not as good as all the hype

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Battle of Blood Island (1960) ** 1/2 (out of 4)American GI's Moe (Richard Devon) and Ken (Ron Gans) are the only survivors of their platoon and they wash up on an island held by the Japanese. Ken has been left crippled so it's up to Moe to do everything from finding food and shelter to making sure the bad guys don't hear them. As the two stay on the island long their anger towards each other grows.BATTLE OF BLOOD ISLAND had Roger Corman as Executive Producer so that should tell you what to expect. The film was obviously working on a very low-budget and it was meant to be the second of a double feature with of course the first movie being of a bigger budget. With all of that in mind, I found the film to be entertaining for what it was but there are no questions that it did feature some flaws.I think the best thing for the film was the story by Joel M. Rapp, which he adapted from a short story by Philip Roth. I thought Rapp was very smart with the screenplay since he was working with very little money. This meant you couldn't stage large action scenes but instead everything had to be done on a small scale. I liked the way the story developed and I'd argue that the character development was good as well. Both Devon and Gans were good in their role and this added to the entertainment value as well.This here was one of a number of films that Corman shot in Puerto Rico and the locations certainly helped the film. With the low-budget that means there aren't any large action scenes or anything like that so one shouldn't go into this expecting anything like that. The film ran a short 63-minutes and even at that there were some moments that dragged. With that said, BATTLE OF BLOOD ISLAND was a decent little picture.

Hello. - MOE! - I thought I would review this film, I don't usually, but I feel inspred. - MOE! - The film is quite simple. Two men are the only survivors of a disastrous attack on a Japanese island in WWII. - MOE! -The two men are incompatible yet, they must stick together because they only have each other.The more I think about it, the more is just wrong about the film. - MOE! - One, 10,000 men were sent to the island and only two survive? It looks like there is about twenty Japanese soldiers fighting them off. And anyways, isn't 10,000 men too many for an island so small and insignificant? - MOE - - MOE! - Most of it is just talking, and while the soundtrack makes it sound like a B-horror movie by Ed Wood, and the war suit will neither make it appealing to fans of war movies or talkie dramas, the atmosphere is intense (or mind numbing, you decide). - MOE! - Bottom line is that you will either hate this film or love it.P.S. Could Ken have said MOE! any more than he did in this film? :)

Poor combat scenes, a platoon of guys attacking an entire island, defended by less than 20 guys, in rubber boats (the attacking guys, not the defending guys). Actually they apparently only had one rubber boat. You never see two at the same time but at least they saved like ten bucks. At first the Japs are behind rocks, then after the battle we find that it was actually an open beach. Americans shot down while running back and forth in front of Japanese, like ducks in a shooting gallery. One survivor was supposed to have caught a mortar frag in the back but there wasn't a single explosion. Some of the Japs have M-1s (incorrect) some have bolt action rifles (correct). Some have bolt action rifles that fire multiple times without being cycled (incorrect).But enough about the first two minutes of this movie. The movie itself was actually not too bad as a tale of survival. Follow the antics of the two survivors of a failed attack on a small Pacific island as they try to survive on a slightly enemy held island. They have to off the occasional Jap but it's mostly about rounding up something to eat and keeping the whiny guy quiet. Soon enough our intrepid heroes decide the island is too crowded and want to create some Lebensraum by doing unto the enemy before the enemy can do unto them, with a bunch of grenades. Alas, before any excitement can break out or anything can explode the Japanese guys kill themselves.Now there's even less excitement left in this movie and we settle into a dull grind of listening to the whiny guy say "Moe" over and over and trying to figure out what's in that delicious soup Moe makes.Now as soon as I saw a goat had mysteriously appeared on the island I had the ending written and there was going be one explosion in this movie, even if it was stock footage. But no, they went with the least interesting ending they could have used. Oh well.4/10

Two soldiers are stranded on a pacific island with the Japanese all around them.Talky war film will either strike you as great drama or bore you to tears. I kind of like it but I also can find it s a chore to get through. I have this as a double feature tape from Sinister Cinema where its paired with Ski Troop Attack. Depending on my mood after the first film the lack of activity in this film has been known to put me to sleep. Other times I'm fine. I know that's not a sterling recommendation but it's the best I can do.Your mileage will probably vary as well.