Les perles sanglantes

PEARL OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC is your usual Pacific island adventure yarn from the mid-1950s. It was directed by stalwart Canadian Allan Dwan, who had previously made SANDS OF IWO JIMA so had some idea about making films set in that part of the world. Indeed, Dwan's brisk and efficient direction is the best thing about this otherwise undistinguished movie.

The plot sees a trio of Americans masquerading as missionaries when in reality they're fortune-seekers looking for a hidden treasure of black pearls. First and foremost of these is blonde starlet Virginia Mayo, who the cameraman seems to be in love with; most of the focus is on her and her alone as she wears a succession of skimpy outfits and appears to be little more than a clothes horse at times. Mayo more than holds her own amid a largely undistinguished cast.

There's a little plot and a little intrigue with the locals although hardly anything in the way of real action. The usual dodgy ethics of the era abound, particularly in the depiction of backwards islanders who are Americans browned up with liberal fake sun tan. At least the Hawaiian locations give this an authentic look. The best part of the film is the inclusion of a real giant squid that also showed up in Ed Wood's BRIDE OF THE MONSTER.

One of the most important Rules of Life is said to be "Never play cards with a man named Doc", and there should perhaps be another one reading "Never go into partnership with a man whose nickname is Bully".

Dan Merrill and Bully Hague are adventurers who go into partnership in the pearl fishing business. Their plan is to exploit the waters around an unnamed South Sea island which are believed to be a particularly rich source of valuable black pearls. Although the film has a contemporary setting in the 1950s the island is a curiously old-fashioned place. It has never been colonised by any Western power and is virtually unknown to outsiders. Moreover, the islanders know equally little about the outside world. The only white men on the island are an old man named Michael and his son George. Michael has managed to get himself elected High Priest of the islanders' religion and the unofficial king of the island, largely because he has taught them a few useful things such as how to fish with nets instead of spears. For the most part, however, Michael's main aim is to preserve his subjects from the pernicious influence of the outside world which he sees as a place of evil and corruption. He does not welcome the arrival of Dan and Bully and their crew, but is wise enough not to try and drive them away by force.

The plot also includes a love-triangle involving Bully, Dan and an attractive blonde named Rita, who is not only Bully's current girlfriend but also Dan's ex. In the course of their voyage, however, Rita decides that she really prefers Dan after all, much to Bully's fury. The triangle develops into a love-pentagon when George also falls for Rita, even though he already has a beautiful Polynesian fiancée. A further development involves Dan and Bully trying to smuggle Rita onto the island disguised as a missionary; exactly why they think this will assist their schemes is never made clear. Nor is it explained why they believe it is incumbent upon female missionaries to dress in Edwardian costume; the clothes worn by the supposed "missionary" Rita were several decades out-of-date even by the standards of 1955.

"Pearl of the South Pacific" is in some ways a typical action/adventure film of its era, only not a very good one. The story of the search for the pearls never generates much excitement, and those scenes involving the giant octopus, supposedly the main source of danger to the characters, are feeble in the extreme. None of the acting rises above the barely adequate, and in some cases falls well below that level. In other ways, however, there is something offensive, even borderline racist, about the storyline, with its stereotyped portrayal of South Sea islands as untouched, unspoilt societies inhabited by simple, unsophisticated people who need the wise guidance of a white guru to keep themselves simple and unsophisticated (for which read ignorant). This is the sort of film they don't make any more. For which we can all be thankful. 4/10

A goof. The islanders refer to Michael as "Tuan", which is a Malay or Indonesian honorific equivalent to the English "sir". Polynesian islanders do not speak Malay or Indonesian, to which their own languages are only distantly related.

Pearl of the South Pacific is directed by Allan Dwan and written by Jesse Lasky Junior, Talbot Jennings and Anna Hunger. It stars Virgina Mayo, Dennis Morgan, David Farrar, Murvyn Vye, Lance Fuller, Basil Ruysdael and Lisa Montell. A Technicolor/ SuperScope production with music by Louis Forbes and cinematography by John Alton.

Harmless afternoon adventure type picture that doesn't add up to much narratively, but none the less is boosted by nice colourful photography on Hawaii from the great John Alton.

Plot pretty much entails that the radiant Mayo is joined by two gruff beachcomber types (who both vie for her attentions) and venture forward by boat to a paradise island in search of black pearls. After bluffing their way past the island supremo, story treads water with the addition of another male suitor for Mayo, this time one of the main native (Tarzan like) guys. The pearls are hidden via a secret lagoon type place, they must not be disturbed or the island deity will rain down curses on everyone (or something like that), but sure enough the pearls will be disturbed, some blood will be shed and common sense and love's trajectory will be outed.

That's pretty much it, it rarely gets exciting, though there is a wonderful Octopus in here which is the keeper of the pearl crypt, but it's played mostly with a straight face and never insults our intelligence. There may have been some intention to have narrative sting about false gods and greedy treasure seekers, but it doesn't shine through because we are too busy having fun with a giant Octopus and watching Mayo dangling horny men from the puppet strings in her theatre of sexual stimuli. 6/10

The blonde Goddess of the fifties Virginia Mayo became a sexy symbol on popular imaginary herein after, making great movies like "The Flame and the Arrow" "Captain Horatio Hornblower" "The Iron Mistress" "The Prouder Ones" and so for, holder of a stunning beauty and slim, also a female fatale in several roles, here in "The Pearls of the South Pacific" a B-movie from RKO, such low budges picture with a secondary casting make some damages at his image as a movie of a sole star.

In adventures at South Seas the greedy and gorgeous Rita (Virginia Mayo) enters in a searching for an uncharted Polynesian island that has a valuable black pearls with two rough sailors the reliable Dan Merrill (Dennis Morgan) and the bleak Bully Hague (David Farrar) that she has romantic triangle affair ongoing, in the island a white old man Taun Michael (Basil Ruysdael) that became the high priest of this Polynesian natives who used to worship a Moai stone statue of the God Tagaloa his white son George (Lance Fuller) will marry a local native Momu (Lisa Montel) halted by the arrival of a small ship of the strangers, Taun Michael rejects any engagement with white people point out they bring diseases and downfall letting the group corned, thus Rita introduces herself as Christian Missionary that coming in peace, the distrustful high priest just allowed Rita drop off and delivery some supplies to they can go away soon as can.

On the island Rita enchants the naïve George aiming for to pinpoint where the black pearls coming from, the duped guy ends up yielding to the temptation displaying a lagoon where the black pearls are hidden, nonetheless a giant octopus is lurking underneath on the clean waters, meanwhile Taun had a stroke laying down at bed with Rita taking care him, afterwards Dan and Bully inebriates George and some natives, sadly after Bully got the black pearls stab George letting him agonizing near death, on the temple all natives are invites to they departure in a celebration watered by alcohol, then appears the Chief Halemano (Murvyn Vye) with the George body almost dead asking for a sacrifice to placate the wrath of God Tagaloa, the chosen is the blonde Rita.

Enjoyable picture for those afternoon matinee, where Virginia Mayo gracefully exposes her sexy legs, an exotic adventure at south seas with strong similitude of "Reap the Wild Wind" with octopus at lagoon, has many elements to enjoy adventure seekers like me, a slight underrated indeed!!

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First watch: 2023 / How many: 1 / Source: Youtube / Rating: 6.5.

An American adventure; A story about a shady woman posing as a phoney missionary, and two crooks, who sail to a remote island that is governed in isolation from the rest of the world by a high priest. They intend to steal its treasure from the natives but this proves to be a challenge. Poor dialogue beset this pleasing but silly tropical melodrama. However, the attractive Virginia Mayo manages to keep the show afloat with a combination of pluck, beauty and brassiness. The film has a topic about anti-colonialism and a message about white exploitation of highly decent island natives being wrong.