Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55055 in VHS
• Released on: 1994-10-17
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Black & White, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 80 minutes

From the Back Cover
One of the most enjoyable films Fairbanks ever made. HE is a wealthy playboy who bets $1000 that he can live on a primitive topical island for one month. Of course, he is to have none of the creature comforts of home and civilization. Luckily for him a beautiful woman arrives to keep him company. Actually filmed on location in the very beautiful islands of Tahiti, Fiji and Samoa.

Customer Reviews

More fun than a barrel full of monkeys
This is as fun and enjoyable a movie as I have seen for some time. The early days of film produced some wonderful movies, and this 1932 classic is more fun that a barrel full of monkeys. Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., plays a happy-go-lucky fellow who is so taken by the beauty of the uninhabited islands of the South Seas that he decides to forego his intended hunting expedition and settle on the nearest deserted island. His friend bets him he will be tied to a stake by cannibals by the time the ship returns the next year, and he in turn swears he will turn the island into his own private Manhattan. With one thousand dollars riding on this friendly bet, Fairbanks' unnamed character jumps into the water and makes for shore with absolutely nothing but the shirt on his back; his loyal dog follows him, and they quickly set up shop on the island. This guy may have led a pretty easy life, but he is amazingly adept at island-settling; he makes the Professor look like Gilligan. After finding food, water, and a suitable spot for shelter, he's immediately making his own tools and making a mockery of the term "roughing it." He builds an impressive house (set on stilts, no less) and all kinds of furniture, sets traps for catching game, and creates his own private work force of animals. His Dr. Doolittle skills soon have his pet monkey milking a captured goat, the goat operating a treadmill under the supervision of the dog, a tortoise slowly turning a wheel to power a sort of water wheel, and that's just the beginning. He builds his own 18-hole golf course, has the monkey trained to bring him drinks at "the 19th hole," makes his own radio out of slightly more than a couple of coconuts, and does other things Robinson Crusoe would never have even dreamed of. Throughout it all, he is happy as a clam.

When a native from a nearby island turns up on the island, he easily manhandles him and tries to turn him into his own Friday-noting the fact the guy is a headhunter, he laughingly jests that he must be Friday the 13th. Friday doesn't work out too well, but he has better luck when an attractive native woman finds her way to the island after running away to escape a forced marriage. Typically, he calls her Saturday, and the two get along famously despite the language barrier. There's trouble later, when angry islanders invade his private paradise, but nothing gets to this guy. There is one aspect about the ending I didn't particularly like, but overall this movie boasts swashbuckling action and great family-oriented fun from start to finish. I especially loved the animals featured prominently in the film; the dog and monkey in particular deserved their own trailers on the set because they were bona fide great actors. A final appeal of the movie is the scenery; although black and white can't truly capture their mystical beauty, the islands of Tajiti, Fiji, Samoa and other genuine South Sea islands serve as the lavish backdrop for the wild island adventure.