Just perfect...

Excellent but underrated film

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Camp? No! Well made? No! Good acting? No! Competent director? No! In fact this is the only film directed by Leon Leonard. Thrilling screenplay? No! In fact, this is also the only film written by Leon Leonard. Before he surfaced for Omoo, Leonard's only other association with the movies occurred way back in 1930 in which he acted in a Rudy Vallee short called "Campus Sweethearts" and was actually billed ahead of Ginger Rogers. Solid production values? No! Made on a shoestring budget? Definitely! Moody photography? Yes! Thank you, Benjamin H. "Tough Assignment" Kline! Based on the 1847 novel by Herman Melville? Sort of! Other info: Aside from a small, uncredited part in "The Threat" (1949), this is the only film appearance of its female "star", Devera Burton. The male star, however, Australian actor, Ron Randell who played the title role in "Smithy" (1946), went on to have a most distinguished career on the Broadway stage which, oddly enough, ran parallel to an extensive movie (mostly minor films) and TV career (mostly – except for the "O.S.S." series in which he played Captain Frank Hawthorn – "guest" roles). Available on a very good Alpha DVD.

With a title like "Omoo-Omoo The Shark God" I was making room on my Top Ten Worst Movie List for a possible contender, but you know, this wasn't all that bad. Just goes to show you that initial impressions can be deceiving. The first thing to get my double take reaction was seeing that the picture was based on a Herman Melville novel in the opening credits. If Omoo shares the same heritage as Moby Dick, it can't be all that bad.The story has to do with a pair of stolen black pearls of great wealth; they were the eyes of the shark god on the island of Taviti, just off the tip of Sumatra. The shark god is represented by a large stone statue revered by the island inhabitants, but without it's eyes to distinguish good from evil, the islanders have run up a string of bad luck resulting in a drought and poor crops. The captain of the Schooner Julie is returning to Taviti to finally claim the pearls he tried to steal the first time around, but wound up abandoning when the island drums drove him mad.The story adds intrigue by having the crew of the Julie take sides in the quest, with the Captain (Trevor Bardette) succumbing to an illness that is treated by a stowaway aboard ship. Tembo (Rudy Robles) is the son of the island Chief Tari (Pedro de Cordoba), and uses a combination of native medicine and mumbo jumbo to give the captain a temporary fix to make it to the island. However when the captain succumbs to his malady, the illness is passed on to his daughter by way of the voodoo like curse. It's up to good guy Jeff Garland (Ron Randell) to set things right by convincing Julie (Devera Burton) that the treasured pearls belong to Omoo-Omoo after all.I wasn't expecting all the stock footage the film employs to display island wildlife the way it did, particularly the pair of tigers doing battle about midway through. At first I didn't think it probable that tigers would be part of the landscape, but Sumatra is known for it's own species of big cat, so I guess that wasn't so much of a stretch. Earlier, there was a scene where Julie and Garland observe an underwater battle between an octopus and a moray eel. The logistics of the scene don't work at all, but it was entertaining enough to gloss over the believability factor. If you watch closely though, you'll notice the tentacles of the octopus push up against the side of the aquarium glass that it was filmed in.Anyway, taking the Herman Melville connection and combining it with the "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" flavor of the greed among the participants vying for the black pearls, you have an entertaining enough story for it's mere fifty eight minute length. Say now, Black Pearl, someone might be able to take that concept and really run with it. Hey, wait a minute...

1st watched 2/18/2007 - 4 out of 10(Dir-Leon Leonard): Fair adventure movie based on a novel by the author of Moby Dick fame, Herman Melville. This movie is about the captain of a ship who had stolen the eyes(that were extremely rare black pearls) from a native tribe's God sculpture and hidden them somewhere that only he knew about before leaving the Island of Tivi. He got very sick and was on a secret voyage to go back to the island to retrieve the pearls for himself while others(like his daughter) thought that he was going back to be treated by the local medicine man. Others didn't know the reason for the voyage. A stowaway actually knew the real reason for the trip -- to return the eyes to their God. The silly part is that the pearls were hidden very close to the statue and all this time the natives ran their tribe without their God having eyes(causing them all kinds of problems). Along the way, we are treated(for some reason) to a short underwater nature show with an electric eel fighting a local octopus(I guess only Herman Melville knows what this was all about). Once they get to the island, the Captain dies but passes the whereabouts of the pearls to his daughter but she also gets the sickness curse as well. One of the bad guys finds out where the God is housed and convinces the daughter to go there and steal back the pearls but at this point the good guys find out what's going on and a fight ensues. I won't tell you the results of the fight or the ending, I'll leave that up to you to find out if you want. As I said earlier, the movie was OK, but some very silly things that I've already mentioned lessened it's impact. I wonder if that new "Pirates of the Caribbean" got some of it's plot from this one ---hmm… black pearls, a curse( I wonder…) Well, it doesn't matter, those elements didn't make for a very good movie in this case or the other. It seems they would learn they're lesson, but with the money rolling in on that newer movie I'm sure they won't. Oh well.

Oh, Man, talk about the effect of advertising. Apparently, all that you have to do to enjoy box office succes is title your movie after a revered 19th century novel. Horrendous acting, directing, and cinematography in this sham of an effort.