Prismark10 This is a glorified soap opera, in fact the film reminded me rather a lot of 1980s US soap operas such as Flamingo Road or Falcon Crest.This is a British/US co-production set in a fictional West Indian island about to gain independence from the UK. Harry Belafonte is the charismatic and aspiring politician who is set to become the leader of the independent island but is having a romance with a white woman played by Joan Fontaine.James Mason plays the bitter son of a plantation family, denied the chance of getting educated in England and realizing that the family will lose power and privilege post independence, his temper also gets the better of him.Dorothy Dandridge is stunning as the local beauty having a romance with a Governor's aides who is white. A risqué relationship at the time.John Williams is the astute Police Inspector diligently investigating the murder of a white drifter and does not let prejudice get in the way of his investigations.The film is daring for its time in depicting inter racial romance. You have dark secrets, the shock of mixed race ancestry but the film also looks naive as well. Post colonial politics was a lot more hard edged than this film shows, the white on black racism is very much hidden in this film and the shock of having some black blood in your family ancestry looks bewildering today although during that time it might have been positively shocking.It is very much a soap opera type melodrama. John Williams is the standout, James Mason is rather conniving and Belafonte even gets to sing a song.

MarieGabrielle This film, having been made in 1957 has a very intriguing and slanted portrayal of a wealthy plantation owner (well-portrayed by James Mason) and a few over-privileged white women (Joan Fontaine, Joan Collins and her vapid mother, who owns a large estate).Harry Belafonte is wonderful as the West Indies native of this fictional island. He (ostensibly) is pursued by Fontaine, but rejects her world. Why is her American world supposed to be considered so ideal?. Well, this was written in 1957.Having lived in South Florida, and traveled, in this day and age a story regarding poverty wages and slave labor would be much starker and realistic. Sugar cane plantations still exist to this day, in Belle Glade, and the Everglades area. A story we rarely hear about, unfortunately.This film is worth watching for the hypocrisy of the time, as a curiosity piece. I also consider the Lana Turner film ("Imitation of Life")to fall into the category of denial and repression of human rights, which still exist in America to this day. 8/10.

edwagreen Disappointing film dealing with life in the Caribbean.The film might have fared better if it had been a musical. The movie marked the re-teaming of Harry Belafonte and the late Dorothy Dandridge from "Carmen Jones" fame 3 years before. Belafonte sings well at the beginning before this film evolves into too many plots, pregnancy, murder, racial tension, politics, etc. The subject matter is totally uneven and the film suffers as a result. Dandridge was never weaker before in any of her brief film career. She evokes little to no emotion and the luster of Carmen, 3 years before, is totally gone.There is entirely too much going on here. James Mason is caught up in a killing, running for political office, and facing the reality that he is partially black. Belafonte loves Joan Fontaine, of all people, but by the end can't marry her due to racial-political considerations on the island. Joan Collins loves Stephen Boyd, he is given so little to do here, but he will be in The House of Lords, so how can she marry him if their children might be black. (Collins and Mason are brother and sister in this Peyton Place circus-atmosphere.) To complicate matters still further, old timer Diana Wynyard, an Oscar nominee for 1933's "Cavalcade," appears in the film as the mother of Collins and Mason. She is effective in the part but the plot twists again when it is revealed that she had Collins from another man.Robert Rossen who directed this mess, did so much better years before with his winning "All the King's Men." That 1949 Oscar winner for best picture stuck with basically one theme. This one is all over the mull berry bush.

DottiezBiggestFan I actually liked this movie. It doesn't seem to get as much credit as it should, seeing that it is the first movie to ever star an interracial couple (between the beautiful Dorothy Dandridge and the cute John Justin. Also, would've been between much older, but good actress Joan Fontaine and handsome Harry Belafonte). The scenery is beautiful and the plot is very good, but I think it's the storyline and script that make it so bad. It really doesn't count for a romance seeing that Ms. Dandridge and Mr. Justin were hardly aloud to touch each other and another character got pregnant out of wedlock, who was white. But this if you want a great movie with a beautiful tropical set (filmed on location in the Caribbean), interracial romance, suspense, mystery, a little singing, race relations, and politics, I suggest this movie.