Omoo-Omoo the Shark God

In the 1930s-50s, double features were the norm. The A-picture was longer, bigger budgeted and drew in the audiences. The B-picture, on the other hand, was cheaper, shorter and were generally less refined. A few of the Bs were quite good--such as "I Walked With a Zombie" and many of the series films, such as Charlie Chan and Boston Blackie. But most were not so hot...quickly made and less memorable than the As. Many tiny studios rented space in major studio lots and filmed at night...and their products were mostly terrible. Among the terrible Bs, "Omoo-Omoo the Shark God" is particularly bad...yet inexplicably I watched it!

The story is based on Herman Melville's second novel I have never read it, nor has anyone else other than English teachers...but I assume this cheap film probably has little to do with Melville. The story begins on a crappy ship with a particularly crappy crew. Soon, the captain becomes ill--and no one seems to know what's the matter with him. A stowaway says he knows...the captain is cursed because long ago he stole the pearl eyes from their shark god. And, until they are returned, he and the people of this small island are cursed. Can the curse be lifted? And, can they find these lost pearls?

The biggest problem with this film is that it is jam-packed with irrelevant stock footage. A long series of mostly aquarium fishes are shown at one point as the narrator talks about them like they are killers of the sea. Most were cheap baitfish or a tiny stingray! Later, they show a tiger fight. The fight is very grainy and lousy...plus what are tigers doing on an island near Tahiti???!!! Filler...that's all this is. And, considering this B is only 52 minutes (very short for a B), it's amazing that perhaps 10 minutes of it consists of this crappy footage. As far as the acting, direction and look of the film goes, they are mostly second and third-rate. Overall, a film that deserves to have a much lower score than 3.2!

By the way, my friend Angelo thinks this is among the worst films ever made. Sadly, I've seen a lot more older films...and have seen many that make "Omoo-Omoo" look half decent by comparison. Try "Maniac" or "Sex Madness"...you'll see what I mean!

There is only one thing noticeable about this movie. No, it's not the b-movie chic, the exotica, the dramatic musical score, the thin love story, the wild animals or the clumsy fighting scenes. It's not the lousy acting, the fake English-speaking natives, the mysterious pearls or the childish storyline. No, the special scene to look out for is the one in which two of the characters look out from the ship into the sea. Next we just see fish and octopuses going after each other, minutes long, while one of the characters gives a description of what happens there in the depth of the sea (which is clearly visible as an aquarium).

How on earth...

First thing you need to know is that there a scene where a man runs out of ammo in his revolver so he just chucks the unloaded weapon at his enemy. Fascinating.

All these people are rating 1 star acting like it should've been a masterpiece. It's a 57 minute movie from 1949 about a shark god, it's gonna be cheesy. Go in expecting a cheesy old adventure movie and you'll come out having enjoyed it.

1st watched 2/18/2007 - 4 out of 10(Dir-Leon Leonard): Fair adventure movie based on a novel by the author of Moby Dick fame, Herman Melville. This movie is about the captain of a ship who had stolen the eyes(that were extremely rare black pearls) from a native tribe's God sculpture and hidden them somewhere that only he knew about before leaving the Island of Tivi. He got very sick and was on a secret voyage to go back to the island to retrieve the pearls for himself while others(like his daughter) thought that he was going back to be treated by the local medicine man. Others didn't know the reason for the voyage. A stowaway actually knew the real reason for the trip -- to return the eyes to their God. The silly part is that the pearls were hidden very close to the statue and all this time the natives ran their tribe without their God having eyes(causing them all kinds of problems). Along the way, we are treated(for some reason) to a short underwater nature show with an electric eel fighting a local octopus(I guess only Herman Melville knows what this was all about). Once they get to the island, the Captain dies but passes the whereabouts of the pearls to his daughter but she also gets the sickness curse as well. One of the bad guys finds out where the God is housed and convinces the daughter to go there and steal back the pearls but at this point the good guys find out what's going on and a fight ensues. I won't tell you the results of the fight or the ending, I'll leave that up to you to find out if you want. As I said earlier, the movie was OK, but some very silly things that I've already mentioned lessened it's impact. I wonder if that new "Pirates of the Caribbean" got some of it's plot from this one ---hmm… black pearls, a curse( I wonder…) Well, it doesn't matter, those elements didn't make for a very good movie in this case or the other. It seems they would learn they're lesson, but with the money rolling in on that newer movie I'm sure they won't. Oh well.

I am a B movie whore and this film has it all! Let me tell you what it's done right. Drunken overly long explanations about 15 minute octopus fights brought to you by Mutual of Omaha and some guys fish tank. Old white guys pretending to be South Pacific Chiefs who talk like Tonto, burlesque inspired dances in front of hilariously innacurate stone idols. Bad acting from 1940's eye candy who obviously slept Ruth the dye tie yo get the role . Akwardly uncomfortable love scenes, lions, tigers and monkeys oh my! Campy wham, bam, gazzam fights with pirouetting gun slingers. Screamy weak willed women gone Smeagle under the influence of cursed pearls and a little mutiny. It's completely terrible and that what makes it so delicious. You find your self rooting for Omoo Omoo Shark God.