The Camp on Blood Island
| The Camp on Blood Island | |
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UK release poster
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| Directed by | Val Guest |
| Produced by | Anthony Hinds |
| Written by | Jon Manchip White |
| Starring |
Carl Möhner André Morrel Edward Underdown Walter Fitzgerald |
| Music by | Gerard Schurmann |
| Cinematography | Jack Asher |
| Edited by | Bill Lenny |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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82 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Camp on Blood Island is a 1958 British World War II film, directed by Val Guest for Hammer Film Productions and starring Carl Möhner, André Morell, Edward Underdown and Walter Fitzgerald.
The film is set in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in British Malaya and deals with the brutal, sadistic treatment of Allied prisoners by their captors. On its release the film was promoted with the tag line "Jap War Crimes Exposed!", alongside a quote from Lord Russell of Liverpool, "We may forgive, but we must never forget", and an image of a Japanese soldier wielding a samurai sword.
From its powerful opening sequence of a man being forced to dig his own grave before being shot to death, with an intertitle stating "this is not just a story - it is based on brutal truth", The Camp on Blood Island is noted for a depiction of human cruelty and brutality which was unusually graphic for a film of its time, and received some contemporary allegations of going beyond the bounds of the acceptable and necessary into gratuitous sensationalism.
It was followed by a sequel The Secret of Blood Island in 1964.
As the Pacific War draws to an end, the commandant of the Blood Island prisoner-of-war camp has let it be known that should Japan surrender, he will order the massacre of the entire captive population. When the prisoners hear through underground sources that Japan has indeed surrendered, they mobilise themselves to try to prevent the news reaching the commandant. Colonel Lambert (Morell), the authoritarian self-appointed leader of the prisoners, deems that they must sabotage communications between the camp and the outside world, and arm themselves in however makeshift a way in readiness for a final showdown.
Lambert's unilateral assumption of military authority is not universally welcomed, as other prisoners including Piet van Elst (Möhner), diplomat Cyril Beattie (Fitzgerald) and priest Paul Anjou (Michael Goodliffe) chafe against his quasi-dictatorial personality, obstinacy and refusal to listen to any views other than his own. Lambert is forced continually to justify his at times apparently illogical and counter-productive decisions. Matters are not helped by the growing suspicion that the camp harbours a collaborator in its midst.
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Wikipedia