Powerful

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

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.

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