Movielogr
The Light at the Edge of the World (1971)
Directed by Kevin Billington
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Pirates take over a lighthouse on a rocky island. They then execute a devious plan to cause ships to run aground, pillaging their wrecks. A lone member of the lighthouse crew survives, and he deperately fights their plot. A shipwrecked maiden that avoids the pirates slaughter soon complicates the situation.
Rated PG | Length 128 minutes
Actors
Kirk Douglas | Yul Brynner | Samantha Eggar | Jean-Claude Drouot | Fernando Rey | Renato Salvatori | Massimo Ranieri | Aldo Sambrell | Tito García | Víctor Israel | Antonio Rebollo | Luis Barboo | Tony Cyrus | Raúl Castro | Oscar Davis | Alejandro de Enciso | Martin Uviente | John Clark | Maria Borge | Juan Cazalilla
Viewing History (seen 1 time)
| Date Viewed | Device | Format | Source | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02/19/2020 | TV | DVD | Library | 6 stars |
| (Average) 6 stars |
Viewing Notes
I got this dvd from the library when Kirk Douglas passed away not realizing that Kirk Douglas was in the movie! Finally got around to viewing it (it’s 2+ hours long). This is the second feature adapted from a Jules Verne story that stars Kirk Douglas. Not sure if he did any others but that’s pretty cool despite this being the lesser of the two.
This is rather brutal with Douglas being the lone survivor at a remote lighthouse outpost after a ruthless invasion of pirates led by Yul Brynner (who’s the same age in this movie as current me!). The pirates have a novel plan to deactivate the lighthouse so that passing ships wreck near the island then they can kill and plunder the passengers.
It’s up to Douglas to stop them and ultimately face the evil pirate warlord. Douglas was around 55yo when he made this and it still quite fit (gives me hope!) doing a lot of the stunts including being dangled from the lighthouse which is nuts to see. That said, there are some cheesy FX used as well as some obvious dummies instead of bodies going off cliffs.
Despite Brynner being typecast as the big bad he’s quite wicked yet reserved but even Douglas’ character does some questionable things. It’s a crazy flick that would fit perfect into the 70mm Festival if a 70mm print existed. It’s a movie made for the big screen. However, it is very mean spirited.
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