User reviews

Sergeant James O'Hearn is standing on trial for a number of serious misdemeanours, refusing to testify or even state his defence, the outlook is very bleak. Much against his wishes, good time girl Ginger Martin takes to the stand and the whole case against O'Hearn is going to be seen in a very different light. A tale of loves, friendships, rivalry's, bad luck, but most of all, heroism in the line of duty.

The genre police have tagged this picture as an action/comedy/romance set just prior to the Pacific hostilities in WWII. That it's a multi genre piece is a given, that it's also an odd bit of cinema is also very much understandable. That's the only real complaint with South Sea Woman, it's so jaunty and full of fun that when we get to the wonderful, bold and tough last quarter, you are not exactly sure how to feel. It's like entering a fancy dress party and winning first prize but then suddenly being told the prize is for worst costume of the night!

Anyway, the cast seem to be having a right laugh with it, Burt Lancaster (0'Hearn) and Chuck Connors (Davey White) are constantly at loggerheads about their participation in the conflict, and the direction they should be taking (humouressly so), because right in between them is Virginia Mayo (Ginger), sparklingly pretty she's all set to marry White, but O'Hearn is doing his hardest to ensure that that doesn't happen. This is the mainstay of the film, we (they) lurch from one fight to another, from one daft encounter to the next, bad luck and sheer bravado constantly zipping around with our protagonists, and then the shift to full blown drama. It ties up all the loose ends, and it in no way is a cop out ending, in fact far from it, but it does take some getting used to and even some time after the credits have rolled I personally was a bit bemused.

It's a recommended film, if only for the sparky cast it is worth it, but just go into it expecting a whisk in the blender and you will be OK. 6/10

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)!!

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.

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.

South Sea Woman is a fun, entertaining, and sadly to say, forgotten old movie. Burt Lancaster hand-picked Chuck Connors for the supporting role; what a compliment, and what a debut to the movies! It's a court-martial drama, with Burt facing over one hundred years in prison. Despite having his reputation tarnished and serving the rest of his life in jail, he refuses to give a plea or testify in his defense. Ladies, this will be a fun treat for you. Not only is Burt playing a tough marine, but his strong, silent type is sure to make you love him even more!

Virginia Mayo, in the titular role, can't stand Burt's silence. She takes the stand when he won't and tells the true story. It's a very exciting story that shows so much of his character: strength, loyalty, courage, and selflessness. I would definitely recommend this military drama if you like these types of stories (a defendant refusing to talk is a common story element), if you like Burt, or if you want to see Chuck's film debut. I was a bit skeptical, since Virginia Mayo is no Susan Hayward, but she didn't detract from the drama. For a double feature, you can watch Burt in the same year's From Here to Eternity!

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 1944 U.S. Marine Master Gunnery Sergeant James O'Hearn is facing a court martial for desertion, theft, scandalous conduct and destruction of property, charges which in time of war carry the death penalty. ("Scandalous conduct" in this context means sex outside marriage; if that were to be regarded as a capital offence under military law I suspect that the fighting strength of most of the world's armies would be drastically reduced overnight).

The above might suggest that this is a serious courtroom drama along the lines of "The Caine Mutiny". Admittedly, the film starts off in serious vein, but as soon as Ginger Martin (she with whom O'Hearn allegedly conducted himself scandalously) takes the stand seriousness goes out of the window and it descends into ridiculous comedy.

Ginger is presumably the "South Sea Woman" of the title, but she is actually a white American rather than a Polynesian and only finds herself in the South Seas by chance. When O'Hearn first meets her she is working as a showgirl at a nightclub in Shanghai, where his regiment is stationed, and is the girlfriend of his friend Private Davy White. An attempt by White to slip away to marry Ginger leads to the three finding themselves adrift at sea on a small motor boat. In a series of increasingly farcical misadventures, in the course of which they inadvertently commit the acts which will form the basis of the charges against O'Hearn, they are rescued by a Chinese junk and eventually cast away on the French-ruled island of Namou. As the Governor of Namou is pro-Vichy, and as the attack on Pearl Harbor has now brought America into the war, the two Marines have to pretend to be deserters in order to avoid being interned. White and Ginger attempt to marry several times, but are always frustrated.

It is at this point that the film changes direction again, largely abandoning comedy and turning into a patriotic wartime adventure as O'Hearn and White discover a fiendish Nazi plot and decide to take action to thwart it, to seize a boat and to rejoin the Marines who are fighting the Japanese at Guadalcanal.

Mixing genres in this way is often a risky business, the risk being that the resulting film can end up as neither fish nor flesh nor fowl nor good red herring, or in this case neither drama nor comedy nor action. I don't think there was ever any possibility of this film being a sort of "Caine Mutiny Court Martial", but it could certainly have been made either as a comedy about the adventures of a pair of bungling Marines and a girl or as a standard gung-ho action war film about two heroic Marines with a sub-plot about their love-interest.

The attempt to make the film as a combination of these two approaches simply results in a misbegotten dog's breakfast, a film which is not very amusing when it tries to be a comedy and not very exciting when it tries to be a wartime adventure. About all one can say for it is that Virginia Mayo looks lovely, as she normally did.

This is not quite Burt Lancaster's worst movie; he normally saved his worst for those occasions, mostly in the sixties and seventies, when he allowed his political judgement to overcome his artistic judgement and ended up playing a villainous right-wing fanatic in turgid, paranoid left-wing thrillers like "Executive Action" or "The Cassandra Crossing". It is not, however, one of his better ones, and is one that is probably best forgotten by all but the most obsessive Lancaster fans. 4/10

The title of this movie shouldn't be about a woman but a marine. Actually Burt Lancaster is the big star and Virginia Mayo has a supporting role. My does he look good in that uniform. It reminds me of his role as the sergeant in "From Here to Eternity". He plays the same character in both!

This film has a something for everyone, action, adventure, drama, comedy, and romance. Lancaster and Chuck Conners take on the Japanese invasion fleet and spoil their Guadalcanal landings. Far fetched, I'd say so, but entertaining. The comedy was spotty and corny like the conflict between the Navy and the Marine Corps, the hula dancing in shoes, and Lancaster-Conners interaction. The serious punishment for desertion that awaits Lancaster is waived, and he emerges unscathed as top kick once again. I like Burt Lancaster anytime and in this he doesn't disappoint. You can't spoil a movie with him in it no matter how ho hum it is.

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!

I don't know if the term war oater exixts but I don't care, I have no other word to describe this film, very watchable but worth only for movie buffs like me, from time to time nostalgic of the Hollywood golden years, the last ones, the fifties. Arthur Lubin was guilty of this comedy, after all comedy was his domain, with the exception of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA of course, his best movie. Not the Francis talking mule movie nor Abott and Costello's series. Exotic cinema charm lovers won't be deceived.

"South Sea Woman" is billed as an action and adventure comedy. Strangely enough, it wasn't also tagged a war film, considering that the entire story is set during World War II. This film has plenty of action, but little else. I struggled to stay with the film because it was so lackluster, expecting and hoping to see and hear some comedy at least. But what this film pushed as comedy is nothing more than droll dialog, corny courtroom contortions, and action that gasps for a chuckle.

It's not hard to imagine that the various scenarios of this film could have been made into a very good comedy. But that would have taken creative writing that is absent here - with funny dialog and much better segues between the scenes. The court martial courtroom is way overdone as hokey - but one can guess that was where most of the comedy was supposed to be. Instead, it looks preposterous. The last element to make this a comedy would have been the right cast. This one just flops.

Burt Lancaster was one of the great dramatic actors of the 20th century. But his range was limited somewhat in that he could not do comedy. Or, if he could, he never got or took comedic roles. This would probably be as close as he comes to it in any film - I think he was only in one other that was considered a comedy and that was fair. But he doesn't deliver a single laugh or chuckle here. Neither does Chuck Connors or Virginia Mayo. The closest to any comedy in the performances comes from a couple of the supporting cast - Leon Askin as Pierre Marchand, and Barry Kelley as Col. Hickman on the court. But even they are rather lame.

The way that the various scenarios are related here just gives a picture of a hodgepodge of incidents. It's really quite a dumb picture with no humor. With some good writing and the right cast, this could have been a funny WW II film. There were a few made, but this isn't one of them.

My first thought was to rate this just three stars, but I went to four solely on the basis of the 10 minutes or so toward the end that showed some combat action. That was staged quite well, along with the transposed naval scenes. So, for something for which the film wasn't even billed, war-time, this film earned one more star. But that doesn't raise it above the status of a dud. Audiences of the day didn't think much of it either as it jut about broke even.

Right after this, Lancaster went into the production of "From Here to Eternity," in the leading role as Sgt. Milton Warden. Besides being the best picture of the year, "Eternity" won a total of eight Oscars. And, Lancaster received his first Oscar nomination of four that included his Oscar win for "Elmer Gantry" of 1960.