Island of Love

Take three of the funniest, cleverest actors in the movies plop them on a gorgeous, real-life Greek isle and add a feverish plot that involves an ingenious scam, big money, lighthearted romance and a lisping gangster and you have Island of Love. On the lam from the mob boss he fleeced, a conman (Robert Preston in a flim-flam mode recalling his triumph in The Music Man) and his sardonic pal (Tony Randall) end up on Paradeisos. The two Americans promptly hoodwink the world into believing the place is an ancient lost island of love. Tourists flock in and fortunes are made -- until the boss (Walter Matthau) shows up, his trigger finger twitching. The sun is bright but the stars shine brighter on this comedic Island of Love.

In this different type of gangster farce with a few flaws here and there, Robert Preston is Steve Blair, a superlative con artist whose sidekick Paul Ferris (Tony Randall) is a boozy writer currently working on a cartoon. Steve gets the idea of producing a movie based on Genesis in the Bible and brings Paul into the scheme as a scripter. He finds financial backing in the form of $2,000,000 from gangster Tony Dallas (Walter Matthau) who is none too happy when the final product flops with a resounding crash. Anxious to find a safe spot to hide out, Steve and Paul make their way to a Greek island where Steve is inspired by another brilliant idea for a scam that just might work, knowing full well that the gangster is sure to show up sooner or later.