User Reviews

This film and "Shell Shock" have been packaged together by Something Weird Video. Both are ultra-low budget WWII films that were made during the post-war period. However, unlike the wretched and extremely boring "Shell Shock", "Battle of Blood Island" manages to be entertaining despite its many shortcomings.

The biggest problem with the film is probably the title. There really isn't any battle--at least not that you'll see in this action-less action picture. When the story begins, a small group of US Marines have already been killed as they were trying to take this small Pacific island (though the film was actually made in Puerto Rico). Two manage to survive...but one just barely. The healthy guy saves the wounded one and they hide from the tiny occupying Japanese force through the first half of the film. Then, a very odd thing happens. When the two soldiers have mustered up the nerve to attack the dozen or so occupants, just before they do so, the Japanese soldiers obligingly kill themselves--apparently they just found out they lost the war and decided to commit mass suicide. Now the two men realize that although they will indeed survive, perhaps no one will ever come to rescue them--after all, the island is small and the Americans probably assumed the entire unit was wiped out in the earlier attack. This is a pretty novel idea and without a working radio, I am sure there must been a few cases like this at the end of the war.

The relationship between the two men makes up an interesting second half of the film. I especially was intrigued by what I thought was a gay subtext late in the film when the one healthy guy did NOT try to communicate with the American ships passing by--making you wonder if he really liked the idea of spending the rest of his life with the other man! But, sadly, the film didn't really follow up on this....making you wonder WHY the healthy guy didn't try to signal the ship. A gay love interest seems to be the only answer. But, despite this, the film still is different and pretty well acted.

By the way, the ending was only okay. I predicted that the island would be Bikiki or some other island used for nuclear testing because goats and other livestock were released on the islands to see the effects of the bomb on them (that's kind of sad, huh?). But, I think they missed their chance for a great twist ending. When the healthy guy was finally discovered by the soldiers who were rounding up the goats and pigs, wouldn't have been wild if at that point it turned out there really WAS only one survivor on the island and the sick guy had died long before and was only now a figment of the other man's imagination? This "Twilight Zone" ending would have improved the film considerably--especially since the ending otherwise didn't make complete sense. Still, it's well worth a look.

By the way, the film really blew it with the toucan. This bird lives ONLY around the Caribbean as well as Central and South America--not the Pacific. And, for that matter, they cannot talk like a parrot of mynha bird. Oops.

A couple of soldiers are stranded on an island in the Pacific during WW II. Richard Devon plays Moe, who in civilian life is a happily married accountant. Ron Kennedy plays Ken who is a pitching prospect for the Yankees in civilian life. At first Moe and Ken must survive hiding in a cave as the island is occupied by the Japanese. They periodically kill off a Japanese soldier here and there, and eventually the Japanese soldiers figure there is no way to get out of the movie other than to kill themselves. Moe and Ken then have the island and the movie entirely to themselves. Ken is kind of a whiner (like most Yankee players and fans) and he gets on Moe's nerves. At one point Moe says to Ken, "Why you, I oughta..." For a low budget "war film" the movie is actually more thoughtful than action oriented. I'm guessing this stems from the Philip Roth story on which it is based. The fighting sequences aren't staged particularly well, but I did find myself engrossed in the plight of the two main characters.

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.

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

***SPOILERS*** It wasn't much of a battle as the attacking US military were caught flat footed by the defending Japanese Marines who wiped them out almost to the last man. With Moe Malumuth, Richard Devon, playing dead he managed to get to a cave on the island where he found the badly injured fellow GI Ken Kennedy, Ron Gans, paralyzed from a blast of mortar fire. With Moe going to case out in the island looking for food and medical supplies from the occupying Japanese troops he manages to kill one of them who tried to do him in, neglecting his rifle and handgun, karate style and failed. Moe later goes into a deep depression in having killed a man, the Japanese Marine, even in self defense in that it being against his both moral and religious teachings.

Still after killing once Moe doesn't have any problems in killing some half dozen more Japanese troops until it's heard on the Tokyo Japan radio that the Emperor has ordered the total surrender of the Japanese military to the allied forces! That had the remaining and heartbroken Japs end up committing Harri Kari, with rifles not swords, in order to save face and humiliation in that Japan lost the war! It now turns out to be a fight between the crippled Ken and healthy Moe in them not being able to live together, with Moe forced to look after him day and night, as well as Ken's uncalled for remarks, when he really got angry and pi**d off, about Moe's religious affiliations.

***SPOILERS*** Finally kissing and making up both Moe & Ken wait to be rescued that, in being stuck on an uncharted island in the Pacific, takes more then a year for the US Navy and Marines to finally locate them. It's Moe while beach-combing on the far side of the island who spots an entire US Naval armada heading straight for it. With goats and other animals debarked together with a company of US Marines they finally rescue Moe, and later Ken, and it couldn't have been soon enough! The island that both Moe & Ken were stuck on was designated to be plastered off the map in an atomic test explosion called Operation Barnyard, or really Crossrords, the very next day where the two if they stayed there would have been blown to atoms!

BATTLE OF BLOOD ISLAND is a godforsaken WW2 cheapie made in 1960 but looking at least a couple of decades older thanks to its cheapness. Things begin with a badly-staged action sequence before moving on to a predictable story in which two American soldiers are stranded on a barren island and forced into teaming up to battle attacks by the Japanese. Most of the time is spent on hollering between histrionic characters in scenes which become tiresome incredibly quickly. The experience is patience-testing in the extreme, and seems to go on forever.

Before you balk at a 7 of 10 rating I'm giving this, it is in proportion to the films budget which is mid 60's drive in movie, indi production, very low money. It is on the 50 Movie Pack Combat Classics collection through Amazon, I highly recommend it for the price of what one or two movies alone go for. If your a Roger Corman fan you will enjoy this movie. I'm not a big fan of Corman's stuff but I keep watching it. I like hopeless situation movies usually post atomic war stuff, and this has a bit of that taste. I found it at first fun to watch seeing the dramatized invasion (you have to use suspension of belief in this movie which I did), but then the situation of two GI's (one wounded and para-pelagic) on an island abandoned with a squad of Japanese was something I never saw before so I got into it. It then turned into a drama of men going insane and of course what would a war movie be without a little racial bigotry thrown in for even more easy drama. I was hoping the ending would turn out different in a bad way, it would have been a very Cormanesque twist like he did in that cave man movie I think titled teenage caveman. Anyway for a really low budget forgotten drive in war flick it's a good one to catch, 7 of 10. It does seem a lot longer then 68 minutes though. Corman is uncredited as a soldier in this one as well so you see some versions packaged with his face on the cover but as far as I can tell on IMDb he is an uncredited actor only, maybe he made this under a different name?

As a unit of World War II American soldiers makes a daylight landing on the beach of a Pacific island, they are quickly over matched by Japanese troops. They are all killed, except for a pair of survivors, Moe Malamen and Ken. The pair has been left for dead. Moe has faked his death while Ken has been critically wounded, a mortar fragment in his back. Ken is now moaning in the shallow water. Moe puts him over his shoulders and heads into the jungle where they stumble upon a cave in which to hide.

In the cave the pair gets acquainted and contemplates their circumstances. Moe then sets out to find food and water and finds the Japanese encampment. Upon Moe's return, he examines Ken's wound and both men realize that Ken's situation is dire. That night Moe goes to the Japanese camp to steal the things necessary to help Ken but is discovered, and must knockout a guard before he can escape with the supplies. But before he leaves, he heads to another tent in the camp and takes a photo from the wall. Back at the tent, Moe operates on Ken with crude tools with the hope that it will work. The following morning, Ken appears to be in better shape and is very thankful for Moe's efforts and guts. Moe counters by saying "Some guts? What kind of guts does it take to stay alive?" Later Moe says "Everything I do for you I do for selfish reasons."

A day or two later the men head to the far side of the island to swim and fish in a lagoon but are interrupted by a Japanese guard. The guard discovers one of the GI's shirts, a fight ensues and Moe kills the guard and responds with remorse. Moe buries the body and the pair heads back to the cave where Moe gets drunk to sarcastically "celebrate" his first kill. As the two contemplate the act of killing, Ken attempts to rationalize Moe's killing but Moe will hear none of it. Moe wonders who the Japanese soldier was, what his life was like, and gets drunk.

The following morning the two are almost spotted by a Japanese patrol at the front of the cave but remain undiscovered. Moe later heads out to get some fish but is tailed by a Japanese soldier. As Moe approaches the cave Ken sees the Japanese soldier and kills him by throwing his bayonet into the soldier. Moe then heads out to bury the body but is discovered by two more Japanese soldiers and is pinned down with rifle fire. Moe picks up the Japanese soldier's rifle to return fire and kills one of the two soldiers. After running out of bullets, Moe surprises the remaining Japanese soldier and kills the him with a shovel. Upon returning to the cave, Ken continues to console Moe with a line from Saroyan's "The Time of Your Life", "Have no shame in being kindly and gentle, but if the time comes in the time of your life to kill, kill and have no regret." Feeling brave, Ken suggests a dawn raid on the Japanese camp and Moe agrees to a Sunday morning attack.

To there surprise, all the Japanese soldiers are lined up with their leader shouting at them. Then to their astonishment, all the Japanese soldiers shoot themselves. Ken and Moe wonder if the war has come to an end. Sometime later while Moe is burying the squad of dead Japanese soldiers, Ken is attacked by yet another unexpected Japanese soldier and strangles him to death. Moe and Ken move to the camp.

After seven months of waiting and bickering, the stress begins to wear on Moe and Ken. A toucan named Uncle Morris becomes a distraction but they wonder if they will ever be found. Indignant at Ken's continued paraplegic condition, they begin to argue more intensely, and the threats and insults begin. Ken grows weary of his existence, his burden. Influenced by Moe's insults, Ken tries to commit suicide but fails. Both men are in utter despair, missing the lives at home in America.

Finally on a bright, sunny day, Moe spots a group of three ships off the coast. Moe wonders if they are Allied ships or Japanese. In a moment of uncertainty, he decides they are enemy ships and heads back to Ken. In a moment of irony, Moe tells Ken that there are planes and ships on the other side of the island but Ken doesn't believe it. That night Ken hears something outside their hut. Moe heads outside to see a goat at the edge of the camp. Back in the hut, they wonder where the goat came from and conclude that the goat is a gift from God, from heaven. As they go for a walk, they encounter a herd of goats at the beach and still wonder where they came from. Moe tells a story of war and how the people left over turned over the world to the children who abolished war and turned the whole world into a circus, the Pacific a zoo, an asylum for goats. As Ken consoles Moe, they understand that the goats can't hurt them. The following morning they awake on the beach to find American soldiers tending to the goats and are saved, just in time before the island is used as a nuclear test sight.