Opening title:- “This is not just a story – it is based on the brutal truth”. In Japanese-occupied Malaya, the World War II prisoner-of-war camp on the aptly named Blood Island is governed by the brutally sadistic regime of Colonel Yamamitsu, who has sworn that, if Japan loses the war, then he will slaughter every single prisoner in both the men’s and the neighbouring women’s camps. When Colonel Lambert, the senior officer among the prisoners, learns through their secret communications system that the war is over and the Allies are victorious, it becomes imperative for the truth to be kept from Yamamitsu long enough for the liberating troops to arrive…..
Production Details
A Hammer production released by Columbia Pictures
Copyright MCMLVII by Hammer Film Productions Ltd. – Ail rights reserved
MPAA Approved Certificate No. 18790
All characters and incidents portrayed and the names used are fictitious
RCA Sound Recording
Black & White 81 Mins
Megascope
Filming Began: 14th July 1957
UK Release: 20th April 1958
Studio:
Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire
Locations:
Callow Hill Sandpit, Virginia Water, Surrey – Mining sequences
Stills from film
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Original Poster
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Footnotes
Publicised as Hammer’s 50th film, this graphic depiction of the brutal ill-treatment of POWs by their Japanese captors sparked considerable controversy on its release, coming so soon after the events portrayed.
These days the film is rarely given an airing, probably for similar reasons. Hammer eventually (in 1965) produced a sequel, The Secret of Blood Island, which is now equally rarely seen.
Richard Wordsworth is the great-great-grandson of the poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850).
