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_NRFPT_01_small.jpg) During an ocean cruise, spoiled heiress Sadie Patch
argues with her overprotective parents about their constant worry that
she will be led astray by fortune hunters. The flirtatious,
headstrong Sadie then quarrels with journalist Jimmy Carrol when she
accidentally trips over his legs, and the equally opinionated Carrol
takes an immediate dislike to her.
That night, a heavy fog causes the ocean liner to run
into another ship; during the ensuing chaos, only Sadie, Carrol,
lecturer Professor Gimble and ship’s stoker Pat Plunket make it onto a
lifeboat. The pragmatic, Irish Pat swigs rum, while the others
debate their chances of rescue. The next day, the dinghy drifts
toward an island but is wrecked on an outlying reef. The four
castaways reach the beach; although with only a handful of supplies,
they are forced to rely on one another for shelter and food. After
a quick exploration, the men determine that the island is deserted and
decide that as Sadie is the only woman present, they must make a pact
not to pursue her romantically so that her virtue will remain unsullied
and they will not quarrel amongst themselves. The pedantic Gibble
is especially concerned with maintaining the formalities of "civilized
life," and is worried that Pat, because he is from a lower-class
background, will not fulfill their gentlemen’s agreement.
As time passes, it is Carrol, rather than Pat, who first
falls in love with Sadie and begins to press his affections on her.
One afternoon, after Sadie has swum out to the dinghy to retrieve
supplies and found a bottle of rum, she and Carrol decide to hide it
from Pat. They bury the rum in a cave, and there Carrol steals a
kiss from Sadie, although she refuses to assure him that she prefers him
over the others.
Later, Carrol again tells Sadie that he loves her, but
she dismisses his attentions as arising from the fact that she is the
only woman available. Another day, Pat and Gibble are building a
bonfire when Pat teases Gibble about his own obvious affections for
Sadie. Fearing that Pat is correct about Carrol's having broken
their pact, and giving into his desire for Sadie, Gibble dashes off to
find her. After Gibble declares his intentions, he convinces
himself that because Sadie allowed him to kiss her hand, she is in love
with him. Carrol and Gibble then begin an all-out war, each
striving to spend time alone with Sadie while preventing the other
fellow from doing so. Sadie is driven to distraction by their
constant bickering, although Pat secretly encourages each man behind the
other's back. Finally exhausted, Carrol decides to live alone on
the other side of the island. Sadie begs Pat to drive off Gibble
also so that she can have some peace and quiet.
Later that night, an affronted Gibble watches from a
distance as Pat appears to carry the unprotesting Sadie into her hut.
Unknown to Gibble, Sadie had merely fallen asleep, and Pat tucked her
into her cot. Fearing the worst, Gibble relays the news to Carrol,
and the two decide to unite against Pat. Returning to the beach,
Gibble and Carrol attempt to disparage Pat to Sadie, but Pat does worse
damage to himself when he crossly storms around, decrying the lack of
liquor on the island. Worrying that none of them will be safe
while the bottle of rum is hidden in the cave, Sadie, Carrol and Gibble
rush to find it, but Pat discovers their actions and gets the bottle.
Later, a drunken Pat winds up in a fistfight with both
Carrol and Gibble, which is finally ended when Gibble, who has lost his
glasses, knocks Pat out with a lucky blow. At first the group
fears that Pat is dead but, after he revives, the men reconcile and
spend much time laying about, chatting. An irritated Sadie informs
them that she will now be the leader and assigns them various tasks.
Weary of Sadie’s dictatorship, the men decide to go on strike.
Sadie again takes charge, however, stating that their little group will
never function properly until she "marries" one of the men and the
others resign themselves to the arrangement. She forces the men to
draw straws for the "honor" of being her husband, with Gibble being the
loser. Although Gibble tries to persuade first Pat and then Carrol
to take his position as Sadie’s husband, both men refuse.
As Carrol and Gibble are talking, a ship appears on the
horizon, and the castaways are rescued. When the schooner’s
officer, Morgan, flirts with the still-lovely Sadie, Pat cynically
remarks to his friends that that is the last they will see of her.
Aboard the schooner, the captain, titillated by the idea of three men
marooned with a young woman, questions them about romance, but the men
all staunchly affirm that they acted as gentlemen.
Seeing Sadie dressed in proper clothes, in civilized
surroundings, Gibble again falls in love with her and expresses his wish
that they be married. Sadie, upset by his assertion that she had
"no mystery" on the island, demurs, and also refuses Carrol’s advances.
Sadie then finds Pat and tells him that she loved him, and only him,
from the beginning. Pat declines her marriage invitation, however,
even when she states that she is rich, telling her that he preferred her
as she was on the island. Determined to have Pat, Sadie tells the
captain that no one will believe that she was not compromised during her
ordeal and demands that he marry her to Pat. The captain is
attempting to conduct the ceremony, much against Pat’s wishes, when the
schooner sinks. Carrol winds up in a dinghy with the crying
Chinese cook, while Gibble turns up on an island inhabited by an amorous
spinster still shipwrecked from the original cruise. A bedraggled
Sadie lands at the old island and is at first nonplussed; but when she
hears Pat singing in her hut, she runs happily toward him. |
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