By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 3, 2021—When it was released in 1957, the movie “Island in the Sun” was banned in The Bahamas because the Bahamas Film Censor Board decided that it “would not be in the public’s interest for the film to be shown in The Bahamas,” according to an article written at the time by the Associate Press.
To fully understand why the Bahamas Film Censor Board reached this decision it necessary to keep in mind that under the white United Bahamian Party (UBP) political leadership of The Bahamas, the British colony was as rigidly segregated as Birmingham, Alabama, or any of the southern American cities where racial segregation was enforced by law.
Indeed, as late as 1962 in The Bahamas, the Savoy Theatre downtown on Bay Street was still for “whites only,” and new movies were shown there first for a week or so before they were shown at the Capitol Theatre and the Cinema Theatre Over-the-Hill.
But the major reasons why “Island In The Sun” was banned from The Bahamas was because the film — produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and directed by Robert Rossen – deals with some issues that were prevalent in The Bahamas at the time and, according to Wikipedia, it was “controversial at the time of its release for its portrayal of interracial romance” in the fictitious island of Santa Marta.
With a cast that includes James Mason, Harry Belafonte, Joan Fontaine, Joan Collins and Dorothy Dandridge, according to Wikipedia: “The film follows several characters, black, white and mixed race, and their relationships. It also chronicles the social inequality between the British who colonized the island and the native population.”
Wikipedia adds: “Maxwell Fleury (James Mason) is a white plantation owner’s son who suffers from an inferiority complex and makes rash decisions to prove his worth. He is tormented by jealousy of his wife Sylvia (Patricia Owens), and he is envious of his younger sister Jocelyn (Joan Collins), who is being courted by the Oxford-bound Euan Templeton (Stephen Boyd), a war hero visiting the governor of the island, his father Lord Templeton (Ronald Squire).
“David Boyeur (Harry Belafonte), a young black man emerging as a powerful politician, represents the common people and is seen by some as a threat to the white ruling class. Mavis Norman (Joan Fontaine), a woman from the elite white class, strikes up a romantic interest in Boyeur and much of the story explores the tension between these two.
“There is also an interracial romance between Margot Seaton (Dorothy Dandridge), a mixed-race drugstore clerk, and Denis Archer (John Justin), aide to the governor.
“Maxwell believes that Hilary Carson (Michael Rennie) is having an affair with his wife. He strangles Carson during a quarrel, then tries to make it look like a robbery. Colonel Whittingham (John Williams), the head of police, investigates the murder.
“A journalist named Bradshaw (Hartley Power) writes an exposé revealing that Maxwell’s grandmother was part black. Maxwell has decided to run for the legislature, but is jeered by the crowd, then insults everyone there.
“Jocelyn learns she is pregnant, but does not wish to burden Euan with a child of mixed race. Her mother reveals that Jocelyn’s father was actually a white man, the result of an undisclosed affair. She and Euan board a plane to England, as do Margot and Denis, to begin new lives.
“Maxwell, a broken man, contemplates suicide, then decides to go to Whittingham to confess. Mavis wishes to marry Boyeur and begin a new life of her own, but he decides the needs of the island and his people must come first.”
Clearly, there is no possible way that the Bay Street Boys, many of whom could have assimilated with the mixed-race Fleury family, would have allowed “Island In The Sun” to be shown in The Bahamas in 1957, one year after that they had established themselves as a political party, the UBP, after the PLP – established in 1952 – won six seats in the House of Assembly in the 1956 general election.
What’s more, the actual racial divide in The Bahamas – as far as determining who is indeed ethnically white — has historically been difficult to accurately decide, so the movie would have revived long-standing “speculation” about which Bahamian “white” families were similar to the mixed-race Fleury family.
Through my Internet provider Xfinity, I rented “Island In The Sun” for $3.99 about two weeks ago, and because I am able to view it for free over a period of one month, I have literally watched it every night at least once since then. It is a great movie that I strongly recommend.
