Serpent Island

"Serpent Island" marked the rookie filmmaking effort from the young Bert I. Gordon, who went on to be well known for his "giant thing on the loose" movies, earning himself the nickname "Mr. B.I.G." in the process. It was also the rookie directing credit for Tom Gries (who also wrote the script), who went on to bigger and better things such as "Will Penny" and "Breakheart Pass". It stars Sonny Tufts as Pete Mason, an amiable Marine engineer turned dockside bum who's hired by the curvy young Ricki Andre (Mary Munday) to help her find a fortune in gold that has eluded her family for many years.

One is simply going to have to be a very undemanding, fairly easy to please lover of B movies to get anything from this. It's just too dull, uninteresting, and talky too much of the time, and it takes too long to actually get to the island. Even then, not much of note ever really happens. It takes until almost the end of the movie before any slithering co-stars turn up, but it is a cool moment when a snake wraps itself around Ms. Munday. Gries and Gordon strive mightily to create atmosphere with such a meagre budget (apparently, only about $18,000!), using as much stock footage as they can. None of the acting is going to win any awards, to put it charitably, but the oft smiling Tufts is a reasonably engaging lead. Ms. Munday is pleasing to look at, helping to make up for her stiffness. Tom Monroe is a passable villain, Rosalind Hayes carries herself with some dignity as island resident Ann Christoff, and Don Blackman has a decent enough presence as hulking menace Jacques.

Yeah, this might not be very *good* at all, but it does kill time in moderately agreeable fashion.

Gordon served as producer, cinematographer, and supervising editor.

Five out of 10.