A Lagoa Azul

The very first version of "The Blue Lagoon" was a silent film back in 1923. This is a lovely sound version...one significantly better than the sleazy 1980 version which emphasized sex...something rather disturbing considering how young these folks are supposed to be. Here, we have a more wholesome and better version..one actually worth your time.

The story begins with a ship sinking. Two small children and an old man manage to get aboard a dingy and they paddle away until they eventually find a habitable island. Sadly, the old man soon dies and the pair are left to care for themselves. The film then jumps ahead ten years and most of the film consists of their adventures and their ultimate fates.

This is a modestly enjoable film with one big problem...the ending is incredibly downbeat and not especially enjoyable. Still, it is well made, the characters are NOT highly sexualizes like the later film and it is mostly enjoyable.

By the way, it's really not that important, but IMDB's summary says this occurs during the Victorian era. Well, it actually occurs just AFTER Victoria's death...provbably about 1905 or thereabouts. Victoria and the Victorian era ended in 1901.

I first saw this film on the late, late, late show in 1978 when I was seventeen. I actually videotaped it on our new '78 RCA VCR and showed it to everyone. Everybody enjoyed it. I, myself, thought it was a very good movie and when I heard of it's remake a couple of years later I thought, "Oh, no! They're going to ruin it!" which they did. The original with Jean Simmons was so innocent and left to the imagination. In the Brooke Shields/Christopher Akins version, I didn't exactly want to see them "do it." That took away the innocence of the story of two kids shipwrecked on an island.

The film was shown again on late night television in 1980, but that was the last time it was ever broadcast in the Los Angeles area. I later taped over my original taping not realizing that it would never air again. All these years later it still hasn't been released on video, nor have the cable channels picked it up. I hope others will continue to post their thoughts and comments on this film.

I saw this movie years ago (on a snowy b/w portable before cable).

The remake is true to this original with the exception of the ending. The fate of the trio was left in the air, unlike the promise of a "happy ending" of the remake. Nudity was not as blatant in this version. It was natural and more innocent than the remake.

I loved it. A true classic original that I would love to see again! I was disappointed when I wrote to England to find out that this movie is indefinitely withdrawal from future viewing.

This may not be regarded as a review on any film, but just a comment on a film I saw when I was a youngster. I remember coming home of an evening all full of wonder at what I had seen. I tried to retell my parents part of the story but they listened without understanding well what was so strange about two kids stranded on an island who fall in love and grow together and have a son. As you must have guessed by now I'm referring to The Blue Lagoon (1949) which has kept me bewitched and bewildered through the years (almost 50) and now wonder full of anxiety and disgust who or what has prevented the film from being available in cassette or DVD or whatever. I've spent a lifetime chasing the opportunity to get hold of it one day and nobody knows anything about it. What a waste indeed! Sorry if my English is not at all technical or scientific, but my mother tongue is Spanish. I'm doing my best to make myself understood. Thank you, My name is Juan and I'm writing from Uruguay in S.America.

When i saw the movie, it was the "B" movie, i.e. it had second billing of a two-movie presentation. But I loved the story, and the children, and I've always loved the name "Michael" because of this movie. I still love to hear the neighborhood children calling for their friend, "Michael"

The best part was when they discovered each other on the beach after he rescued her---when she (or he) says, "You're trembling."

I'm sorry to hear the movie is no longer available. I was wondering why there were no longer any re-runs.