Al sur de Pago Pago

When the film begins, an idiot sailor is way too talkative about some gigantic pearls he's found on a far off island. Now you'd THINK he'd keep this to himself...especially since he has found a captain and crew to take him back to where he got the pearls so that they can all become rich men. Instead, however, he's swayed by the blackhearted Captain Larson (Victor McLaglen) and his vicious femme fatale, Ruby (Frances Farmer). In fact, they are so evil that when they near the island with the pearls, they murder the poor sailor. Then, when they land, they behave like they love the locals and only want what's in their best interest. But when their pearl diving natives try to find pearls, all they find are tiny ones....making their trip a waste of time. But when they try diving in much deeper places, they hit pay dirt...gigantic pearls. But there is a major problem....it's so deep that the divers risk death and one does die from the bends. So, the local kahuna, Kehane (Jon Hall), orders the divers to stop. So, it's time for Ruby to use her sexy wiles and get Kehane to change his mind...and he does so because he's head over heels for this heel! What's next?

So is this any good? Well, it's pretty good...though it would have been nice if more parts had actually been played by Polynesian actors and if the sea battle late in the film hadn't been so cheesy. Jon Hall at least was in real life half-Tahitian....which makes this better than many similar films of the era. My assumption is that there just weren't that many Polynesian actors available on and around Catalina Island, California, where the film was made! As for the story, it's an interesting little parable about the evils of 'civilization' and its impact on innocents...and the impact this has on the scoundrels who invaded their paradise.

By the way, this film stars Frances Farmer, a woman whose life story, "Frances", is mostly fiction. She never was labotomized and much of the IMDB biography from her is based on a book that completely fabricated much of her life and experiences.

This movie was an attempt to imitate the success of "The Hurricane" which was made three years earlier also starring Jon Hall as a Tarzan- like South Pacific Islander. Unfortunately, South of Pago Pago was NOT directed by John Ford and it showed.

The script is very predictable, the characters are one-dimensional and the acting varies from wooden to hammy. Whereas "The Hurricane" was able to develop a real insight into the soul of the islanders and their way of life, "South of Pago Pago" portrays them too simplistically to ever really identify with.

Please watch "The Hurricane" instead.

It's a strange movie. Frances Farmer is the main attraction. This is not her ideal role- her patrician blond beauty seems a little out of place here. Although only 27 when she made the movie, she does not look quite as breathtaking as when she made Come and Get It 4 years earlier. Nevertheless, it is one of the few movies one can see Frances in. Jon Hall is an interesting character. I remember him from the 1950s as Ramar of the Jungle. Apparently he never sustained the successes in his early movies.

Around 80 years ago, I saw this film at our small town's only movie theater. I was eight years old, and a juvenile fan of movies that told simple stories involving high adventure, uncomplicated romance, easy identification of the good guys v. the bad ones and scenes that included underwater thrills. South of Pago Pago was such a film, and I found it to be very appealing and a fun experience to watch.

Recently, I had the opportunity to see it again on YouTube. Apparently, it is hard to find elsewhere. How does it now appear to someone in the twilight of life? It is still enjoyable. The good guys (and gal) are still positive role models and the bad guys are truly repulsive in an unrelenting sort of way. The acting seems natural, and the story of greedy men spoiling a native paradise until meeting their justly deserved fate is spun out in an easily understood way.

Olympe Bradna, who plays Jon Hall's girl friend, continues to remind me of Debra Paget as she has for many years. And Frances Farmer, whose real life involved a truly tragic story, is just as beautiful and stirring as she seemed to me so long ago. The underwater sequences are still exciting. The setting and costumes greatly add to the movie's appeal.

All in all, South of Pago Pago is a film that deserves to be objectively reconsidered by a new audience.

And how about the great movie trivia question that it poses. What do South of Pago Pago and The Jolson Story have in common? Give up? Same director!

I can't express how fortiesishly luscious this is on every level. Any fan of that era who hasn't seen it 'ain't there yet.' Frances Farmer ! How could you describe her? [a curiously unblemished saloon girl in this one, but what the heck?] John Hall ! Victor McLaglen ! These people - who they were in the time in which they lived and worked - bigger & more beautiful than life - a part of that never-never fantasy world - that was so much illusion - once lived and so gone forever - of the forties.