Manina, a Moça Sem Véu

Brigitte Bardot - young - fresh - sweet - and mostly in bikinis!

Oh yes, there was a story line too - she the daughter of a lighthouse keeper, and two guys who showed up for the summer. It was hardly the story that made BB famous, but the intense sensuality she radiated in this black-and-white movie, combined with a dear disposition - a winning combination that she did not quite reach again in all her later flicks.

A great gal!

Jean-François Calvé receives an amphora from a young girl while vacationing in Sardinia. A few years later, he learns that there was an almost legendary shipwreck with Phoenician amphorae filled with gold coins a couple of thousand years ago. He takes the amphora to the lecturer, who confirms it is a Phoenician one. Calvé decides that there are other amphorae down there, with hundreds of millions of francs worth of gold. He raises enough money to hire cigarette smuggler Howard Vernon and his boat for half the loot. When they arrive at Sardinia, he discovers that the girl has grown up to be Brigitte Bardot in her second movie. Eventually he will find out who he can trust.

Willy Rozier wrote and directed this as a straight adventure story, with Calvé exceedingly naive, and Mlle Bardot extremely fetching in her itsy-bitsy bikini. Cinematographer Michel Rocca shoots Miss Bardot and the ancient-looking rocks of Sardinia with equal verve, which should keep the audience distracted from the lack of novelty in the story, even though they'll have to wait for more than half the movie before seeing La Bardot.

Considering that this 1952 Rom-Com/Adventure tale was, indeed, titled - "Manina: The Girl in the Bikini" - I was certainly expecting the Manina character to be the most prominent factor in its plot-line.

But, oddly enough, about 80% of this picture's contrived story-line actually had nothing to do with her, at all.

Like, for instance - It took approximately 40 minutes of other stuff to take place in the story before the darling, young Manina was finally introduced into the action.

And, speaking about the 17-year-old Brigitte Bardot, as the title character - Yes. She sure was quite appealing to behold. - But, with that said - It was certainly hard for me to imagine that in 4 years time this young woman would, indeed, be catapulted into super-stardom by becoming one of cinema's most desirable sex-symbols of all (next only to Marilyn Monroe).

All-in-all - This Parisian production was, pretty much, a disappointing dud, from start to finish.

Note: The DVD has significant sound issues at about the 25 minute marks--sounding almost like someone crunching potato chips next to a microphone! Why this occurred and why it was allowed to remain like this on the DVD is a puzzler.

The story involves a college student following a possible treasure. It seems that years earlier he'd actually gotten a clue as to the treasure but only connected the clue to treasure recently. Once at the island where the treasure might lie, the young man finds the important treasure--sexy Brigitte!

If Brigitte Bardot had not been in this film, I doubt if it would have ever made it to DVD. It's not it's a bad film--it just isn't all that good a film. Plus, it is a bit dull up until the very good ending. However, a young Bardot DOES star in the film and, as the title character, she runs around in a bikini--and is quite stunning. But she really is NOT the star of the film--just a gorgeous woman showing off her beautiful figure. But, this is the only reason anyone would want to see this listless tale...just d to ogle Bardot and to see her in one of her earliest roles. As for me, however, the beautiful Bardot was a tad unsettling...as I have two daughters the same age she was in the film! Yikes!

A teenage Brigitte Bardot in a 1952 style bikini is the only reason to sit through this 85-minute attempt of a movie. More time is spent on scuba diving than Bardot, and I am sure the Producers of this movie knew that. Release multiple times with multiple different titles to make as much money as possible, the only sane reason this movie had any audience was the eye candy of all cinema candys, Brigitte Bardot.

Even though the Tangiers landscape is beautiful with wonderful scenes deep in the Mediterranean Ocean, nobody notices. The only time your eyes are wide open is when Brigitte Bardot appears on camera. When she is not on screen, the film is not worth the price of admission.

The entire cast outside of Bardot is not interesting. The plot, the backstory, and all the characters suck. The main protagonist is unlikeable, and we don't care about what is happening to any of them. Is it worth sitting through all this to see Bardot prance around in a bikini? The answer is yes. Still, it is sad that there is not a single positive male character in the story. Everybody is out to lie or manipulate if not downright take advantage or rape someone in this movie.

The movie falls under no genre. It's not quite a boy meets girl story let alone a comedy or a drama. The movie tries to be everything, including a musical in a few scenes. You could tell it was hard for the filmmakers to find enough of a story to have 85 minutes of a beginning, middle and an end.

In the end, it's a poetic introduction of Brigitte Bardot who right from the get to was exploited for a piece of flesh and nothing else. Kowing this, you would never question why she would leave the industry on her own term before it was too late.