ShangLuda Admirable film.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

merklekranz Obviously somebody thought they had a good idea for a film, where religious beliefs could get in the way of common sense, and "Hero's Island"is that film. Shot entirely in one location, Catalina Island, the story lacks excitement, and quite frankly is pretty boring. The only saving grace is seeing the great character actors in 1962, and what a wonderful cast it is. Rip Torn, Harry Dean Stanton, Neville Brand, James Mason, and Warren Oates. Kate Manx is the Bible thumping woman, who's religion rules her every decision. My thought is that it's just not worth wading through all the uninteresting scenes to finally arrive at the swashbuckling conclusion. For fans of the actors only, unless you need something guaranteed to be sleep inducing. - MERK

phillip_hrdy This offbeat film plays like an early indie movie; but is well acted and entertaining. The film move largely shot on Catalina Island in 1961 and benefits from California sunshine while avoiding the phony appearance of the studio back lot. James Mason is excellent in the role of Blackbeard the Pirate's ex-first mate Major Stede Bonnett, managing an understated cool machismo throughout the story. Kate Manx is earnest and lovely in the leading lady role, while talent like Warren Oates, Rip Torn and Harry Dean Stanton demonstrated early in their careers why they all became stellar character players. The regional dialect is authentic to early 18th century New England with a solid script to match.

MartinHafer In 1960, Disney released "Swiss Family Robinson" and they made a HUGE fortune. In today's money, it would earn $350,000,000+---and that makes it a very, very successful film. So, it's not surprising that only a short time later they'd make "Hero's Island"--a film that bears much more than a superficial resemblance to the Disney film. But, although "Hero's Island" is similar, it's not at all enjoyable like this earlier film...and towards the end it gets pretty dumb.A particularly dumb family moves to a crappy island off the coast of the Carolinas in the 18th century. I say crappy because all sorts of pirate-types keep arriving and making their lives miserable. Heck, soon after they first arrive, one of the thugs kills the husband--leaving the wife and servants to try to survive with two young boys. Common sense would say to leave...but these folks don't seem to have a lot of that! Here is where it gets REALLLLLLY stupid. A guy (James Mason) washes up on the island and when the chips are down, you learn that he is NOT who he originally claimed to be but is Stede Bonnet--one of the infamous members of Blackbeard's gang. However, IMDb says that Mason is Blackbeard himself--he is NOT! And, after the pirates attack, he is ticked off and goes to deliver a well-earned butt-kicking.Despite the fact that this SHOULD have been an exciting adventure film, it was not. It's actually amazingly slow-paced and very low energy. And, on top of that, you really don't care much about the family. Plus, if Mason was playing a pirate, he played one of the dullest ones in film history. Not terrible...but not at all good either.

blacknorth James Mason & Leslie Stevens' beautiful and obscure rendering of one family's escape from indentured slavery through the entreprenurial violence of pirate Major Steed Bonnett, AKA Sailormaster to Captain Teach (Blackbeard), AKA The Devil.Manx, upon gaining her freedom, is granted title to Bull Island, off the coast of Carolina. Upon arrival with her husband she finds a family of fisherman in residence who claim the island for their own - in the ensuing struggle her husband is killed and she is ordered to leave under threat of death. By sheer providence, stranger James Mason is washed up on shore unconscious, a floater reading 'Dead Man' around his neck. The mysterious Mason joins her struggle...The morality of the film is fine, tracking a passage from the sureties of slavery in the old Empire to the anarchy of a land-grab in the new World - Manx has the deeds to the island, but none of the fishermen can read worth a damn. The script is refracted through sunlight into blood, most violence happening in superb colour, and mixing colour into those insane words...-He knows how to use that axe. Would you fight a man with a axe?-You tore up her books, killed her birds.-My father told me he was the king of the moon. He was the king of the moon.In one extraordinary scene, film in a ten minute take with no cuts of any kind, Manx explains the mechanics of slavery to Mason, shows him her indenture and the two parts of paper representing her whole person - the reason why the scene was filmed without cuts, its narrative integrity intact.-One person, undivided and whole.Nicolas (Rip Torn) is tempted into the New World, wanting to learn to read, and deserts his fisherman brothers to throw his lot in with Manx. The remaining fishermen send to the mainland for help from the brutal Kingstree (Neville Brand) and the scene is set for a confrontation between land and sea, life and death...Only Cimino's Heaven's Gate shares the same canvas as Hero's Island, both showing an interior landscape, a projected journey, an intellectual sword-fight. The sheer physicality of the final clash between Mason & Brand birthing the notion of everything we have seen and heard.A stunning, stunning film, a masterpiece, and probably the finest film of the 60's. There is a letterboxed print which occasionally shows on TCM - see Hero's Island in all its glory and all its obscure and forgotten pain.