Adventure Island

Three beachcombers are thrown in jail for stealing the governor's pigs. They're let out on condition that Paul Kelly captain a schooner bound for Australia carrying a cargo of champagne; her captain has just died of smallpox. He takes along John Abbot and Rory Calhoun and discovers that the captain's daughter, Rhonda Fleming, is a passenger. They also find out that it's not champagne in the hold.

It's based on THE EBB-TIDE, a novel co-written by Robert Louis Stevenson. It had been turned into a movie twice before. As directed by Sam Newfield -- under a pseudonym, since he was now working for the respectable but tight-fisted "Dollar Bills" of Paramount -- it's a pure adventure story, combining bits and pieces of other plots, like Alan Napier as the mad White ruler of the title location. Newfield had a 29-day shooting schedule, longer than he had ever had before and shoots with his usual bland efficiency. It's exciting where it's supposed to be and if you get the feeling you've seen this all before, well, that's usually the case with Pine-Thomas productions. They used up-and-coming or down-on-their-luck performers in proven stories. Also, they always turned a profit.