Customer Reviews
A place like this can hide many things!, - By: Jenny J.J.I., 16 Aug 2007 
I had the chance to watch this film last night & even though "Island in the Sun" was produced in 1957 it should be recognized as indisputable breakthrough! There have been plenty of movies like this, but keep in mind that interracial relationships were political detonate at the time - & yet some of the film's observations remain upsetting even today.
In this film the wealthy whites are ridicule here once again, lording their money-driven power over the black Caribbean field workers in this timely but talky issue-film. Belafonte also stars here as a native son on the fictional West Indies island of Santa Marta who wants to wrestle control of the government from the ruling white British regime, here embodied by political candidate James Mason (who harbors a deep, dark secret of his own -- pun completely intended). Joan Fontaine essays a white woman who happens to be in love with Harry; Dorothy Dandridge plays a local girl in love with a white man (John Justin); & Joan Collins portrays Mason's sister, trying to get English lord Stephen Boyd to falll for her.
The location (Barbados/Grenada) of this film was just beautiful, & so is Harry Belafonte's voice, singing Jamaican songs at sunset. His relationship with Joan Fontaine is fantastic--if not especiallly romantic. The love story sidebars are soapy but not dull & they give the film what passion it has. Personallly what I reallly wanted to see was more of Belafonte. He was at a peak here, & since he didn't get to use his own singing voice in "Carmen Jones", this is a great chance to watch & hear him perform unfettered.
I also recommend is "Stormy Weather" because it is a important piece of history, being one of Hollywood's first pictures to star an entirely African-American cast. Though some racial stereotyping is on-hand here & there.
