MovieChat Forums > Island in the Sun (1957) Discussion > Belafonte and Fontaine

Belafonte and Fontaine

posted 17 years ago by dustinthewind25
11 replies | jump to latest

I've been reading some of the user comments, and so many make note of Joan Fontaine being "much older" than Harry Belafonte. Some wiseguy even said Fontaine could have played Belafonte's grandmother's friend. Turns out she was ten years older than him. I don't think ten years is alot. The thing that kinda gets me is, when the guy is ten years older than the girl nobody so much as blinks an eye. But if the woman is ten years older, she's "much older," like the difference is incredible and outlandish. James Mason played Patricia Owens' husband, and he was 16 years older than her. And it's not mentioned at ALL. It's just kind of incredible to me. I just don't think ten years is that big of a deal either way.

[–] eden_echo 17 years ago

The thing that kinda gets me is, when the guy is ten years older than the girl nobody so much as blinks an eye. But if the woman is ten years older, she's "much older," like the difference is incredible and outlandish.

It's called sexism, some people are just ignorant. They just place the blame on one gender and that's it, it's weird!

"I promise you, before I die I'll surely come to your doorstep"

[–] C.S.Wood 17 years ago

The thing that kinda gets me is, when the guy is ten years older than the girl nobody so much as blinks an eye. But if the woman is ten years older, she's "much older," like the difference is incredible and outlandish.

I agree with the previous poster that it's sexism, but it's also the fact that in most cultures the woman is SUPPOSED to be young than her man. You gotta see this film called Late Marriage where a man is deeply in love with an older woman who has a child, but it takes place in a foreign country where the guy's family demands he marry a younger woman, even if he doesn't love her.

Many cultures are obessed with image. You have to be with someone of the same race, from the same relgious background, from the same class, and so on. Notice how you hardly ever see a thin man with an overweight woman or a tall woman with a shorter man in the movies unless it's a comedy.

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[–] Zorione 16 years ago

James Mason played Patricia Owens' husband, and he was 16 years older than her. And it's not mentioned at ALL.

Neither is the fact that Diana Wynward, born in 1906, played the mother of James Mason, born in 1909.

[–] hilljayne 15 years ago

As someone who is ALSO dating a man who is younger than me and is of a different race, I also am kind of offended by those comments. Yet I kind of find them justified in some way, Fontaine may have only been 10 years older than Belafonte...but she DID look a little older than that. More than likely it's the fact that Belafonte was a hunk and Fontaine wasn't necessarily considered a bombshell.

Regarldess, I like this movie and Dorothy Dandridge is breathtaking.

Professional Jayne Mansfield fanatic/lover™ since 1980.

[–] hobnob53 15 years ago

The problem wasn't the age difference, it's that there is absolutely no chemistry whatsoever between the pair -- no spark, no passion. The scarcely seem like friends, let alone lovers. Joan had a very winsome sexiness when she was young (as in Rebecca), but as she got older her looks became rather hardened and she lost whatever sex appeal she had had. In contrast, Belafonte oozed sexuality. Just completely unconvincing as a couple.

[–] hilljayne 15 years ago

^VERY true and good comment.

Professional Jayne Mansfield fanatic/lover™ since 1980.

[–] hobnob53 15 years ago

Thank you, hilljayne. Nice to see you again.

While we're on the subject, I even thought the relationship between Stephen Boyd and Joan Collins seemed a bit passionless -- the words were there, but you didn't sense deep, torrid emotion. Maybe that's just the English. Their ages were right, anyway.

In fact, Joan C. was carrying on a torrid but brief affair with Belafonte during filming, rumor of which leaked out and caused a bit or a stir (undoubtedly welcomed for its free and topical publicity by producer Darryl Zanuck!). But it couldn't have been too much because it did no harm to Joan's career, a real risk in the still largely segregated 50s.

[–] Errington_92 10 years ago

Also as a couple they were not given enough screen time together, contributing to lack of chemistry. Though it's hardly surprising since depictions of interracial relationships were a contested topic in 1957.

"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not".

[–] hobnob53 10 years ago

True, that didn't help...although, in view of their basic lack of chemistry, maybe the less time on screen was the better!

[–] Ged59 10 years ago

Very true, and clearly sexist. On this day Lauren Bacall died, and she was so much younger than Bogart, but again, not so much made of that. Imagine if it was the other way round.

[–] GJValent 9 years ago

I actually thought Joan Fontaine was a knockout. The relationship may have been kind of tame, but, that was probably required by the era it was filmed in. I wouldn't have even noticed the true age difference if they hadn't remarked about being children together. To me she seemed to be a really attractive mature woman who knew what she wanted and didn't care what people thought. Of course, we're all living in a Cougar Town age where that's totally acceptable. I do wish they had shown a real romance, though.