Return to Paradise

Gary Cooper was a 51 y.o man filming return to paradise. I had to google his bio at the beginning of the movie since i couldn't get past how elderly and frail he looked in this movie. I was so consumed by this that I couldn't watch and enjoy the movie since my focus was elsewhere.

Since I need to write more characters o will just ramble off with whatever I can. I can't believe I have to write a long sordid review just to make a point. This is absurd, like seriously why. Anyways if you really like Gary Cooper perhaps this movie might not be exactly ground breaking or perhaps it is I don't know since I was distracted like I said.

Oh I have enough characters.

Bye.

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.

This is not a review about the film, (which is amiable enough but we have all seen better) but a complaint. Yet look at the storyline regarding this movie written by Les Adams, completely ruins the film which we don't need to watch as he has told us the complete 'plot.' This happens far too often in my view, okay don't read the storyline, if so what is the point of putting it therea And as I finish this rant, there is a question, does this review contain spoilers

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 !

"Return to Paradise" is a very strange Gary Cooper movie. His character is an odd one indeed--very admirable and brave on one hand and a total jerk on the other. The overall film, as a result is entertaining but far from satisfying.

The film begins with Mr. Morgan (Cooper) arriving on a small Polynesian island. The place is sort of a theocracy run by a VERY puritanical man, the Reverend Corbett (Barry Jones). However, Corbett and his personal band of thugs are quick to enforce their laws...but seem to take delight in not informing Morgan of the laws first! After he is attacked by these bullies, Morgan stands up for himself...and earns the respect of the locals who are getting sick of Corbett's mistreatment. Ultimately, and reluctantly, Corbett's thugs are chased off and the islanders are happy...and Corbett changes and becomes less nasty and puritanical over time. What also happens is that Morgan's new woman, Maeva, becomes pregnant and eventually dies in childbirth. At this point, Morgan shows that although he seemed like a pretty cool guy through much of the film, now he is a jerk, as he leaves his new daughter with her grandmother and he leaves the island.

Nearly two decades pass and WWII has broken out. Morgan finally returns to the island and finds he's sort of a folk hero...and Corbett is still there but has mellowed considerably. He also finds his daughter and their relationship is clearly problematic. It becomes more problematic later after some American airmen are stranded on the island...and Morgan begins acting like an overbearing and protective father...which makes no sense considering he'd abandoned this daughter for all these years.

The bottom line is that Morgan's character isn't at all consistent and the film felt frustrating as a result. Not a terrible film but one that sometimes just didn't make a lot of sense. Plus who wants to see a film where the leading man is actually a big hypocritical weasel?!