so many close-up shots of his face, and that he seems to be doing all his own stuntwork.