Plot
The film follows several characters both black, white as well as mixed. Maxwell Fleury (James Mason) is a white plantation owner's son who suffers from an inferiority complex and makes rash decisions to prove his worth. He lives with his beautiful wife, Sylvia (Patricia Owens). Maxwell is tormented by extreme jealousy of his wife, and is envious of his younger sister Jocelyn (Joan Collins). Jocelyn is being courted by Evan Templeton (Stephen Boyd), a war hero visiting the Governor of the island, his father Lord Templeton (Ronald Squire).
The film also follows David Boyeur (Harry Belafonte), a young black man emerging as a powerful politician representing the common people and seen as a threat to the white ruling class. Mavis Norman (Joan Fontaine), a woman from the elite white class strikes up a romantic interest in Boyeur and much of the film explores the tension between these two.
Finally, the film takes a look at the interracial romance between Margot Seaton (Dorothy Dandridge), a black drug store clerk, and Denis Archer (John Justin), aide to the Governor.
Other characters include Hilary Carson (Michael Rennie) who Maxwell Fleury thinks is having an affair with his wife; Colonel Whittingham (John Williams), the head of police, who investigates the murder of Hilary Carson central to the plot; a journalist named Bradshaw (Hartley Power); and finally Julian Fleury (Basil Sydney) and his wife (Diana Wynyard) who are both hiding secrets from their children.
The characters and their relationships with each other are all shown to be complex and the issues being addressed were rather taboo for 1957. Furthermore, the film can be enjoyed for the lush, beautiful scenery and unpredictable plot dynamics.
Belafonte breaks his character to sing a calypso title song.
Read more about this topic: Island In The Sun (film)
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