“ADVENTURE AND TREACHERY”

By Raymond Benson

Sir Carol Reed made many fine British films, among them Odd Man Out and The Third Man in the 1940s, and the Oscar-winning Oliver! in the 60s… but among his lesser known pictures from the 1950s sits this gem of an adventure yarn based on Joseph Conrad’s novel, An Outcast of the Islands, first published in 1896.

While many interiors were filmed at Shepperton Studios, much of the picture was made on location in Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon), a British colony at the time. That alone provided the contemporary audience with a view of an exotic world that few had seen. Given that the tale is a period piece that takes place in the late 1800s, Outcast of the Islands is truly of a time and place along the lines of the 1935 version of Mutiny on the Bounty, but on a smaller scale.

Ralph Richardson received top billing, although in reality his is a supporting role; he appears only in the first and last quarters of the movie. It is Trevor Howard who dominates the story, a rare case in which the villain is the protagonist. He plays a truly despicable character, and much of the forward drive of the picture is in our hoping he will get his comeuppance by the film’s end.

Richardson is Captain Lingard, and elderly commander of a trading ship that sails the seas of Indonesia. Years earlier, he had “adopted” a homeless young English boy of twelve, Peter Willems, and brought him along on a few routes. Now, in the present day, the adult Willems (Howard) is a scoundrel, a cheat, and a cunning soul in Singapore. Lingard stops at the port and agrees to take Willems—who has just lost his job—to a remote island trading post so that he can work for the manager there, Lingard’s son-in-law, Elmer Almayer (exquisitely played by Robert Morley). Almayer, who lives among the native population with his wife (Wendy Hiller) and young daughter, reluctantly takes Willems on as an assistant. Willems then proceeds to thwart Almayer’s business, seduce the local chieftain’s daughter (portrayed by Kerima, an Algerian actress who had a brief career playing “exotic” types), and anger everyone around him. Everything goes to pot until Lingard finally returns and he realizes the mistake he had made in trusting his former ward.

Director Reed does a splendid job in managing the native crowd scenes, some with tropical dance sequences, and rendering the tale on a large canvas (albeit in black and white and preceding the advent of widescreen). Howard is quite good as the cad; he and Morley give the picture its punch with their palpable rivalry. Beloved British character actor Wilfred Hyde-White makes a welcome appearance early in the film; he is surely one of the best purveyors of the ironic smile. Unfortunately, as was the style at the time, some native characters are portrayed by British white actors wearing dark makeup, such as George Coulouris as the chief’s spokesman.

Kino Lorber’s new high definition transfer looks remarkably good, and it comes with an audio commentary by film historian and critic Peter Tonguette. There are English subtitles for the hearing impaired, plus theatrical trailers for this and other Kino Lorber titles.

Outcast of the Islands may not be a well-known motion picture today, but it is indeed a solid entry in the extraordinary filmography of Carol Reed.

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