User reviews

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.

It would be very interesting to know who's decisions marred this potentially good film! Within the final cut of this gripping work lays a truly exiting story, dealing with survival in extreme situations. Between the Director; (failing to differentiate from drama and folly) Writers; (too many fiddled with it and lost sight of the seriousness of the situation) Editor; (missed important shortcomings) and Producer; (Mr Douglas himself) they failed to allow the strongest story elements to shine through.

In his fine book 'The Films of Kirk Douglas' Tony Thomas also highlights some of the above shortcomings (with the running time given for the version he reviewed even being 6mins shorter than other releases listed!) Tony also notes the overindulgence and explicit brutality that kept this film away from much of it's target audience. With smart post production editing this could have, should have (and still can be) a classic.

Look at the dynamics of the story: Will Denton, Assistant light-keeper, witnesses the terrifying murders of his only colleagues. He is alone in a hostile, desolate situation. He is unarmed, desperate beyond words. He is hunted from all quarters, and feels helpless at preventing some of the shocking activities he is witnessing.

While this screenplay is based on Jules Verne's fascinating book (the last sent for publication before his death) it only uses Verne's basic situation. Some of Verne's story tends to have its basis in Historical fact. Strangely, the film almost throws away an expensive opening scene (the inauguration of Argentinas first serious navigational aid 'The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World' on Christmas Day 1865) it does so, by presenting this colorful ceremony under the opening credits! No further mention is given to inform the audience of the significance of this historic event.

The film was released around the world in many varying lengths ~ between 95 and 126 Min's. Shorter versions were released in Australia and the U.K. etc, these were in many ways better...Several of the more overdone scenes were dropped, this offered considerable improvement to the overall believability, although, one cut left a gap in continuity...IE: Denton's underwater flashbacks to his past, following his fall from a cliff.

Surprisingly, the latest Studio Canal re-issue has removed one of the films stronger scenes (but sadly left in all the overindulged segments that would have been far better removed) The scene in question, involves Denton and Montifiore's escape on the antagonists magnificent white horse. In the original, during the escape, the horse stumbles and is unable to get back up, leaving no alternative than to shoot it. This cut leaves us with the question...where is the horse from this point on?! Why make this cut and not the others...?

The cast is strong and mostly convincing, even the support characters are interesting: Ferando Rey (Head Light-keeper) Renato Salvatori (Montefiore - ships engineer) with Massimo Ranieri's 'Felipe' adding innocence, warmth and credibility as apprentice light keeper. The film has a superb look via the work of top French Cinematographer Henri Decae. The man credited with creating the look of the French New Wave (his work has since been much imitated, but seldom to the same effect) Working within very difficult locations, Decae's camera is continually in motion, drawing the viewer in, forcing you to feel as if you are part of the action.

Second unit photographer Cecillio Paniagua contributed some additional shots of interest. The locations are eye popping, with rugged, wind swept land and seascapes creating a vivid, threatening atmosphere. The quality of the Sound recordists work, both 'on location' and post production is nothing short of superb.

The Music of multi talented Piero Piccioni plays an important part, it forms a virtual tone poem, a suite with themes written for each character and situation. His compositions constantly weave from glorious panoramic melodies ~ recollections of the past ~ to exiting gut tearing panic.

Leonard Maltin sums up a longer version fairly well: 'Has some excitement, but is more often unintentionally funny', but he too throws away the high standard of technical quality, and need for editing.

The special effects vary from very good, to average. Scenes involving the use of pyrotechnics are well done indeed. Good examples are, the blasting of Kongre's schooner, with the crew rushing and falling amid explosions and flames, this is always dangerous work and all done without CGI!. The fire in the lighthouse is a stand out, with exploding glass and twisting metal. And even though the sinking of a passenger ship is inter-cut with models (not too bad overall) the shots on board, involving the passengers desperate panic, are quite convincing.

It's difficult to understand though, with many well done effects, why the scene involving a dummy falling over a cliff was so badly done. The shot was not even necessary in the film... So why leave it in?

Come on Canal, give us the good film thats locked away amid the mess. Drop such scenes as Denton and Arabellas kiss (just a tiny clip during the 'charade' set up) The foolishness of noisy, cross dressing Pirates cavorting around the island. Ease off some needlessly overdone brutality and gore (the short versions did this very nicely) Drop the foolish shots of Denton and Montefiore calmly building a Bonn fire in broad daylight! Drop (or halve) the silly sequence involving Kongre and Arabella following Tarcantes death ~ just some of the scenes that helped to sink this fine production.

Mr Douglas has given us many great films, and even though this was nearing the end of his distinguished career, it seems he should have taken a far more focused approach. While its late, this work is still worth saving. A mere 10-15mins edited from various sections could do this....

Anyone interested could end up with a far better film, even a semi classic......KenR

A lighthouse near Cape Horn is cared by a keepers (Fernando Rey , Massimo Ranieri , Kirk Douglas). Then , 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 they arrange shipwrecks for profits and eventually appearing castaways (Samantha Eggar and Renato Salvatori) who are cast adrift and ashore. Later on , Will Denton discovers the truth and confronts Kongre in a fight to death. Jules Verne Takes You Over the Edge of the World!

This is an enjoyable Spain /Liechtenstein /United States co-production financed by Alfredo Matas, Ilya Salkind and Kirk Douglas himself . A breathtaking adventure with tension , suspense, thrills , violence 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 this spectacular movie. Starring duo is frankly extraordinary . Kirk Douglas gives vigorous physical performance, he's magnificent as individualist, stubborn hero , similar to his roles in ¨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 ¨. They're accompanied by a lot of familiar Spanish secondaries , most of then regular in Spaghetti/Paella Western and terror genres , such as : Aldo Sambrell , Fernando Rey, Tito García , Víctor Israel , Tony Skios and Luis Barboo .

The film displays a colorful cinematography by cameramen Henri Decae and Cecilio Paniagua , furthermore evocative and thrilling musical score by Piero Piccioni . The picture was regularly directed by Kevin Billington , though being decent enough . 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.

Pirates led by the supremely evil Yul Brynner, take over a lighthouse run by Kirk Douglas, Fernando Rey on a rocky island. They then execute a devious plan to cause ships to run aground, pillaging their wrecks. Douglas survives, and he desperately fights their plot whilst plotting and planning to avoid Brynners gang of demented bloodthirsty savages, Sammantha Eggar is the shipwrecked maiden that avoids the pirates slaughter soon complicates the situation. 'The Light At The Edge Of The World' is based on a novel by Jules Verne. It is nothing short of thrilling and for it's time shocking, It deserves a little more recognition.

I once owned this movie on VHS and while it's been many years since I've laid eyes on it, I remember it well - and that, for me, is generally the sign of a good movie. Some of the criticisms levelled by fellow armchair critics are valid (e.g.overlong) but it's still a very picturesque and curious movie that's definitely worth a look.

Douglas is fairly restrained as the sole survivor of a remote island lighthouse, besieged by pirates led by the pitiless Yul Brynner, his clan of bandits opportunistically decide to use the lighthouse to misdirect approaching ships into the rocks where they can pilfer the payloads. Samantha Eggar plays one such shipwrecked maiden taken as a romantic gesture by Brynner, and who Douglas (who's taken refuge in a subterranean cave with his pet monkey), must try and free.

Reasonably violent, though it's Jules Verne inspired, it's not the typical family fare you might expect. Little dialogue and a fairly loose plot might not convince some audiences, but overall I remember it to be quite a sombre picture, with a few cruel twists and a fiery conclusion. Great cast as well with support including Fernando Rey and the familiar faces of Aldo Sambrell, Victor Israel and American ex-pat in Spanish pictures, John Clark.

After seeing "The Light at the Edge of the World," over 40 years after its release, I understand why it was a dismal flop in 1971. I remember the billboard advertising highlighting Kirk Douglas and Jules Verne, with small pictures of Yul Brynner and Samantha Eggar. I am certain many a parent dragged her kids screaming from a "Jules Verne/Kirk Douglas pirate movie" featuring mutilations, gang rape and the skinning of one especially beloved character. Those few adult couples likely attracted to the movie were likely put off by the weak pacing, inept direction and abysmal music.

However those of us who can look beyond the cheap jack trappings will be rewarded with strong lead performances by Kirk Douglas and, especially, Yul Brynner. Samantha Eggar, who has much less screen time, also impresses, even though most of her scenes are undercut by the weak direction.

At 2 hours and 7 minutes, "The Light at the Edge of the World" is at least 20 minutes too long. The flashback exposition regarding Douglas' character is not only unnecessary, it undercuts what little suspense the ineffectual direction could muster. One of these days, I would love to have video editing software to deconstruct and reconstruct this movie, removing unnecessary scenes, tightening camera fields and replacing the awful music. Barring that, "The Light at the Edge of the Word" is worth seeing, if only for Yul Brynner's chilling performance.

I give "The Light at the Edge of the World" a "6".

3 stars for the cinematography by Henri Decaë--a beautiful, windswept, remote, rocky coastline in Spain, standing in for the story's location. This is an odd kind of adventure film, with sudden and numerous violent deaths of innocent victims. Those scenes create a downbeat, even depressing atmosphere that never leaves the mind. Acting powerhouses Kirk Douglas and Yul Brynner are not really used to advantage. They're just there to keep the plot going with a relentless, mutual antagonism. Some special effects are impressive, others not so much. An oddly romantic score by Piero Piccioni seems meant for a different movie. See it for the locations.

Kirk Douglas' first film based on a novel by Jules Verne since 'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is constantly confounding expections. First you expect a solitary interior drama along the lines of 'Thunder Rock', then with the arrival of a gang of wreckers - who just happen to be using Kirk's island to stash their bootie - it starts to resemble 'The Most Dangerous Game' with leering pirate Yul Brunner pursuing Douglas on horseback, while further complicated by a brief flashback to Kirk's early days prospecting gold.

Perhaps because so many of the cast are Spanish there's not really much dialogue - although there is a lot of screaming and diabolical laughter on the part of the pirates - amply compensated for by the cut-glass tones of Samantha Eggar answering to the name of Arabella Ponsonby.

I was trapped by the names Douglas and Brynner. But this movie is just boring. It had some scenes when I thought: "Now it beginns to be better!". But I was dissapointed. It's sad when talented people are burned in a third class movie. The camera work did completely destroy it. It looks very uninspired. The poster looks better than the movie.

The Light at the Edge of the World

Lighthouses are the best places for troubled loners because they have all the comforts of a clock tower.

However, university students aren't the targets in this action movie, pirates are.

Fleeing from a failed romance and a murder rap back in the States, ex-miner Denton (Kirk Douglas) heads down south to Cape Horn in 1865 to man a lighthouse.

When Kongre (Yul Brynner) and his marauders land on the coastline intent on wrecking ships by dowsing the flame, it's up to Denton and his skeleton crew (Massimo Ranieri, Fernando Rey) to abate the cutthroats and liberate their female captive (Samantha Eggar) before the next cargo ship arrives.

Noted for its Spanish locales, particularly the craggy topography where the swashbuckling occurs, this adaptation of Jules Verne's novel is a forgotten gem in the adventure genre.

Nevertheless, it must be nice to get a visitor at the lighthouse that isn't a moth.

Yellow Light

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With the sole exception of the background ocean scenes this is the worst and most useless movie I have ever watched. Full of cliches and unnecessary gore and violence. Kirk Douglas is the only actor doing any acting. Yul Brenner is wasting his time with his strutting pirate performance and his pirate crew appears as if they came out of a high school comedy. The special effects are not.

Jules Verne a prolific writer gave us many classic adventures through his books, some were taken to the big screem and becames a huge success, this one is a minor movie but not disregarded of interest at all, having a strong duo leading roles as Douglas and Brynner enhance too much, the battle between the main characters are the key of all that, shot in a remote island almost entirely, it results a valuable improvement, besides it was explicity cost-effective on a tight budge, the nasty casting remind us some centuries ago and how those olds pirates really did killing, rape and torture, a bit underrated, this picture deserves a second chance!!

Resume:

First watch: 2005 / How many: 2 Source: DVD / Rating: 7

"The Light at the Edge of the World" was based on a novel by Jules Verne. It is set in 1865 and centres upon an isolated lighthouse at the southernmost tip of Chile, near Cape Horn. (At least, that's where the lighthouse is supposed to be, but the film was actually shot in Spain). A crew of pirates show up and murder two of the three lighthouse keepers. The only survivor is an American, Will Denton, and he only survives because he is not at the lighthouse when the pirates arrive.

Before the opening of the Panama Canal, the Straits of Magellan off Cape Horn were one of the world's most important shipping routes, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The pirates intend to plunder ships using this route, but not by the traditional pirate expedient of boarding them and killing or intimidating the crew. Their plan is to extinguish the light from the lighthouse and then to use false lights to lure ships to their doom on the rocky shore. (There is no evidence, in fact, that wreckers ever used such a tactic, even though they are often depicted as doing so in fiction). Denton, however, decides to fight back, and although he is only one man against a whole crew he manages to wage a surprisingly effective guerrilla campaign.

There are good performances in the two leading roles, from Kirk Douglas as Denton, showing that he could still play action roles even though he was well into his fifties, and from Yul Brynner as Jonathan Kongre, the leader of the pirates. Denton is something of a rough diamond, whereas Kongre is obviously a well-spoken and educated man. For all his veneer of culture, however, he shows himself to be every bit as brutal and sadistic as the men under his command. Kongre does most of the talking for the pirates; his crew only speak a few words between them, preferring to communicate by bestial howls and peals maniacal laughter.

The plot, however, is rather untidy. (I have never read Verne's novel so do not know how it compares in this respect). We learn that Denton had a colourful past during the California Gold Rush when he killed an old lover's new husband in a gunfight. The killing was adjudged to be in self-defence, but Denton is clearly still haunted by this incident. This part of the plot, however, is only narrated in retrospect, and is not well integrated with the main story. At one point Denton believes that a young woman captured by the pirates is his former lover, but it turns out that this is not the case.

Despite a large budget and the services of two major stars in Douglas and Brynner, the film was not a box office success when it came out in 1971, and it has largely remained under the radar ever since. I caught it when it recently received a rare airing on British television; I had never heard of it before, and I am a Kirk Douglas fan. It is a reasonably good adventure film, but there is nothing beyond an unusual plot and setting that would really lift it out of the ordinary. 6/10.

Kirk Douglas. and Yul Brynner. and a realistic story of survive. the atmosphere is the same from many films of genre from the period. the clear definition of evil does the difference. because it not propose only a black- white conflict. the nuances of gray, the inspired use of clichés, the portrait of pirates- who is far to be an usual one-, a good role for Brynner as more than the bad guy but a strange, cold blood, sadistic leader of a group of savages, the same status of Kirk Douglas as hero with few dark shadows of past, the terrible scene of arrival of pirate ship, the fight scenes are good points of an old fashion adventure film who reminds performances- Fernando Rey, in a short presence -, reimpose names - Renato Salvatori or Samantha Eggar- and the real flavor of genre.

Once I overlooked the slow moving action (at times) and hokey plot and dialogue, I found this movie really entertaining in a circus and carnival (freaky pirates, treasure, monkey, violence, wild colors in a rough landscape with spaghetti western flashbacks) sort of way. Seemed to really push the envelope for that time period in terms of gay and trans-gender undertones - what with the pirate captain's attachment to his butler and to his androgynous second in command (the character who paraded around in a dress and feathers and appeared much more interested in Will than in Arabella). I didn't even sense that the pirate captain was attracted to Arabella in a sexual way. Anyway,that made the movie all the more interesting and unique - although likely far removed from what Jules Verne envisioned.

Uneven and uneventful adventure in which a group of cruel pirates, led by Brynner, takes a far island and start a game of cat/and/mouse with the lighthouse keeper (Douglas). Interesting premise receives a juvenile treatment that spoiled all the real suspense. Brynner is good and malevolous. I give this a 5 (five).

Yul Brynner ("Kongre") is the psuedo-sophisticate, but really rather brutal, captain of a pirate ship that quite cleverly decides to capture a lighthouse - manned by a fairly agile Kirk Douglas ("Denton") - and then disable the light so as to manage to wreck passing ships and salvage their luxury spoils whilst killing their crews. "Denton" escapes the purge of his own colleagues, but is unable to prevent this process proving remarkably successful until, that is, the arrival of "Arabella" (Samantha Eggar). "Denton" rather preposterously thinks she might be his ex-fiancée, and "Kongre" a woman upon whom he now fixates, offers her a life of luxury and fine clothes - albeit on their island stuck near the bottom of South America. The story is quite fun and both stars have clearly entered into the spirit of this pretty poorly budgeted and produced maritime yarn with little expectation that it will do either of their careers any good. The dialogue is neither here nor there, and the drama is strung out for way too long before an ending that was really just a bit too downbeat and tacky, then somewhat silly for me. Interesting to see two Hollywood stars reduced to this kind of film and even if Douglas did executive produce it, it's still pretty sad to see them fall quite this far from the top of the mountain.

One of my favorite films of all-time. Unusual because the pirates depicted in this movie are all too real. None of the romanticizing Errol Flynn or Jack Sparrow stuff. These pirates were shockingly ruthless and a real sense of danger permeates the film. Yul Brynner and Kirk Douglas bring intensity to their roles. Brynner as the egotistic sociopath who is the leader of the cutthroats and Douglas as a man who must deal with a desperate situation in a fight for survival. Samantha Eggar as a woman with flawed instincts for her own preservation evokes frustration and pity. From the brutal opening scenes, the message is clear that these pirates don't play. A sense of urgency then takes over until the final outcome. A great movie!

Even with the enormous eye candy of Kirk Douglas and Yul Brynner in a pirate movie together, The Light at the Edge of the World isn't very entertaining. Kirk is the lighthouse keeper, content in his solitude, and Yul is the leader of a band of pirates who specialize in taking control of lighthouses and crashing ships. This is very much a "man's movie", as there's only one woman in the film, Samantha Eggar, and she isn't treated very nicely when Yul takes her prisoner. Yes, I know, if Yul Brynner took me prisoner, I wouldn't complain about it either, but trust me, in this movie he's a real bad guy!

There's lots of action scenes, and tension-filled violence, but not very much of a story. Dudes who like macho movies with senseless fighting between two macho dudes might like this one, especially since it's strongly implied that Samantha Eggar gets passed around the pirates during her capture. For normal men, or any women at all, you'll want to pass on this movie. Rent The King and I and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea instead.

Or maybe this film could be seen as a kind of DIE HARD ancestor, just a little bit, but with some ingredients that have nothing to do with the John McTiernan's movie. Though Yul Brynner's character, splendid mixup between cruelty and refinement, made me think of Alan Rickman's character as Hans Gruber in DIE HARD. An exquisite villian as I love in a film. Yes this movie is a very curious but terrific piece of work, awesome, gruesome on many scenes too, a feature which is very difficult to describe. A scheme that also made me think of Gordon Douglas' BARQUERO, the lead character facing a bunch of villains lead by the main character's Nemesis, here Yul Brynner instead of Warren Oates. Yul Brynner outstanding in the heavy leader. A movie that astonished me the first time I saw it, a wrecker scheme, as in Charles Brabant's LES NAUFRAGEURS. This film is adapted from a Jules Verne's book, I am so surprised. Kirk Douglas in a scene with Renato Salvatori, which is the same as Steve McQueen with Mako in the SAND PEEBLES. A shooting from a distance scene.