Return to Paradise

Return to Paradise has a slow start, so if you're not a Gary Cooper fan, just hang in there and wait for it to get better. Trust me, it does. When I first read the synopsis it seemed like a comedy: Gary Cooper goes to a missionary-run island and shakes things up. How was I to know it was a James Michener classic? The exposition when Gary comes to the island, meets missionary Barry Jones, and settles into his grumpy isolation, is a bit slow. But a lot happens in this story; you just have to give it time.

If the protagonist were a different actor, it would have been an infinitely better movie. How many times have I said that about a Gary Cooper movie? To give him as much credit as I can, he does try his best in this movie. He actually does some acting! Still, he may be doing his best, but it's not as good as someone else's best.

I'd like to refrain from telling you about the plot, because it's very interesting to let it all unfold in Michener time and drama. Gary starts off the movie as a rude loner who likes his freedom and doesn't care who he offends. Barry Jones has to accept the intruder, but it makes things harder when one of the local girls is drawn to the aloof man. In addition to the unorthodox romance, I particularly liked Barry and Gary's unique friendship and how it changes throughout the years. You'll also get to see some beautiful location shoots, and as you might expect if you know Michener's work, it's a tearjerker. Enjoy!

Barry Jones's "Pastor Corbett" rules a tiny Pacific island with a godly rod of iron until the unwelcome arrival of American "Morgan" (Gary Cooper). He's distinctly non-conformist and has no intention of observing the sabbath and the rest of preacher's regime. The latter man's resistance to the government soon elicits support from the put-upon islanders and soon a coup, of sorts, ensues. Once the new order has been established, a form of peace breaks out until WWII arrives on their patch and they find themselves hosting the crew of a shot-down American plane of soon they all want to be shot, pretty quickly! Initially, the clashes of personalities between Cooper and Jones are quite effective, but that quickly falls away and we are left with a rather unremarkable romantic drama that I felt rather dragged, especially the will they/won't they courting scenes between Cooper and Roberta Haynes's "Maeva". If character redemption is your thing, then maybe you'll get a bit more from this - but for me, what made it interesting at the start is allowed to peter out far too swiftly. Some nice island photography of Samoa, though.

Let's get one thing straight, the actors in this movie are portraying Pacific Islanders NOT aboriginals.

I like this movie if only for the fact that it is probably the only Hollywood movie that was filmed in Western Samoa . It still gets played regularly there on one of the countries two t.v stations and it even has a beach proudly named after it where it was filmed on the south side of Upolu, the main island of Samoa.

Maybe not everyones cup of tea here but the story has had similar parallels in real life many times over.

Enjoyable !

From the first day he was 'deposited' on the tiny South Pacific island, all Cooper was looking for a little peace and quiet. What he got was a bible thumper with a bad attitude, who meant well, but his priorities were a little screwed up. When Cooper hits the island, the "preacher" does everything in his power to let Cooper know he's not welcome. The narrator in the beginning lets us know right away that something is not right with the island natives, but they don't know if they can do anything about it.

After the girl he falls in love with is jailed, Cooper fights to break her out and eventually ends up leading the natives in a revolt. He settles down to a life on the island, but the sea calls to him whenever someone seems to get too close to him. And the man who is his worst enemy turns to him for help when the going gets tough.

As a movie watcher, this is not my "cup of tea." But my significant other recorded it the other night off one of the classic channels and I had nothing better to do, so I started watching it. Next thing I knew, it was after midnight and the movie was ending. As I said, I never really get into the older movies, but I did find this one rather enjoyable and I will be watching for more of Gary Cooper in the future.

This is a very unusual Gary Cooper film, quite out of the ordinary, Gary Cooper beach-combing in the South Seas, escaping from a troublesome past, probably the war, and finding new trouble and a second world war in Samoa. It's beautifully made efficiently directed by Mark Robson and has a great story to tell.

It's James Michener's story like continuing from "South Pacific" to another island with another human wreck of the war. Gary Cooper is a hard Irishman used to having to fight to get out of trouble and with a very hard and stubborn head. He gets into total conflict with a local tyrant of a missionary, who bullies the whole island, but the people, all Polynesians, see Gary as their possible saviour, and the conflict is gradually resolved as Gary and Barry Jones learn to cooperate. Domestic trouble awaits, though, and after a personal tragedy he finds himself obliged to continue running away from his fate. After many years he returns to the island just in time for new trouble from the second world war.

Curiously enough, this is not a very renowned or well known film, although it must be ranked among the best of its genre. It's filmed on location, and the insight into the life on the island among the natives is the chief asset and charm of the film. Gary Cooper makes a very convincing performance as a man of destiny having a hard time dealing with it, but ultimately he seems to come to terms with it. The happy end is perhaps the only objectionable detail of the film, which alone is not quite convincing. Like after "South Pacific", you expect the story to continue.