''The Secret of Blood Island'' is a 1964 British

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by Quentin Lawrence and starring

Jack Hedley Jack Snowdon Hawkins (28 October 1929 – 11 December 2021), better known as Jack Hedley, was an English film, voice, radio, stage, character, theater, screen and television actor best known for his performances on television. His birth name n ...

Barbara Shelley Barbara Shelley (born Barbara Teresa Kowin; 13 February 1932 – 3 January 2021) was an English film and television actress. She appeared in more than a hundred films and television series. She was particularly known for her work in horror film ...

and Patrick Wymark. The film is a prequel to the 1958 film ''

The Camp on Blood Island ''The Camp on Blood Island'' is a 1958 British World War II film, directed by Val Guest for Hammer Film Productions and starring André Morell, Carl Möhner, Edward Underdown and Walter Fitzgerald. The film is set in a Japanese prisoner of ...

''.

Premise

British Prisoners of War help a wounded female agent, Elaine, to escape the Japanese during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Main cast

as Sergeant John Crewe *

as Elaine * Patrick Wymark as Major Jocomo *

Charles Tingwell Charles William Tingwell AM (3 January 1923 – 15 May 2009), known professionally as Bud Tingwell or Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, was an Australian film, television, theatre and radio actor. One of the veterans of Australian film, he acted in his ...

as Major Dryden * Bill Owen as George Bludgin *

Peter Welch Peter Francis Welch (born May 2, 1947) is an American lawyer and politician who is a United States senator-elect from Vermont, and the current U.S. representative for since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he has been a major figure i ...

as Richardson *

Michael Ripper Michael George Ripper (27 January 1913 – 28 June 2000) was an English character actor. He began his film career in quota quickies in the 1930s and until the late 1950s was virtually unknown; he was seldom credited. Along with Michael Gough ...

as Lieutenant Tojoko *

as Richardson *

Lee Montague Lee Montague (born Leonard Goldberg; 16 October 1927) is an English actor noted for his roles in film and television, usually playing tough guys. Montague was a student of the Old Vic School. Montague's film credits include ''The Camp on Blo ...

as Levy *

Edwin Richfield Edwin Richfield (11 September 1921 – 2 August 1990) was an English actor. Career Richfield starred in the television series '' Interpol Calling'' (1959). He was '' The Odd Man'' in Granada Television's series of the same name in the early 1 ...

as Tom O'Reilly *

Glyn Houston Glyn Houston (23 October 1925 – 30 June 2019) was a Welsh actor best known for his television work. He was the younger brother of film actor Donald Houston. Early life Glyndwr Desmond Houston was born at 10 Thomas Street, Tonypandy, Glamorga ...

as Berry * David Saire as Kempi Chief *

Philip Latham Charles Philip Latham (17 January 1929 – 20 June 2020) was a British television actor. He was educated at Felsted School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, from which he graduated in 1951. In the late 1960s/early 1970s he was well kno ...

as Captain Drake * Ian Whittaker as Mills * John Southworth as Leonard *

Peter Craze Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

as Red * Henry Davies as Taffy

Production

According to

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

, the film was shot in

Eastmancolor Eastmancolor is a trade name used by Eastman Kodak for a number of related film and processing technologies associated with color motion picture production and referring to George Eastman, founder of Kodak. Eastmancolor, introduced in 1950, was on ...

and released that way in Britain, but the U.S. prints were in black & white.

Reception

The film was not as well received as ''Camp of Blood Island''. Michael Ripper later said, " “I thought the story was very dodgy. I don't give a damn how hungry you are, if you haven't seen a bird in four years, or whatever it was, she'd have been stampeded, wouidn’t she? Somebody must have had the strength. I don't believe the story at all, but I must admit I had a good part in it." The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' called it a "grotesquely inefficient melodrama." ''The Guardian'' called it "nasty". ''

'' called the film "fairly silly". The '' Radio Times'' called it "lurid but fairly enjoyable."

References

External links

*
Secret of Blood Island
at Letterbox DVD
Secret of Blood Island
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of A ...

Secret of Blood Island
at BFI
Secret of Blood Island
at

1964 films British war films 1960s English-language films Films directed by Quentin Lawrence Films scored by James Bernard Pacific War films World War II prisoner of war films Hammer Film Productions films Films set in 1944 1964 war films 1960s British films {{1960s-UK-film-stub