High Barbaree (film)

High Barbaree aka Enchanted Island is a 1947 film directed by Jack Conway. It stars Van Johnson and June Allyson, in the third of their six screen pairings. The screenplay based on the novel High Barbaree 1945 by authors Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. The reallife drama of the Consolidated PBY Catalina aircraft in the Pacific theater was merged into a search for a mystical High Barbaree.

After a period of inactivity for Van Johnson where he had brooded about his decision not to enlist in World War II, the studio cast him with one of his favorite costars, June Allyson, who had been a close friend ever since the pair had performed on Broadway and had been budding stars in Hollywood. Other principal roles such as the father, mother and uncle were ably cast by Hollywood veterans while the significant role of the young Alec was handled by Claude Jarman Jr., the star of The Yearling 1946.The studio followed the plotline of the original novel which had a Romeo and Juliet ending with Allysons character dying, Johnson hearing that her ship had been sunk, and subsequently dying before he is rescued. When previewed in Los Angeles with this ending,of the audience cards wanted a happy ending with Johnson not dying. A costly 50,000 remake had both of the screen lovers surviving. ........

Source: Wikipedia