Pearl of the South Pacific
Two beachcombers with a yacht join woman-with-a-past Rita on a quest for black pearls on a secret island. Arrived, they find another white man has made himself high priest; but George, the latter's handome son, is fair game for Rita, who lands in the guise of a missionary! The inevitable conflict over the pearls brings violence and corruption to the quiet island.
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- Cast：
- Virginia Mayo , Dennis Morgan , David Farrar , Murvyn Vye , Lance Fuller , Basil Ruysdael , Lisa Montell
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Reviews
Highly Overrated But Still Good
everything you have heard about this movie is true.
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
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.
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.
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.
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