Aventurero del Pacífico

FYI...the summary of this film identifies Dr. Dedham's daughter as "Elizabeth". "Elizabeth" Allen is the actress who portrays the daughter. The character's name is "Amelia". This film may not be one of John Wayne's best movies, but it provides all the action, fun and adventure typical of all his films. This is a film for the whole family to enjoy.

From the very beginning of this movie you know what you have let yourself in for, when Lee Marvin belts the ship's bosun over the ear with a broom. Followed by, "Permission to leave the ship"; then literally jumps ship and swims for the beach. You realize then that you are in for 150 minutes of a Fordian, boisterous knockabout comedy.

This was the last time that Ford and Wayne would team up together. Maybe this production was a farewell rave-up for both of them. With Lee Marvin thrown in to assist in turning it into a roughhouse just for the hell of it. Added to this pugilistic mixture, you have the jumbo-sized heavyweight, Mike Mazurki, serving as a French Colonial Gendarme. As a welcome opposite to the boisterous muscle we have the smooth, suave Cesar Romero, oozing glossy charm and good manners, serving as the colonial governor of this supposed French Polynesian paradise. Add to that, Dorothy Lamour, back in the sarong after a long absence, as a duskey maiden-type decoration. The three children belonging to Doctor Dedham add a nice child-like innocence to this warring male atmosphere. Here the softer side of Big John comes to the surface when he tries to comfort the eldest of the three children who becomes emotional over her half-cast origins. Elizabeth Allen adds a well bred prim and proper touch of class to this nonsensical tropical South Pacific potion.

This movie then, has a friendly-like approach to bar room brawling with smiles thrown in. Harmless and bruising fun all the way. I always imagine that this kind of rough and tumble movie seems to be "cobbled" together...somehow. Then everything seems to fall into place at the end. The end result being order out of chaos.

It's a sad to think that nearly all the lead characters plus John Ford, have all faded out and gone to the big movie studio in the sky. God help anybody else up there with this lot! That's all.

This was a fun outing for John Wayne in the spirit of McClintock (including the spanking). I always enjoy seeing actors that have worked well together re-teamed, and here you get the Duke back with his nemesis from a year before, Lee "Liberty Valance" Marvin. And they do a great job of delivering an hour and fifty minutes' worth of entertainment, aided and abetted by a great supporting cast, Cesar Romero especially standing out.

I was a little frustrated by the underutilization of Jack Warden and Mike Mazurki. In fact, the scenes with Jack Warden almost seemed to be from another movie (such as Woody Allen's INTERIORS), with a humorlessness at odds with the rest of the picture.

My personal disappointment as a fan of singing cowboy Dick Foran was having to wait and wait for his appearance and then have it over way too quickly. Though he did sing!

"Donovan's Reef" is an accurately made, funny, light-hearted work, with some moments of deep poetry. For the audience it is more a relaxing vacation than an actual movie: we are transferred to a paradisiac South Pacific island, where a bunch of super-nice guys, our friends John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Elizabeth Allen, Dorothy Lamour, Mike Mazurki, Cesar Romero make a funny show to entertain us. From the very beginning we find John Ford's characteristic sense of humour: we see a family meeting of sullen Bostonian shipowners, who all take for granted that their relative Dr. Dedham (Jack Warden) is living in orgiastic promiscuity over there, in the Islands of Sin. And then there is the usual number of (harmless) fist-fights and brawls... and a quarrel-loaded love-story... and many comic misunderstandings...

"Donovan's Reef" is one of the very last cinema appointments of John Ford. Inside this light comedy, the old Master inserts touches of his poetic legacy, his trade-mark messages of peace, brotherhood, anti-racism. An evident instance is the scene of the Christmas Mass and Ceremony, with the islanders in their native costumes. And then there is an extremely poignant short scene, just few seconds. The nice little French priest is walking on a beautiful, sunny lawn, shaded by palm-trees, close to the sea: it's the cemetery. We see tombs with a Celtic cross, a French cross, a David's star; then the priest stops at a native barrow, covered with garlands, and he starts to pray (this is the tomb of the late native princess, the doctor's wife). After the storms of our life on this earth, we become all brothers in a better world. This quiet and dignified, yet full of religious hope acceptance of death is one of the most felt and profound themes of Ford's poetry.

I recommend "Donovan's Reef": enjoy the humour, the funny action, the fine performances of the cast, and don't miss the deep poetic touches of the Master John Ford.

My conceptions about the South Pacific were formed when I saw this movie at the Elm Theatre in Brooklyn growing up. It has an honored place in my collection.

First off that music does get you. Every John Ford film is marked by a great use of music, in his westerns the use of traditional western themes pace the action. Here in Donovan's Reef the music under the credits sets the mood for the story set on this South Seas Paradise.

Secondly this was the last film that John Ford made with John Wayne. I believe this is the most successful actor/director relationship in the history of film by just about any standard you want to use, box office, quality of work, etc. The partnership went out on a high note.

John Wayne's westerns are usually a self contained world that operates on the principles of his universe. This film does also, but here it is more believable. This mixed group of people really do know the secret of living and let living. And the outside world occasionally does intrude and violently as the World War II background of the principal characters demonstrates.

This is also a film about believing stereotypes. John Wayne, Lee Marvin and the rest of the island believe Elizabeth Allen will be a racist. She's hurt by the abandonment of her father (Jack Warden) but she does come to accept her half-siblings. The film is anti-racist, but it also teaches a great moral lesson in not making your mind up about people prematurely.

The comedy as in all Ford films is heavy handed, but I still crack up at Wayne and Marvin and their escapades.

This is what the definition of escapist entertainment is.