Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Mysterious Island of Beautiful Women Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 22, 2023

Joseph Pevney's "Mysterious Island of Beautiful Women" (1979) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The only bonus feature on the release is an exclusive new audio commentary recorded by critics Amanda Reyes and Lance Vaughn. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

What could have been the biggest strength of Mysterious Island of Beautiful Women very quickly become its biggest weakness. Directed by Joseph Pevney in 1979, this made-for-TV film borrows from so many different genres that eventually finds it impossible to decide how it wants to entertain its audience. It is unfortunate because a slightly more coherent screenplay and better direction could have transformed it into a dramatically better film.

In the prologue, a very small group of nuns and children barely manage to escape the communist takeover of French Indochina. However, not too long after that, a powerful storm forces their plane to land on an unknown island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Many of the escapees are injured and plenty more die when the pilot crashes the plane.

A few decades later, another plane transporting a small crew of men -- an oil magnate, current and future business associates, and a badly injured oil rig driller -- enters a powerful electric storm on its way to Guam. After its radio is fried, the plane makes an emergency landing on an unknown island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. While looking for fresh water, one of the men kills a savage chasing a beautiful young woman. (In case it is not perfectly clear, the young woman is not a clueless tourist. She is a local creature who has never before seen a modern man -- or woman). Soon after, some of the men are captured by other equally beautiful women whose leader, Lizabeth (Jaime Lyn Bauer), reluctantly agrees to let them live because they have taken out a “head chopper”. Then, while interacting with the beautiful women, the men are told to prepare for a clash with the “head choppers” because it is only a matter of time before they return to seek revenge.

Before the inevitable violent clash, there are a couple of minor twists. One of them introduces “Sister”, who advises Lizabeth on what orders to give the rest of the beautiful women. Another reveals that Snow (Kathryn Davis) is willing to engage in a romantic relationship with one of the visitors. A third twist produces a diary that links the survivors from the first plane crash to the beautiful young women.

It will probably take you less than ten minutes to figure out exactly what is happening in Mysterious Island of Beautiful Women because Gary Sherman and Sandorn Stern’s screenplay is beyond elementary. But this is not the reason Mysterious Island of Beautiful Women looks and feels like a classic misfire. Pevney’s direction is the main source of all troubles, which cover everything from the depiction of the behavior of the stars before the camera to the quality of the visuals that they are part of.

For example, the silliness that glues the different pieces of the story could have been used to produce a hilarious exploitation film that would still be appropriate for late-night TV. Special guest star Clint Walker, as he is officially credited, for instance, attempts to act in precisely that kind of exploitation film while pretending to be a redneck from Georgia. Or the silliness could have been substantially toned down in favor of more straightforward action that would have produced a decent exotic adventure film. Unfortunately, Pevney’s direction quickly creates the impression that he is trying to blend a lot of genre qualities and flavors without having a crystal-clear idea of what the finished film must look like. As a result, the bulk of Mysterious Island of Beautiful Women looks like an elaborate but very casual rehearsal.

There are a couple of notable cameos. The gorgeous Deborah Shelton, who has a famous part in Brian De Palma’s Body Double, is Bambi, one of the female warriors. The excellent but underappreciated Sandy McPeak is Stu, the pilot of the second plane. Peter Lawford plays Gordon Duvall, the wealthy oil magnate and owner of the plane.

Pevney worked with cinematographer Al Francis, who much earlier in his career contributed to the classic Mission: Impossible: The Original TV Series and Star Trek series.

Mysterious Island of Beautiful Women Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.34:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Mysterious Island of Beautiful Women arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from a recent, exclusive new 2K master, which is also a reconstruction job. Apparently, different portions of surviving 35mm and 16mm prints were used to prepare this master, which is why there is a short note before the film begins warning that there are various types of fluctuations. However, I found the technical presentation of the film to be very nice. Yes, it is quite easy to tell when material from different sources appears because the fluctuations in delineation and depth are pretty obvious -- see screencaptures #2, 17, and 18 -- but density levels are still very good and all visuals convey strong organic qualities. Because the optimal elements are no longer available, some visuals are simply not as good as they could have been. Also, you will notice some fluctuations in the overall dynamic range of the visuals, which is also an inherited limitation. (The stock footage from the prologue should not be placed in the same context because there are additional limitations on it). Color balance is good, but this is another area where some inconsistencies can be observed. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. Image stability is very good. All in all, given the nature of the 2K master, I think that Mysterious Island of Beautiful Women looks very good on Blu-ray. My score is 4.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Mysterious Island of Beautiful Women Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The dialog is clear and easy to follow. However, there are portions of the film where dynamic balance fluctuates a bit and not because the original sound design has these fluctuations. It appears that these fluctuations are inherited from the surviving elements, which as mentioned elsewhere are not optimal. I did not encounter any audio dropouts or distortions to report in our review.

Mysterious Island of Beautiful Women Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critic and author Amanda Reyes and Kindertrauma co-founder Lance Vaughn.

Mysterious Island of Beautiful Women Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Only folks that greatly miss the type of TV content that was funded during the 1970s and routinely need a nostalgia fix will find Mysterious Island of Beautiful Women appealing. What is the problem with this film? Gary Sherman and Sandorn Stern's screenplay is simple yet oddly incoherent and Joseph Pevney's direction is disappointingly inconsistent. I am very forgiving when I sit down to view older films like Mysterious Island of Beautiful Women because I realize that they were made to meet expectations that are incompatible with the classic cinematic definitions of "good" and "excellent". Some of the worst of these films I find to be very, very entertaining. But Mysterious Island of Beautiful Women did not do anything for me, and I am rarely disappointed by older films with Clint Walker. Kino Lorber's Blu-ray release is sourced from a recent solid 2K master, which is actually a complex reconstruction job. RECOMMENDED only to the fans.