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This was the best thing that Chuck Conners ever did. And Burt Lancaster was made to make Marine movies. Unfortunately,, Burt did not emerge until his next film, From Here to Eternity, where he had only a minor skirmish with the attacking Jap planes on Pearl Harbor. This film predates that one, and shows Burt as a crazy as can be jarhead; not to mention his sidekick, Chuck Conners, an even crazier jarhead. Between the two of them they stop a reinforcement of Guadacanal by Japanese troops and sink a battleship to boot. A bit reminiscent of African Queen with Bogart's final scene. This would be the PERFECT midnight cult film. I could see it now; the chicken marriage ceremony outfit, guys dressed up like marines, girls dressed up like islanders, bad Germans, bad Frenchmen , good Frenchmen, and one or two other costumes. This film is HIGHLY underrated, and is a hidden gem. It has more action than most other war films, and a decent amount of comedy to boot; not to mention a trial! The movie has everything but the kitchen sink, and is probably the reason Lancaster was cast in the lead for From Here to Eternity. DO NOT MISS THIS GEM!

The least significant entry in Warners' 5-Disc "Burt Lancaster Signature Collection" is this obscure but harmless WWII action comedy that is sufficiently enjoyable without being remotely memorable. The film starts out with Lancaster refusing to defend himself in the court-martial he is facing and the events unfold in flashback as the various witnesses give their testimony: Lancaster is a U.S. marine who (together with his pal Chuck Connors and the latter's fiancée Virginia Mayo) 'deserts' to a tropical island on the eve of the Pearl Harbor sneak attack where they proceed to live it up over there for a while, in the company of local madame (Veola Vonn), her three nieces and assorted beachcombers (including Arthur Shields). However, when a Dutch captain visits the island on his yacht, Lancaster and Co. steal it to go "have a crack at those Japs" – to borrow Errol Flynn's famous last words in Raoul Walsh's DESPERATE JOURNEY (1942); this leads to a rousing action climax in which the renegade band of islanders take on the Japanese fleet and manage to sink one of their ships – with Connors sacrificing his life in the process and leaving the way open for the budding romance between Lancaster and Mayo (reunited here three years after their joint participation in Jacques Tourner's colorful adventure, THE FLAME AND THE ARROW) to bloom. Two final things worthy of note: a young Strother Martin is clearly recognizable sitting next to Mayo in the courtroom and the eventual fate of the seaside dive might well have inspired a similar incident in, of all things, PORKY'S (1982)!!

I found my way to this film after seeing Veola Vonn playing "Arlette" a voluptuous painter's model in "Le Fantome de la rue Morgue" (1954) which is loosely based on an Edgar Allan Poe novel.On looking at Veola's film career she seemed to specialise in acting roles playing French ladies of easy virtue and the subject film is typical when she plays Lillie Duval a madame of a brothel on a remote French island.Although she was born in NYK.(1918-1995), I wondered whether she had French parents/relatives or connections to give substance to these roles.

Virginia Mayo first came to my attention in "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) playing the initially good-time wife of Dana Andrews a returning bombardier officer from the U.S.A.F. being demobbed at the end of WWII.In this film Virginia as "Ginger Martin" shows off her very feminine figure to its best advantage and soon gets Chuck (The Rifleman) Connors (Pvt.Davey White) & Burt Lancaster (Sgt. O'Hearn) squabbling over her and how best to get back into WWII on the side of Uncle Sam.For Burt it must have made a change doing this knockabout comedy after filming the heavy dramatic acting required playing another sergeant in "From Here To Eternity (1953)" in the same year.Coincidentally both films have the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour as a theme.Another face I spotted was Paul Burke (The Naked City - 1960s TV series) playing an ensign at Sgt.O'Hearn's court marshal.

Obviously the plot outlined in other user comments above is comedic and Hollywood stereotypes abound which include (from an American perspective,) all foreigners who cannot speak English but we must remember that these films were produced by Americans for average Americans.I would place the growing international maturity of U.S. film producers from 1962 with "The Longest Day".One obvious editing device used in "South Sea Woman" is to utilise B&W war newsreels of the real WWII U.S./Japanese conflict and splice them into the subject B&W film. Also used were back-projection screens with "real" studio action by the actors.Oh well, c'est la guerre.I rated it 6/10 on purely on an entertainment level.

The early years of World War II is the setting for this action comedy starring Burt Lancaster, Virginia Mayo, and Chuck Connors (his biggest role to date). Directed by Arthur Lubin, it features an Edwin Blum screenplay from a William Rankin-Stanley Shapiro adaptation of William Rankin's play.

Lancaster plays Master Gunnery Sergeant James O'Hearn, whose court martial trial has just begun (Hayden Rorke plays the prosecutor and Cliff Clark is among the officers who sit in judgment). After a series of outlandish sounding charges are read, O'Hearn declines the opportunity to defend himself. However, his court appointed attorney (Bob Sweeney) will mount a defense anyway. A series of witnesses recall the events that lead to the charges, and flashbacks are used to tell their stories.

Ginger Martin (Mayo in the title role) was a displaced showgirl in Southeast Asia that Marine Private Davey White (Connors) was to marry before his Sergeant and mentor O'Hearn intervened. A barroom brawl and their ensuing fight causes the men to miss their ship on its way to sea. Further circumstances keep the AWOL Marines, with Ginger in tow, from returning right away. In fact, for months they are stranded on a remote island commanded by Vichy French sympathizer Pierre Marchand (Leon Askin).

After enjoying the pleasures of hotelier Lillie Duval (Veola Vonn) and her girls, O'Hearn learns that Dutch Captain van Dorck (Rudolph Anders) is really a Nazi that's been placing radar equipment throughout the South Pacific. He then frees or convinces the real deserters, who have made the island their home (including Arthur Shields), to join his plan to steal van Dorck's yacht, after which they discover and disrupt a Japanese invasion fleet by attacking it!

The details of the battle and the outcome of the trial are intertwined; Strother Martin appears as a spectator.

In a recent biography of Burt Lancaster the only two things that were mentioned about South Sea Woman was that it enabled him to fulfill a commitment to Warner Brothers on a three picture deal and that he was instrumental in getting Chuck Connors the part of his fellow Marine in hijinks. Other than that this one is strictly minor league Lancaster.

The title role of South Sea Woman is played by Virginia Mayo who the two have a rivalry over. The story is narrated from several perspectives at a court martial that Lancaster is undergoing. These two manage to miss the withdrawal of Marines from Shanghai which occurred a few weeks before Pearl Harbor. Lancaster wants to get back to the outfit especially when they get news of the Japanese attack, but Connors has Mayo on his mind, he wants to get married.

Not since the Errol Flynn film Desperate Journey also by Warner Brothers was there ever a more lighthearted approach to war. These two guys also manage to liberate a Vichy governed French colony and turn it over to the Free French and from said island recruit a crew to get to Guadalcanal where they do distinguish themselves in their own private action. All this related to a rather incredulous court martial board.

What was interesting was that Burt Lancaster did two films at once. While this was shooting Lancaster went over to the set of Three Sailors And A Girl and did a small walk-on role in his Marine uniform costume in that musical. With that he fulfilled a three picture commitment the other being The Flame And The Arrow in which he also co-starred with Virginia Mayo.

The comedy was kind of forced and while it had a few laughs in it South Sea Woman is clearly a film that Lancaster wanted to get off his plate and move on. That year of 1953 he also did From Here To Eternity a much better film about the start of the Pacific War.