Director
Budd Boetticher moves out of his traditional western surroundings for the Technicolor programmer East of Sumatra.
Jeff Chandler stars as an American miner, who journeys east of Sumatra in search of tin ore. He runs afoul of
Anthony Quinn, a local despot who rules the Pacific island which Chandler hopes to mine. This being a Boetticher film, there's a lot of "faking out" from both hero and villain, as each man takes full measure of the other before making any sudden, violent moves. The climactic native uprising, is well worth the wait, even though everyone in the audience is fully aware who will come out on top. East of Sumatra was based on a novel by
Louis L'Amour, a western specialist who like
Budd Boetticher proved quite capable of working outside his own particular genre. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide