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The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

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Donovan's Reef (1963)

Rating: 3 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

The Isle of Duke

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Donovan's Reef on DVD

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, now all grown up and living in San Francisco as an accomplished playwright.

Starring: 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
Written by: Frank S. Nugent, James Edward Grant, based on a story by Edmund Beloin
Directed by: John Ford
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Running Time: 109 minutes
Date: July 26, 2001