Two beachcombers with a yacht join woman-with-a-past Rita on a quest for black pearls on a secret island. Arrived, they find another white man has made himself high priest; but George, the latter's handome son, is fair game for Rita, who lands in the guise of a missionary! The inevitable conflict over the pearls brings violence and corruption to the quiet island.
Similar titles
Reviews
You can't make a bad looking movie in Hawaii and the scenic Hawaiian locations are the main thing that Pearl Of The South Pacific has going for it. Otherwise this is a rather desultory, but somewhat campy drama about two adventurers and a bad girl in the South Pacific looking to grab off a cache of black pearls on a beautiful tropical island in the South Pacific.Said island is run by Basil Ruysdael who cornered the missionary trade years ago and now he's worshiped as a white god. At his command the natives are ready to turn the white guys schooner away. But then Virginia Mayo appears on deck and she announces she's a missionary. Since the natives have never seen a blonde before they have to let them land. Soon afterward Mayo discards her 19th century garb, corsets and all, and borrows one of Dorothy Lamour's sarongs from Paramount. New kind of hip missionary. The chief Murvyn Vye's son Lance Fuller is most taken with Mayo.The only other thing is that Mayo's partners Dennis Morgan and David Farrar fall out as well.This could have been a great satire on all those South Seas adventure films if the producer Benedict Bogeaus and director Allan Dwan had recognized it. Still on that level it's enjoyable.
It's correct to note that when actresses of a certain age get to a point in their career, they might be asked to go down Maria Montez territory to put on a sarong and/or go to an exotic location for an Indiana Jones like adventure. Yvonne De Carlo returned to these types of roles with Republic's "Flame of the Islands" and Jane Russell dove for pearls to Perez Prado music in RKO's "Underwater". Even Barbara Stanwyck did this (minus the sarong fortunately) in the same year's "Escape to Burma" which this Virginia Mayo epic seems to take place on the same set.Filmed in Super Silly Scope, this adventure yarn is another case of "Uh oh, there goes the neighborhood", occurring in the south seas when a ship containing men searching for black pearls arrives near an uncharted island where one was discovered. "Bad girl" Virginia Mayo disguises herself as a missionary in order to fool the islanders who are being ruled by Basil Ruysdael, an Englishman who doesn't want outsiders ruining the island, and who could blame him? The islanders, unlike those in such south sea movies as "The Hurricane" or anything else starring Jon Hall and Dorothy Lamour, aren't too kean on it either, greeting them with spears while Ruysdael voices threats. With her sensuous looks, it's obvious to Ruysdael that Mayo ain't no missionary, and when she makes a play for his scantily clad son (Lance Fuller), war between the islanders and white men is inevitable.While Mayo has surface beauty, there's also something cold which can't be explained by simply watching her on film. This made her perfect for film noir, hence classics like "White Heat" and "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye", but in musicals, she can't compare to Grable or Day. She does get a bit of an opportunity to sing, introducing native children to the nursery rhyme song "Ten Little Indians", and that is the one moment where her warmth briefly comes out. But here, she's involved with three men: old lover Dennis Morgan (looking much aged from his Warner Brothers days), new lover David Farrar (quite sinister) and innocent but deadly serious Lance Fuller, and that makes her a total floozy. Then, there's the obviously rubber octopus, perhaps the same one that made infamy in the same year's "Bride of the Monster", guarding the hidden cavern which can only be found through a pond in the middle of the island that contains the hidden stash of black pearls. This brings on more unintentional laughs that might have your chest in pain.This is a reflection of the fun but schlocky films of the 1940's and 50's that kids used to rush to on Saturday afternoons that if they were to see today, they'd probably roll their eyes and declare how stupid it all seems in retrospective. Still, it's all innocent fun, as far-fetched and fantastic the plot is, a reminder of what films used to be made to do. In a sense, this could be almost a variation of a Greek tragedy, sort of an Aesop's fable, as if transfered into a screenplay and a modern era, and definitely a lesson in how greed can destroy the soul.
Pearl of the South Pacific recently came on BBC2 one afternoon, so I set the video to record it and was pleased I did. It was one of several movies BBC2 were showing in tribute to its main star, Virgina Mayo, who died earlier this year (2005).A woman and some men arrive on a remote island in the South Seas to search for some treasure. With it being the South Seas, you would expect danger, including a monster. There is a monster, a giant squid which is guarding the treasure, but is later killed. They discover the island is being ruled by a white man who has made this his home. There are also unfriendly natives who are hostile towards the visitors. The woman makes out she is a missionary and after some fighting and conflict which sees the ship explode and most of the men killed, everything is OK and the woman and the only other survivor from the ship, her fiancé are allowed to make the island their home.As well as Virgina Mayo (White Heat), the movie also stars Dennis Morgan, David Farrar and Lance Fuller (This Island Earth).Pearl of the South Pacific is an ideal way to spend almost an hour and a half one afternoon. A treat.Rating: 3 and a half stars out of 5.
Is there anyone else out there fascinated by the octopus ? Strange creatures they are , almost like something out of a sci-fi comic book with their giant heads and their tentacles grabbing anything that looks good enough to eat . Did you know the female octopus dies after laying her eggs , her contribution to the species has passed at this point . Fascinating . So when I heard the climax of PEARL OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC involved a giant octopus I eagerly sat down to watch this movie . Big mistake because sitting through this is an ordeal . It's poorly acted with a cast who look like they're going to burst into song at any minute , pitifully written with atrocious dialogue ( " I feel like I just swallowed an octopus " Gee don't get too ironic ) in a movie that can best be described as HEART OF DARKNESS lite . If I have anything good about this film it's that the battle with the giant octopus is very well done , much better than say the giant squid from REAP THE WILD WIND and that the battle takes place about two thirds of the way through which means you've already seen the best bit and can turn off without having to endure another 30 minutes of crap
