Bird of Paradise

While the plot of this film may seem trite to us today, it was fresh and original in 1932 when it was made. This may well have been the first "throw the girl into the volcano" movie. Considering the technical limitations of film-making in 1932, the photography and special effects are quite good: the whirlpool, the erupting volcano and the river of lava.

Contradicting other postings to this website, I did not see a "rape" scene. What I saw was the male lead chase the female lead after she had been teasing him, then he wrestled her and pinned her down to introduce her to Western-style kissing. A rapist doesn't kiss his victim, and a rape victim would not want her attacker to continue kissing her.

The action of the plot moves quickly and is never bogged down by the dialog. This is an entertaining film, which you could view as you would any antique: it's charming for the era in which it was created.

A very beautiful & romantic film. It's about a lovely native woman named Luana (Dolores del Rio) and the man that falls in-love with her, Johnny Baker (Joel McCrea). Luana is chosen by the other island natives to be sacrificed to the volcano. This is a story we've all heard of by now but this might be the first film on the subject matter.

I discovered this film via Creighton Chaney. I was looking to watch a film from him that I have yet to see. He's not in this one very much, his character Thornton is more of a supporting role, but he did not have to be in this film for me to enjoy it. I'm glad to discover it because it's a wonderful story.

8/10

A young man, sailing the South Seas with friends, is saved from a shark by a lovely chief's daughter. They fall madly in love, only to have him learn that his beautiful BIRD OF PARADISE is destined to be sacrificed to Pele, the volcano god.

Essentially a piece of fluff, this film is enhanced by the performances of Dolores Del Rio & Joel McCrea. They handle the romantics quite nicely (her skinny dip providing proof this is a pre-Production Code movie). The rest of the cast, which includes Lon Chaney Jr. & 'Skeets' Gallagher, exist purely to provide support to the stars.

Location filming in Hawaii and a beautiful, evocative score by Max Steiner emphasize the languid mood of the plot.

Directed by King Vidor, Joel McCrea is a young sailor who stumbles upon a remote Pacific island with his crew. It is inhabited by a tribe of natives, whose princess is brilliantly played by Dolores Del Río. She and McCrea's sailor instantly fall head over heels for one another, but their romance is predictably taboo, since the king's daughter is traditionally reserved for a native prince.

The tribe worships and fears 'Pele', the volcano god (there is an active volcano on the island), to whom they frequently sacrifice young maidens, and who would curse the young lovers should they act upon their desires. Of course, they do, and this fearsome figure effectively acts as the main antagonist.

It's a nice watch, the editing being quite choppy here and there, and the plot quite basic, but beautifully shot and with a very impressive, empathetic performance from Del Río as the princess Luana. Quite a sizable portion of the film has little to no dialogue (at least before Luana learns basic English) since McCrea's crew is absent throughout the entire second act and only returns for the climax. This does not negatively impact the film, and in fact, the relationship develops quite nicely through nonverbal forms of communication and it's interesting to see.

One critic has named Vidor's portrayal of "the rhythms of collective action" as something he often demonstrated in his films and, in this early sound outing, the tribal dances and processions are among the film's best scenes. This is by no means a masterpiece, but a pleasant watch nonetheless.

This film is a good example of Pre-Code Hollywood Essentially the story of a sailor who falls in love with a native girl, this film has numerous examples of how Hollywood flourished before the production code set in some 3 years later. In most of the film Dolores Del Rio runs around in a straw skirt with nothing but a lei covering her breasts. In scenes where she is swimming, she appears to be totally nude with just some distortion in the water keeping us from seeing her totally naked. Also co-star Joel McCrea spends a good deal of the film walking around in his bathing suit.

The love scenes between McCrea and Del Rio vary. The first time it looks like rape, and Del Rio looks like she is visibly in pain. 3 years later the production code would not permit a white man to wed or be romantically involved with anyone but a white woman.

Among the crew of the ship is Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, who plays a stereotypically gay role, along with another sailor on the ship.

This film is now in the public domain and can frequently be found on television, and is available on DVD.