SOS Pacific (1959)

I'm a little surprised at the positive comments posted about this film. Anti-climax after anti-climax is what I remember from seeing it as a 12-year-old in 1964. When the the actual climax came along, my buddy and I laughed out loud. Sure, Pier Angeli was good-looking and her character good-hearted. But Eddie Constantine was much better playing his Lemmy Caution character than he was in this picture. I've certainly seen worse films, but SOS Pacific is memorable to me only because of how lousy I thought it was at the time. Far-fetched plot, low-budget set, B-list cast, predictable directing... not much to recommend. (It was on a double bill with the original McHale's Navy movie, which wasn't very good, either, but Captain Binghamton was a dead ringer for my junior high school principal.)

I saw this when I was about seven years old from the back of our car at a drive in movie. I thought it was a very exciting movie at the time but that was the only time I saw it, and would like to find a copy of it. I have not been able to find it in DVD or VHS yet, if anyone knows where it is available, please let me know. This movie has an Alfred Hitchcock feel to it, the suspense slowly builds to a climactic ending. I am surprised that it is not more well known as I have found few references to it on the internet. Most of the actors are not familiar to me except for Richard Attenborough whom I also enjoyed in "The Great Escape".

I give this film 10 stars because it deserves 10 stars. Pier Angeli was charming and showed that she was very much like her character. Her character was the heart of the survivors of a plane crash that are left to try to survive on an island that could be set to blow up. Richard Attenborough was very convincing as the character who will stop at nothing to get off the island. His tenacity was evident in that role.My favorite scene is when Pier Angeli's character goes into the water to save one survivor from drowning. This shows her character's heart and strength. She couldn't have played this role any better.I wanted others to see it so I sold it on Ebay. I hope the person I sold it to sells it to someone else and so on and so on.

A plane full of people encounters trouble in flight and is forced down in the Pacific. Thankfully they are near an island or not, since the island is due to have an atom bomb test go off in a very short time and they have no way of letting anyone know that they are there. It may sound corny and contrived but this film just works from start to finish. Once the film is underway you just are happy to have a film this involving to drag you along for the 90 minutes that this film takes to get to the conclusion.Why this film isn't better known is mystery since it has everything that a mystery should in spades and then some.The cast is great, including Richard Attenborough who plays one of the screens great slime balls.Eddie Constantine makes great hero and makes you wonder why he never became a bigger star here in the United States.Search this film out, you will enjoy it.