Today we have the third installment of Roger Corman's Puerto Rico Trilogy that includes THE LAST WOMAN ON EARTH and CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA. In the story, two American soldiers are the only survivors of a unit wiped out in a battle with Japanese troops on an isolated island. The men, who don't like each other at all, try and find a way to put their differences aside in order to evade the Japanese and survive the ordeal...
This thing stars Richard Devon and Ron Gans as the soldiers. Richard was in SPACE PATROL in 1954 and worked for Roger Corman on THE UNDEAD, TEENAGE DOLL, THE VIKING WOMEN and WAR OF THE SATELLITES in the fifties and played Detective Stewart in BLOOD OF DRACULA. Ron Gans was in HOT ROD, KILLERS FROM SPACE, OPERATION MAD BALL, HIGH SCHOOL BIG SHOT, THE WILD RACERS and THE THING WITH TWO HEADS.
Here's some familiar PR scenery, this time we're in the Pacific on a remote Asian island! Anyway, this is a Japanese military encampment after they slaughtered American troops coming ashore.
Only two soldiers escaped death, one is Moe, he sneaks into the camp to see what he can see... Well, he sees this communications dude with a sexy photo of Betty Grable hanging in a choice spot for his viewing pleasure!
Back at the cave where Moe and Ken are staying, Ken's wounded, a Japanese soldier is ready to shoot Moe in the back when Ken tosses his bayonet into the enemy's gut, saving Moe.
Moe has to do all the heavy lifting, after beating up some soldiers, he's attacked on his way back to the cave!.. Hey! What's a guy have to do to get some respect around here!!
I swear, at least 60% of the movie is spent with these two just talkin' about stuff!
Then, the Navy goes sailing by without even waving bye-bye, making Moe a little crazy...
On a hunch, Moe piggy backs Ken (who can't walk) toward the shoreline.
Moe drops from exhaustion, he just can't go any further... But then, Ken sees something going on at a distance and shows Moe.
Moe runs for a distance and confronts two American soldiers there. He finds out that they have been rescued and runs back to Ken. The guy Moe's grabbing is none other than Roger Corman hisself, saving on budget costs! Roger did not direct this one.
So, Moe gives Ken a piggy back ride to freedom, prompting The End of the movie. Welp, that's it, join us tomorrow for our last post in November, here, at The Dungeon!!..
Impressive little film, in spite of (or because of?) the tiny budget. The DVD of Corman's Puerto Rica Trilogy has the best quality copy (also, the Trilogy disc has the best print in color and widescreen of THE LAST WOMAN ON EARTH), in addition there's a great commentary on the Trilogy DVD. The film of BATTLE ON BLOOD ISLAND was based on the story, "Enter the Vandals" by the late novelist, Phillip Roth.
ReplyDeleteAbout actor and voiceover artist Ron Gans: he was the voice of Corman;s early New World Pictures trailers. Gans did both physical and voiceover acting (usually as alien beings) in many Irwin Allen TV shows as well. Most impressive was his voice as "Mr. Nobody" on LOST IN SPACE: MY FRIEND MR. NOBODY, a voice role often misattributed to actor William Bramley. Anybody lacking a "tin ear" knows that it's Mr. Gans' voice as Penny's real-life "imaginary friend" in the cave, and out among the stars beyond.