SWASHBUCKLER MOVIE: GIANT OF THE EVIL ISLAND (1965)

GIANT OF THE EVIL ISLAND (1965) – Also released as The Mystery of the Evil Island, this film starred Mission: Impossible‘s Peter Lupus going by the name Rock Stevens. After mild success in a few Italian peplums, Lupus got his one and only swashbuckler movie with this little honey.

Peter stars as Captain Pedro Valverde, a Spanish Empire naval officer who is out to bust up the evil pirate Captain Moloch and the various crews that prey on shipping while using Moloch’s fortress on the Evil Island as a base. That being said, Pirates of Evil Island would have been a more fitting title, but what can ya do?

Pedro’s predecessor as captain of his ship has retired after a career of fruitlessly trying to nab the pirate Moloch. Newly arrived Captain Valverde meets cute with the local governor’s daughter Bianca (Dina DeSantis) and the two fall in “love.” 

Our hero soon goes undercover – well, he wears black clothing instead of his uniform and tilts his hat slightly over one eye – in the nearest town. Pedro ends up in a swordfight to help a beautiful young lady named Alma (Halina Zalewska) in a violent dispute over her jewelry.

Valverde recognizes that Alma’s jewelry is actually loot stolen by Captain Moloch’s pirates recently. Alma is a wealthy lady about town but she’s also a spy for the pirates of Evil Island, as it turns out.

Later, Pedro hangs out at a tavern frequented by pirates to try to get a lead on Moloch and company. He winds up in the middle of a brawl, while Moloch and his pirates raid the town and make off with several women, including the governor’s daughter Bianca. 

Now it’s personal and Pedro plots to use Alma, now that he knows of her link to Captain Moloch and his plunder. Our hero pretends to desert the Spanish navy and gets imprisoned and beaten for it.

Feigning eternal anger at the Spanish Empire for this, Pedro convinces Alma that he sincerely wants to join up with Moloch’s outfit. Alma has the hots for Pedro, which helps convince her to enable our hero to escape jail and link up with the pirates.   

On Evil Island, Valverde shows Captain Moloch and his men how good he is at fighting and is accepted among their ranks. He encounters his beloved Bianca among the captive women but has to feign disinterest while whispering to her what he’s doing there. 

Time passes while Pedro plays along with being a pirate and manages to covertly get word to his naval superiors about the only safe way to approach Evil Island. On the day arranged for the Spanish to raid the pirate fortress, Valverde gets exposed and must fight to keep himself and Bianca alive.

While Pedro battles Moloch and several other pirates, he sends Bianca to the beach to shoot off the signal to the approaching naval vessels to launch their amphibious assault. Bad girl Alma gives her life to save Pedro, who wins acclaim for bringing down the pirates and marries good girl Bianca.

More of a C-Minus Movie than a B-Movie, but for fans of the genre, Giant of the Evil Island is worth watching. An added gimmick is the clawed metal glove that Captain Moloch uses in battle with Pedro.   

FOR ROCK HUDSON’S SWASHBUCKLER MOVIES CLICK HERE.