Terror Island (1920) User Reviews

Whew!

[boblipton · 6/10 · 31 May 2004]

When they say "melodrama" in the early titles, they aren't kidding. The plot, such as it is, involves a ship of sunken pearls, a submarine, a South Seas trader held hostage for the return of the idol's eye, human sacrifice, television and a most peculiar tribe of Polynesians, in which the men are all African Americans and the women are fat blondes. Or perhaps they're Melanesians. I don't think there were that many serious anthropologists at work on this movie.

Of course, that's not why people came to see this movie. They wanted to see Harry Houdini in some of his death-defying escapes. Well, you have Harry Houdini and the assurance of the titles that he performed his own stunts. This despite the fact that Bob Rose was his stunt double for all his pictures: can't risk holding up production after all.

This was originally a seven-reeler. Two of the reels are missing. Still, you get to look at Houdini, Lila Lee -- she keeps falling into the water and having to be retrieved -- and a villainous Eugene Palette, just when he was beginning to put on weight and look like Eugene Palette. Enjoy.

A bit disjointed because of some missing footage

[scsu1975 · 6/10 · 30 November 2022]

Harry Harper has invented a submarine. He reads about a shipwreck that contains treasure and decides to find it, with the idea of sharing the wealth with his community. Meanwhile, Beverly West receives a letter from her father, who is being held captive on an island. He has been condemned to death by the island natives unless Beverly returns a sacred pearl to them. He also knows where the shipwreck is. Harry and Beverly set out to the island, but are competing against the unscrupulous Mourdant family, who seek to get the treasure for themselves.

Despite the missing footage, I found this film entertaining. It gets off to a slow start, but does pack plenty of action (improbably though much of it is in the final reels. Houdini is adequate and seems comfortable in his role. Lila Lee, as Beverly, is lovely, although in the initial scenes, her "Princess Leia" haircut is a bit much. Once she literally lets her hair down, it is a big improvement. A somewhat svelte Eugene Pallette plays one of the Mourdant family. There are plenty of chases, narrow misses, and stunts.

No Escaping

[tedg · 30 April 2005]

Movie makers have always wanted to foist second rate goods on the public by placing a celebrity in them. It is costly to manufacture celebrities, so much better it is to find one from another field. Houdini — already in his forties — was about the most famous nonpolitician in the land.

This was deserved: while many of his tricks were straightforward trickery, some involved real risk and demanded incredible body control. For example, his escape tools were secreted in body cavities and recovered by what could only be described as yogic control. He painfully toured the country and exploited every opportunity available to such a showman. This project directly followed a famous trip to England where he challenged Conan Doyle to a showdown over spiritualism.

Hollywood was inevitable. But he hated it, and so did the public. They expected the same level of drama as in the celebrated stage shows and public escapes. He expected something similar.

While some of this seems lost forever, one can see why everyone involved considered it a loser, quite apart from the corny production values. He is transformed here into an inventor, a man of reason. This is almost completely opposite Houdini's stage persona, which inferred the occult while denying it. There could be no connection by the audience to the great magician.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Really cool stuff despite a missing reel

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 31 July 2009]

Sadly, one of the reels for TERROR ISLAND is missing, though on this Kino release, they use explanatory intertitle cards to tell what was missing. This isn't a perfect solution, but considering how amazingly cool this film is, it's well worth seeing in spite of this loss.

The film is about a group of jerks led by a younger and much skinnier Eugene Palette. They are trying to trick a young lady out of a treasure map. She, on the other hand, wants to follow the map not just to riches but to her father who is being held by insane savages in the South Seas. To the rescue comes Harry Houdini, who has a really cool submarine they can use to rescue the man AND get the treasure. Unfortunately, by the time Harry arrives at the island, the lady (who has been kidnapped) is there with Palette and his evil wife and friends. Well, after a whole lot of fighting and lots of neat underwater stunts, the day is saved and Harry gets the girl.

I loved this film considering how early it was. Seeing Houdini performing these underwater stunts was exciting and they were well filmed and really brought me into the film. I've seen most of Houdini's movies that exist today, and I think this is by far the best. It's like a movie serial with all the episodes crammed into less than one hour. Cool stuff.

frantic pace,but very repetitive

[disdressed12 · 14 July 2008]

after having just watched this movie starring harry Houdini,i gotta say,i have mixed feelings about it.on the one hand, the pace is very frantic,so the movie is not boring,in that regard.however,the movie is very repetitive,with Houdini and his co-stars doing a lot of the same things over and over again.unfortunately,2 reels out of 7 are lost,so instead of reels 3 and 4,there is a brief explanatory text to bridge the gap.if you're not a silent film buff,you probably would not enjoy this particular movie.but if you are,i think it's worth having for the novelty alone.if you haven't been exposed to silent movies,this is probably not the one you should watch first.i would recommend Nosferatu(1922)as a starting point.

Lasky and Cruze to the rescue!

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 25 November 2017]

Harry Houdini starred in 5 movies. The best was probably the third, "Terror Island". It's difficult to be certain, because the 8/10 Kino DVD is missing reels 3 and 4, and Houdini's second, "The Grim Game", survives only in a 5-minute fragment.

However, despite the missing reels, the main narrative line of "Terror Island", is reasonably intact. Despite its Boy's Own Paper characters and story, the movie does surround Harry with an able support cast including Wilton Taylor and Eugene Palette as the chief villains, and the lovely Lila Lee as the heroine Harry rescues.

While the story more than strains credibility, it's full of action. In fact, the picture could well be described as a feature-length serial. No doubt some patrons were actually fooled, because the movie's posters highlight the fact that "Terror Island" is most definitely "not a serial!"

Producer Jesse L. Lasky even spent a fair bit of money on the production. And it was competently directed by James Cruze who had made a bit of a name for himself with Valley of the Giants (1919) starring Wallace Reid. His break-through film, of course, was The Covered Wagon (1923).