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With: John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Elizabeth Allen, Jack Warden, Cesar Romero, Dick Foran, Dorothy Lamour, Marcel Dalio, Mike Mazurki, Jacqueline Malouf, Cherylene Lee, Jeffrey Byron, Edgar Buchanan, Jon Fong
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Written by: Frank S. Nugent, James Edward Grant, based on a story by Edmund Beloin
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Directed by: John Ford
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
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Running Time: 109
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Date: 06/12/1963
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The Isle of Duke
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
For once director John Ford used his cornball sense of humor in a proper setting. This light-hearted comedy stars John Wayne and Lee Marvin as old-time comrades who meet every year on their birthday to fight. The action takes place on a lovely Pacific island paradise, giving everything a sense of relaxed ease. All that changes, though, when stuck-up Elizabeth Allen arrives to visit her father. Despite some embarrassing cultural stereotyping, this movie packs a lot of fun into its 109 minutes. Five-year old Cherylene Lee co-starred as an adorable island girl; I met her in the 1990s in San Francisco where she lived as an accomplished playwright until her untimely death in 2016.
I last saw Donovan's Reef on the 2001 Paramount DVD. In 2025, Kino Lorber has released a 4K and Blu-ray hybrid two-disc set, offering a 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative, and the result is impressive. There are two new audio commentary tracks, one by SFSU professor Joseph McBride and author of the ultimate book on John Ford, and another by film historian Dwayne Epstein, an expert on Lee Marvin. The disc includes a 1957 short film by Ford, The Growler Story, a trailer, and optional subtitles. Highly Recommended.
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