Pecadora sublime

Shelley Winters is so cute in South Sea Sinner! I know, you probably don't associate the word "cute" with Shelley Winters, but before she settled into her middle age body type, she was actually young and attractive. She plays a saloon singer (with Liberace as her pianist) in the tropics, and when she prances around in crop tops and sarongs, and you can see her tiny waist - yes, she had one once!

As for the plot, it's not the strongest part of the movie. The one-liners and Shelley's fun energy are far better. There's a love triangle with Macdonald Carey and Frank Lovejoy, not to mention all the other men who try to get into her dressing room after her performances. In fact, she has to hop from town to town because she disturbs the peace too much, if you know what I mean. After a scuffle where the men are literally fighting over her, Frank (a doctor) examines her for surface injuries. He tries to insult her by calling her a pushover and suggesting that she can be talked into anything by anyone. She puts on her Mae West attitude and agrees, "I give in real easy. Make me an offer sometime." As she leaves his stateroom, she looks over her shoulder and tells him to look her up next time he's in town. "You still haven't checked my reflexes." With a smirk in her eyes and a slight parting of her lips (which she taught to her former roommate, Marilyn Monroe), she comes across as a whole bundle of fun - so much different than her persona in her later years that later became her legacy! If it weren't for her tone of voice, you might not even recognize her from the movies she made decades later.

If you're just looking for a good movie, stick with A Patch of Blue. But if your goal is to see Shelley Winters before she became Shelley Winters, rent this one and Frenchie. She wears a "dress" embroidered with question marks (and with a matching tattoo on her chest); the question is clearly not "yes or no?" but "when?"

From Shelley's brief sex siren period this over heated potboiler offers her a chance to shake her hips and prance around in midriff baring outfits, feathers and bangles.

In this remake of the Marlene Dietrich/John Wayne starrer Seven Sinners on a lower budget Shelley manages to inject a bit of characterization into her part even if she's obviously dubbed when singing. MacDonald Carey however is no John Wayne so Frank Lovejoy in his second lead role makes a stronger impression than he throwing off the balance of the story.

This was the screen bow of Liberace who plays the piano player in the gin mill our South Sea Sinner Shelley works at. He is completely shorn of his later glitz and at first seems as if he'll remain firmly in the background. But the film makers find a way even in the tropics to give him a spotlight moment complete with candelabra and mood lighting to offer up a performance that no refugee drifter would ever be capable of. It adds to the overall absurdity of the film and he does play beautifully.

Worth catching for Shelley's commitment to a role she probably hated doing and the sometimes wild designs the wardrobe department came up with for her.

"She's been in more laps than a napkin," Shelley remarks about another girl who hangs out at the local tropical gin mill, in another post-WWII thriller, only without the thrills. What the film does offer is an amiably sleazy atmosphere, and that curious leading man MacDonald Carey, accused of dealing with the enemy, and while wanting to clear himself encounters Shelley singing one of her several dubbed songs; it's not exactly Actor's Studio stuff, but she seemed to be more than game to toss it around and chat up Liberace, who, in his first screen appearance, plays Chopin to the rowdy seafaring men--and later on in the film, in a completely absurd moment, is pounding out some curious up-the-piano, down-the-piano, concerto backed by an orchestra we never see, lights at the party dimmed discreetly so Lee can have his moment. It takes about the first 20 minutes for this film to find it's melodramatic feet, but there's a crafty, sleazy villain who loves to slap tender cheeks (Luther Adler), some tight-lipped servants hiding in the shadows gathering secrets, and a the leading lady in various Orry-Kelly outfits heaving her craft with wonderful energy: will she have another Orange Blossom or a double martini--dry?

This film is set in the turbulence and sleazy environment of the south seas just after world war II. It is really a bit underdone, even though today's people may find it implausible, but I think that Shelly Winters, as the bar girl Coral, is very close to reality. I identify with her easily... Frank Lovejoy was an often under-used and very talented man, and here he is the strong lead, interacting well with both the environment and the "lady" in question ... And very believable in that role. As with all the films I like it HAS a story and that story, though sleasy, is well told. I like this film. I saved it on my VCR ... I watch it, even now, on rainy afternoons.