The Secret of Blood Island

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. It was written by John Gilling.

The film is a prequel to the 1958 film The Camp on Blood Island.

Premise

British Prisoners of War help a wounded female agent, Elaine, to escape the Japanese during the Second World War.

Main cast

Jack Hedley as Sergeant John Crewe
Barbara Shelley as Elaine
Patrick Wymark as Major Jocomo
Charles Tingwell as Major Dryden
Bill Owen as George Bludgin
Peter Welch as Richardson
Michael Ripper as Lieutenant Tojoko
Peter Welch as Richardson
Lee Montague as Levy
Edwin Richfield as Tom O'Reilly
Glyn Houston as Berry
David Saire as Kempi Chief
Philip Latham as Captain Drake
Ian Whittaker as Mills
John Southworth as Leonard
Peter Craze as Red
Henry Davies as Taffy

Production

The film was shot in Eastmancolor and released in that format in Britain, but the U.S. prints were in black & white.

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."

Reception

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."

The Guardian called it "nasty".

TV Guide called the film "fairly silly".

The Radio Times called it "lurid but fairly enjoyable."