By Richard Harland Smith
Island of Love
Brief Synopsis
A con artist scams a gangster into financing his movie.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Morton Dacosta
Director
Robert Preston
Steve Blair
Tony Randall
Paul Ferris
Georgia Moll
Elena Harakas
Walter Matthau
Tony Dallas
Betty Bruce
Cha Cha Miller
Film Details
Also Known As
Not on Your Life
Genre
Comedy
Release Date
May
1963
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Belgrave Enterprises
Distribution Company
Warner Bros. Pictures
Country
United States
Location
Greece
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 41m
Synopsis
Con artist Steve Blair persuades Tony Dallas, a Manhattan gangster, to finance a movie about Adam and Eve by offering the female lead to Tony's stripper girl friend, Cha Cha Miller. The film is such a disaster, however, that Steve and his writer, Paul Ferris, decide to escape on a freighter to Greece. En route, Steve learns that the island of Paradeisos has lost its tourist trade because it has no apparent historical or mythological heritage. Intrigued, he hits upon the scheme of turning Paradeisos into a legendary island of love and taking a cut from all commercial enterprises. After planting Greek antiquities in the waters surrounding the island, Steve induces Paul to "recover" them, thus causing the tourist trade to increase. Steve becomes romantically involved with Elena, unaware that she is the niece of Tony Dallas. Eventually the hoax is exposed and Steve is thrown into jail, but the local priest validates Steve's claim by revealing an authentic, ancient shrine of love. At this point Tony arrives, bent on having his revenge on Steve and Paul, but when he learns Steve is planning to marry Elena, he is obliged to retreat, now that his enemy is his nephew.
Director
Morton Dacosta
Director
Cast
Robert Preston
Steve Blair
Tony Randall
Paul Ferris
Georgia Moll
Elena Harakas
Walter Matthau
Tony Dallas
Betty Bruce
Cha Cha Miller
Vassili Lambrinos
Professor Pappas
Michael Constantine
Andy
Titos Vandis
Father Anaxagoras
Miranda Murat
Mama Harakas
Lewis Charles
Louie
Peter Mamakos
Nick
Nick Dimitri
Tony Rollins
Vic Lundin
Greg Benedict
Hoods
Lillian Miniati
Miranda
Crew
Harold Adamson
Composer
Gordon Bau
Makeup
Edward Carrere
Art Director
Morton Dacosta
Producer
George Duning
Music
Sammy Fain
Composer
Don Feld
Costumes
George James Hopkins
Set Decoration
Stanley Jones
Sound
Floyd Joyer
Assistant Director
Leo Katcher
Story
Arthur Morton
Orchestration
Jean Burt Reilly
Hairstyles
David R. Schwartz
Screenwriter
Harry Stradling Sr.
Director of Photography
William Ziegler
Film Editor
Film Details
Also Known As
Not on Your Life
Genre
Comedy
Release Date
May
1963
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Belgrave Enterprises
Distribution Company
Warner Bros. Pictures
Country
United States
Location
Greece
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 41m
Articles
Island of Love -
This featherweight crime comedy is mostly notable in retrospect for bringing together the talents of Walter Matthau and Tony Randall, stars of The Odd Couple--albeit Matthau in the 1968 film version of the Neil Simon Broadway play and Randall in the long-running ABC-TV sitcom spinoff. Directed by Morton DaCosta, Island of Love (1963) stars Robert Preston as a career swindler who, with partner-in-crime Randall, dupes New York gangster Matthau into financing a disastrous movie about Adam and Eve, starring Matthau's stripper girlfriend Betty Bruce. Fleeing the mobster's ire, the con men escape to Greece, where they dream up a brand new scam, conning locals and tourists alike into believing the lackluster island of Paradeisos is rich in priceless antiquities. Complications arise when Preston falls for village girl Giorgia Moll (seen next in Jean-Luc Godard's Contempt), never suspecting that she is the vengeful Matthau's niece. The fourth-billed Matthau tended to look back on this period of his career (and this film in particular) with disdain but his fortunes were already on the upswing, with prominent roles in Clive Donner's Charade (1963) and Sidney Lumet's Fail Safe (1964) just around the corner, as well as an Academy Award for Billy Wilder's The Fortune Cookie (1966), which paired him for the first time onscreen with Odd Couple costar Jack Lemmon. Island of Love provided early film work as well for Michael Constantine, who played a Greek patriarch to great acclaim in the Oscar-nominated 2002 crowd-pleaser My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
By Richard Harland Smith
By Richard Harland Smith
Island of Love -
This featherweight crime comedy is mostly notable in retrospect for bringing together the talents of Walter Matthau and Tony Randall, stars of The Odd Couple--albeit Matthau in the 1968 film version of the Neil Simon Broadway play and Randall in the long-running ABC-TV sitcom spinoff. Directed by Morton DaCosta, Island of Love (1963) stars Robert Preston as a career swindler who, with partner-in-crime Randall, dupes New York gangster Matthau into financing a disastrous movie about Adam and Eve, starring Matthau's stripper girlfriend Betty Bruce. Fleeing the mobster's ire, the con men escape to Greece, where they dream up a brand new scam, conning locals and tourists alike into believing the lackluster island of Paradeisos is rich in priceless antiquities. Complications arise when Preston falls for village girl Giorgia Moll (seen next in Jean-Luc Godard's Contempt), never suspecting that she is the vengeful Matthau's niece. The fourth-billed Matthau tended to look back on this period of his career (and this film in particular) with disdain but his fortunes were already on the upswing, with prominent roles in Clive Donner's Charade (1963) and Sidney Lumet's Fail Safe (1964) just around the corner, as well as an Academy Award for Billy Wilder's The Fortune Cookie (1966), which paired him for the first time onscreen with Odd Couple costar Jack Lemmon. Island of Love provided early film work as well for Michael Constantine, who played a Greek patriarch to great acclaim in the Oscar-nominated 2002 crowd-pleaser My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
By Richard Harland Smith
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Location scenes filmed in Athens and the Greek Islands of Hydra and Spetsai. The working title of this film is Not on Your Life.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States 1963
Released in United States 1963
