RETURN TO TREASURE ISLAND (1954)

I have never read Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, nor have I seen any movie version, but as a responsible pop culture consumer, I know about Long John Silver and Jim Hawkins, and hidden treasure on an island. But the opening of this movie confused me, as the narrator conflates truth and fiction right off the bat by talking about Stevenson's classic tale, but also implying that these characters and events were real. We see a brief sequence showing the wicked pirate Flint hiding a treasure chest in a cave on a small Caribbean island, then killing all those who helped him hide it. 200 years later, we are at the Admiral Benbow Inn, made famous by Treasure Island, where an original map of that island is on display. One night, a man breaks in and tries to steal the map; suddenly, another man breaks in wanting the map for himself. They fight and escape, but neither one gets the map. An academic named Clive Stone (Porter Hall) shows up doing research on Stevenson's story, and Jamie Hawkins (Dawn Addams), descendent of Treasure Island's hero Jim, tells him about a bible with some coded words in it which, together with the map, might lead to the treasure. When Willy, the old caretaker, is shot and killed in another break-in, Stone tells Jamie that he thinks a certain Felix Newman is behind it, and she agrees to accompany Stone to the island to find the treasure. But on the way, she discovers that Stone is actually Maxie Harris, a scoundrel who is competing with Newman to find the treasure. Once on the island, she manages to escape and finds the real Clive Stone (Tab Hunter), a young, bearded and shirtless archeology student who had gotten involved with both Newman and Harris and was left for dead on the island. The rest of the story has the three factions battling to survive each other and to get the treasure.

This rarely-shown film was aired on TCM as part of salute to Tab Hunter a few days after his death in July. Clive was an early role for Hunter and as he himself has said, neither the movie nor his performance is very good. Actually, he's not terrible, though he and the movie as a whole are hurt by weak direction from E.A. Dupont. Hunter brings some much needed energy to the movie (though his narration style is terrible) and his eye-candy presence made the film worth watching for me—he never wears a shirt, and his bedraggled and patently phony beard gets shaved off fairly quickly, the better to display his blond cleancut good looks. Dawn Addams is fine and they share a decent B-movie chemistry. Hall, a very familiar supporting face (the store psychologist in MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET) makes an effective villain, and the action, such as it is, of the last half is reasonably entertaining. Still, there's not a lot to recommend this for today's young viewers. [TCM]