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Virginia Mayo is the only reason why you would feel like watching this naive story which looks like a very average comic strip.She sails to an island with her two pals to latch on to the black pearls (check the title).Best scenes are when she claims to be a missionary (sic) talking about the "true" God to a priest who has other fish to fry:celebrating a wedding for instance.

Although in love with one of the beachcombers ,Rita (Mayo) falls (or pretends to) in love with a native who knows where the treasure is hidden.But a giant octopus (is it the monster Cecil B.De Mille used in "reap the wild wind"(1942) and Ed Wood hired for "Bride of the monster" (1956)?)keeps a close watch on it.

South Seas silliness mostly shot on obvious sets but it is colorful and mindless so if you are in an undemanding mood this will fill the bill although they really should have found a reason for Dennis Morgan to sing. Virginia Mayo was a good actress whose career was unfortunately strewn with this kind of junk, either she was at the wrong studio which didn't know how to cast her or she just took whatever came along because excepting The Best Years of Our Lives and White Heat her films are almost all forgettable. Lance Fuller provides a great deal of eye candy throughout as a South Seas islander oddly named George. The kind of picture churned out by the studios for the lower half of a double bill.

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.

Pearl of the South Pacific recently came on BBC2 one afternoon, so I set the video to record it and was pleased I did. It was one of several movies BBC2 were showing in tribute to its main star, Virgina Mayo, who died earlier this year (2005).

A woman and some men arrive on a remote island in the South Seas to search for some treasure. With it being the South Seas, you would expect danger, including a monster. There is a monster, a giant squid which is guarding the treasure, but is later killed. They discover the island is being ruled by a white man who has made this his home. There are also unfriendly natives who are hostile towards the visitors. The woman makes out she is a missionary and after some fighting and conflict which sees the ship explode and most of the men killed, everything is OK and the woman and the only other survivor from the ship, her fiancé are allowed to make the island their home.

As well as Virgina Mayo (White Heat), the movie also stars Dennis Morgan, David Farrar and Lance Fuller (This Island Earth).

Pearl of the South Pacific is an ideal way to spend almost an hour and a half one afternoon. A treat.

Rating: 3 and a half stars out of 5.

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.

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

You can't make a bad looking movie in Hawaii and the scenic Hawaiian locations are the main thing that Pearl Of The South Pacific has going for it. Otherwise this is a rather desultory, but somewhat campy drama about two adventurers and a bad girl in the South Pacific looking to grab off a cache of black pearls on a beautiful tropical island in the South Pacific.

Said island is run by Basil Ruysdael who cornered the missionary trade years ago and now he's worshiped as a white god. At his command the natives are ready to turn the white guys schooner away. But then Virginia Mayo appears on deck and she announces she's a missionary. Since the natives have never seen a blonde before they have to let them land. Soon afterward Mayo discards her 19th century garb, corsets and all, and borrows one of Dorothy Lamour's sarongs from Paramount. New kind of hip missionary. The chief Murvyn Vye's son Lance Fuller is most taken with Mayo.

The only other thing is that Mayo's partners Dennis Morgan and David Farrar fall out as well.

This could have been a great satire on all those South Seas adventure films if the producer Benedict Bogeaus and director Allan Dwan had recognized it.

Still on that level it's enjoyable.

Having learned of a South Sea island rich in black pearls, Rita, Dan and Bully arrive to find a hostile welcome from the islanders and the pearls guarded by a giant octopus.

Arrived, they find another white man has made himself high priest; but he doesn't any strangers coming to the island as he knows that it could lead destruction of his people. George, the latter's handsome son, is fair game because he's curious about the outside world ...

Plus there's Virginia Mayo who entices him to show her where the black pearls are- don't blame him as Mayo is at her sultry best. She plays a flawed character who is bitter about her past after being jilted by Dennis Morgan's character, but gradually sees the error of her ways. David Farrar is at his villainous best, though Virginia is the main scene stealer as well as the octopus!

Overall, it's a pleasing South Pacific adventure with a strong anti-colonialist message and the dangers of greed- the octopus fight wasn't dramatic enough, though. Liked the underwater scenes, however brief, and the drama and characters- they keep things rolling amidst the slight lagging pace.

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!!

Thanks for reading.

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

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.

Is there anyone else out there fascinated by the octopus ? Strange creatures they are , almost like something out of a sci-fi comic book with their giant heads and their tentacles grabbing anything that looks good enough to eat . Did you know the female octopus dies after laying her eggs , her contribution to the species has passed at this point . Fascinating . So when I heard the climax of PEARL OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC involved a giant octopus I eagerly sat down to watch this movie . Big mistake because sitting through this is an ordeal . It's poorly acted with a cast who look like they're going to burst into song at any minute , pitifully written with atrocious dialogue ( " I feel like I just swallowed an octopus " Gee don't get too ironic ) in a movie that can best be described as HEART OF DARKNESS lite . If I have anything good about this film it's that the battle with the giant octopus is very well done , much better than say the giant squid from REAP THE WILD WIND and that the battle takes place about two thirds of the way through which means you've already seen the best bit and can turn off without having to endure another 30 minutes of crap

"Pearl of the South Pacific" is a film from RKO made during their darkest hours. Howard Hughes had bought the studio in 1948 and the quality of their films dropped drastically. Over the next few years, the A-pictures at the studio looked more likw B-movies due to indifferent scripts and non-stop meddling by the studio boss. "Pearl of the South Pacific" is not among the worst, but it is very typical of the light faire they were making...films with little depth and lots of pretty women. In fact, it came out AFTER Hughes put the studio into bankruptcy in 1953. It sat on the shelf a couple years and was unceremoniously released in 1955.

A group of scumbags are in search of a lonely South Seas island. Apparently some valuable black pearls came from there...and they want to plunder the island of these pearls. If this means lying, cheating or killing, they appear more than willing to do so. But there's a problem...some white guy arrived there many years ago and he knows the evil that outsiders can do. He insists they go away and he invokes his authority as the priest of the island...threatening war unless they leave. But Rita (Virginia Mayo) has a great plan...she poses as a missionary and despite the old man's protests, she alone is allowed on the island on a temporary basis. But the men with Rita can't wait...and eventually they land on the island anyway...and bring all sorts of evils. What's next? See the film.

This is not a good nor bad film...it's more a time-passer. But it does get awfully silly when they bring out a familiar cliche in these films...a giant barely moving octopus! Seeing the men fighting it reminds me of an Ed Wood Jr. Movie, "Bride of the Monster"...where a sad, elderly Bela Lugosi thrashes about with a giant rubber octopus. And, comparing ANY movie to an Ed Wood film is NOT a compliment!

Overall, a watchable B-movie disguised as an A-picture. This means it's longer than a B and is in color...but the writing is no better than a typical B.

By the way, in addition to seeing the octopus, carefully watch the fight early in the movie. The actors clearly are NOT in the scene and it's pretty easy to see that they are stuntmen.

Dennis Morgan wakes to discover the schooner he owns with David Farr has put out, and that Farr is now engaged to Virginia Mayo. Miss Mayo ins a former lover Morgan has abandoned, but she she's still obsessed with him. Knowing the ways of men, she offers Farr and Morgan equal shares in the cache of black pearls she has located on a distant island. When they get there, the island is run by Basil Ruysdael, who insists on sheltering the islanders from Western civilization, and his son, Lance Fuller likewise. However, Miss Mayo knows how to lure Lance on, especially when the natives begin their Polynesian jitterbugging to the drumbeat of their native hepcats.

Sigh. It's one of the movies that Allan Dwan directed for Benedict Boaeus for RKO release, and it hits just about every stereotype from the 1930s. I don't know how they got John Alton to helm the cameras -- probably a combination of money and the promise of a working vacation. Alton, being Alton, offers some wonderful images amid the hokey plot. With a topless Murvyn Vye as the native chief.