Surprisingly incoherent and boring

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

I have to admit that I was looking forward to watching "Island of Lost Women". The 1950s and 1960 were full of movies about lost women missing male companionship (like "Queen of Outer Space"), and a lot of them were frequently and unintentionally hilarious. I thought I would be in store for more of the same. Also, the fact that a major Hollywood studio picked up this independently made feature interested me. But after watching the movie, I wonder why the studio in question thought this was worthy. The low budget is pretty evident throughout, for one thing. As for if the movie is unintentionally funny, for the most part it isn't. There are some chuckles here and there, but the characters are somewhat smarter and less dopey than usual, so they don't do many things that would be considered unintentionally funny. And the story unfolds not only at a pretty uneventful pace for the most part, what happens in the climax is telegraphed early on, so there is no surprise when it happens. A pretty disappointing quickie.

Two men are forced to crash-land their plane on an uncharted island in the Pacific. They soon discover an atomic scientist and his three pretty daughters live on the island. The three girls have never seen a man besides their father. To say they're excited would be an understatement. When the men threaten to expose the scientist upon returning to civilization, he takes steps to ensure they never leave the island. Weak film that bears a few similarities to Forbidden Planet but, make no mistake, this cheapie isn't in that film's league. Jeff Richards and John Smith are the bland leads. Alan Napier is good as the scientist, easily the meatiest part in the movie. Venetia Stevenson, Diane Jergens, and former Playmate June Blair are the girls. All three are nice to look at but ultimately forgettable. I admit I was rooting for Napier in this one. The 'good guys' were pushy jerks. Richards wants to force the scientist to go back and build more bombs, even if that's not what Napier wants. The only reason Napier decides to prevent their leaving is because Richards threatens him. So I had a fundamental problem with the premise and found the protagonists unlikable. Also nothing much happens that's exciting. There's no real action, like most movies of this type. Usually there are wild animals or monsters to fight off. But not here. It's all pretty dull without even the obligatory camp value these things usually have.

This movie is one of the B&W semi-horror films of the 50's and early 60's. Granted, the premise is totally absurd.....2 hunka hunka's running around an island with 3 babe-a-licious honeys and not one case of hanky-panky? The guys seemed more interested in each other and themselves -- swimming in those horrid 1950's spandex trunks (is that a potato in your swimwear or are you just happy to see me?), rubbing lotion on each other's backs, reminiscing about close friendships, --- hmmm --- maybe this should have been called "BROKEBACK ISLAND?" I liked the movie although it is totally predictable. I DID keep waiting for Godzilla or some other camera enlarged creature to come around and scare the swimwear off the guys, (looks like the girls would have defended the island against the killer beast while the boys were screaming little pansies scampering off into the forest), but no monster. Heck, enjoy it for what it's worth, a piece of B&W film history.

It's not just the plot or the bad acting. It's not even the cheesy sets. It's the incredibly bad flamenco guitar soundtrack. One simply cannot imagine the overall effect, with the swimsuit-clad actresses cavorting amongst the potted plants, with the off-key, amateurish flamenco guitar. There must be a story there...