Good start, but then it gets ruined

Absolutely Fantastic

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This is a good little film from the Corman Company with director-of- all-trades William Witney at the helm. If you go in expecting exploitation - and not some serious counterpart to its big brother Papillon - you're likely to enjoy it more.The key to its success for me is that Witney really builds up the characters during the first half hour of the film. You come to like these guys, and Richard Ely plays a great 'fancy boy'! After this, the action really zips along, and Witney doesn't pull any punches: this is exploitation, and it's sex, violence and gore galore.There are some silly moments of course, but for me they added to the fun. And, like all great exploitation movies, there's a message or two in the underbelly, which isn't out of place, nor too distracting from the on-screen action.Definitely worth checking out.

Superstar athlete Jim Brown plays Le Bras, one of many inmates at the notorious prison fortress Devil's Island in French Guiana in the early 20th century. He butts heads with pacifistic convict Davert (Christopher George) while also trying to deal with nasty and sadistic guards. When he gets the chance to make a break for it, he takes it, along with fellow prisoners Jo-Jo (Richard Ely), Dazzas (James Luisi), and a reluctant Davert. The four men make it to the mainland, with prison personnel, led by Major Marteau (Paul Richards), in hot pursuit.From then on, things get rather episodic as Le Bras and his comrades encounter lepers and Indians (not to mention a shark), and when they make it to a colourful community, Le Bras decides that he rather likes it there.Directed by veteran filmmaker William Witney for the Corman brothers, Roger and Gene, and filmed in Mexico, "I Escaped from Devil's Island" is passable entertainment. It's not strong on story; in fact, this story starts to get more incoherent as the movie goes on, but in terms of delivering exploitation, it does its job. There's gore aplenty as well as the requisite female nudity. There's some socio-political subtext, but it never gets in the way of the admittedly lurid thrills. The photography, by Rosalio Solano, is just gorgeous, and Les Baxter composes a flavourful and fun music score. The acting is decent from our principals; Brown is commanding as usual, he and George act well together, and Richards and especially Richard Rust make for a very effective pair of thoroughly disagreeable villains.Overall this is pretty easy to forget but it kills time in an entertaining enough manner.Six out of 10.

I Escaped from Devil's Island (1973)** (out of 4)This exploitation film from Roger and Gene Corman beat PAPILLON to theaters by a month and features Jim Brown and Christopher George playing prisoners on Devils Island who plan an escape to get away from the sadistic guards. They duo end up on an island with many beautiful women but soon enough the prison guards come calling. I ESCAPED FROM DEVIL'S ISLAND is somewhat entertaining for the fifty-minutes or so but once we're out of the prison things really slow down and the second half of the film is a major chore to sit through. Veteran director William Witney does a pretty good job at making this low-budget film look like it had higher production values than you know it had. The first portion of the film inside the prison features all sorts of silly violence dealing with the prisoners being beaten, thrown in the hot box and various other items that we've seen in countless prison movies. This remains somewhat fun as both Brown and George are such enjoyable actors that you can get caught up with them and this helps the film move a little bit. Fans of the two actors will probably want to sit through this even though the end result isn't as good as you're going to hope. Brown has no problems playing the tough guy and there's plenty of action built around him. George plays a political prisoner who is against violence and the two actors really work well together and build up some nice chemistry. The problem in the second half of the film is simply the fact that nothing entertaining happens. We see the men fight, argue, fight some more and it just grows tiresome after a while. The exploitation level really needed to be pumped up in the second half as did the energy because the film pretty much just runs out of gas.

This film beat 'Papillon' to the box office by a month: A typical Corman attempt to get a jump on the bigger competition. As for the film, it's a pile of swill stirred by hack William Witney and featuring ever-wooden Jim Brown as one of the four escapees. Lots of beatings and sniggering over homosexuals while in the penal colony, then, after the escape, a required pit stop at the leper village (also featured in 'Papillon') followed by Indian native assaults, some breast baring (even full-frontal) local gals, and a lame finale involving fireworks. Funniest aspect is having Brown stubbornly refusing to continue running because he keeps falling for the first local gal he latches onto. Still, a cheesy, sleazy piece of junk only for the easily entertained.