Betty Bruce

(On Cable TV, April 2022) If ever you find yourself squinting in amazement at a hitherto-unknown film’s cast and wonder why you’ve never heard of it, the answer (depressingly enough) is likely to be the same no matter the circumstances: it’s probably not a good movie. And even if it does begin on a promising note, it will degenerate later on. So it is that the first sequence of Island of Love, even if clunky, does suggest a much better film to come: Here we have Robert Preston playing close to his Music Man persona by incarnating a con man, Tony Randall as his long-suffering writer friend, Walter Matthau playing a crime boss with some kind of curious speech impairment (flanked by four yes-men) and the splendid Betty Bruce as a gangster moll thrust in front of the spotlight. But what initially feels like a clunky but promising showbiz crime comedy unexplainably takes a turn for much duller pastures at the end of the first act. Soon enough, nearly all of our characters find themselves on a small Greek island where the rest of the story plays out in an abundance of dull clichés and contrived coincidences. Preston is rarely less than compelling, and the supporting cast is interesting in many ways – but nothing quite gels, as the film squanders its initial promise and settles for something quite generic. Too bad – but if ever you come across Island of Love and start saying, “Wow, what a cast!” remember why it’s increasingly obscure.