Young Barnaby Harrison's (Pat Cardi) father has died in a car crash--and Barnaby is set to inherit 5 million dollars. Barnaby's uncle Kevin (Nigel Green) is next in line and is prepared to kill Barnaby to get the money. The two are stuck on an island and try everything they can do to kill one another. By the way--this is aimed at kids!! I never caught this as a kid on TV like most people seem to have. I can see how a kid might enjoy this cause it's FAR too silly to take seriously and some of the "games" are fun (in a sick sort of way). Seeing it as an adult I found it slow, stupid and somewhat disturbing about having a movie where an adult is trying to kill a kid whose father has just died! To make it worse it throws in an ending which comes out of nowhere and renders the entire film pointless. This only gets a 2 because Cardi, Green and Mary Badham (as Chrissie) aren't that bad in their roles. But this is a pretty sick and dull little item that is almost impossible to see today--for good reason!

Imaginative lad, orphaned and living on an isolated (some say haunted!) island with his uncle, learns quickly that his bug-eyed relative wants him dispatched permanently in order to cash in on the lad's five-million dollar inheritance. The boy then involves his bickering playmate in turning the tables on the nefarious grown-up, who seems to take delight in this deadly game of cat-and-mouse. Adapted from a novel by Rohan O'Grady, this William Castle thriller is curious and intriguing without being provocative. The kids plot to poison Uncle with mushrooms but are somehow thwarted, while Uncle--armed with a can of gasoline--attempts to set the two on fire (but how would he explain this to the authorities?). You absolutely cannot look for logic in a Castle screamer...but imagine how good (if not great) his films might have been with a little smarts! *1/2 from ****

William Castle was losing touch with his audience around this time and the cheap and efficient producer side of him was clearly winning over the carny style director side of him.The concept of a black comedy geared for kids was a bit novel but Pat Cardi is just too annoying as the little boy and some of the plot devices and effects are real eyeball rollers even for a vintage Castle movie.Nigel Green clearly knows what he's doing and refuses to play down to the material.It may seem like he's going over the top at times but his character is supposed to enjoy outwitting and doing away with the boy that stands in the way of his inheritance.As others have stated the scenes with the shark in the pool are pure hokum guaranteed to illicit peals of laughter as they shift from one scene of a rubbery fin by the diving board to an old and grainy shot of a shark in the ocean.The basic concept of who's killing who? Child or adult? could be remade quite effectively today but this is largely a flop, Stick with The TIngler Or House On Haunted Hill.

I remember this movie from my youth. I must have seen it for the first and last time around the mid-70's. I too finally found a DVD copy on the internet. I have always been drawn to see this movie in it's entirety, for I do not remember much of the movie besides the old hotel and the shark in the swimming pool. (Cheesy clips of the shark really "age" this movie compared to today's fix capabilities.) Approaching the young age of 40, perhaps I was trying to recapture some of my youth. None the less, the movie was a thrill to see after all of these years. I will keep it in my collection and let my boys watch it as I did in my younger days. Nigel Green is quite good in this movie, I must admit.