| The Secret of Blood Island | |
| Director: | Quentin Lawrence |
| Producer: | Anthony Nelson Keys |
| Starring: | Jack Hedley Barbara Shelley Patrick Wymark Charles Tingwell |
| Music: | James Bernard |
| Editing: | Tom Simpson |
| Studio: | Hammer Film Productions |
| Distributor: | J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors (UK) |
| Runtime: | 84 min |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
The Secret of Blood Island (also known as P.O.W.) is a 1965 British war film directed by Quentin Lawrence and starring Jack Hedley, Barbara Shelley and Patrick Wymark.[1] [2]
The film is a prequel to the 1958 film The Camp on Blood Island.
British Prisoners of War help a wounded female agent, Elaine, to escape the Japanese during the Second World War.
The film was shot in Eastmancolor and released that way in Britain, but the U.S. prints were in black & white.[3]
The film was not as well received as Camp of Blood Island.Michael Ripper later said, "thought the story was very dodgy. I don't give a damn how hungry you are, if you haven't seen a bird in four years, or whatever it was, she'd have been stampeded, wouldn’t she? Somebody must have had the strength. I don't believe the story at all, but I must admit I had a good part in it."[4]
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Grotesquely inefficient melodrama, burdened with a ludicrous script, unconvincing settings, and Goonish impersonations of wicked Japanese from Patrick Wymark and Michael Ripper. Only Jack Hedley and Lee Montague come out of this sorry affair with any sort of credit."[5]
The Guardian called it "nasty".[6]
TV Guide called the film "fairly silly".
The Radio Times called it "lurid but fairly enjoyable."[7]