One of the best films i have seen

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Those who look at movies of the 1930's and 40's as horrifying examples of racist un- politically correct cinema are trying to remove the fun that these often innocent stories are trying to tell. Nobody is pretending that these characters are representative of what Pacific Islanders were like, ever, and you have to go into these with a grain of sand. Add on Technicolor queen Maria Montez, scantily clad Jon Hall and the over enthusiastic Sabu, and the recipe is there for a colorful adventure that takes ridiculous situations and makes them twice as silly with over the top performances and outlandish dialog.Montez is a tropical island queen who falls in love with white shark hunter Jon Hall, dealing also with hidden gold and the very sinister Thomas Gomez and a jealous suitor (Turhan Bey). For Charlie Chan like wisdom, there's Sidney Toler spouting words of wisdom, making you wonder if he's in cahoots with Gomez or on the side of the good guys. With constant damp hair, muscular chest exposed and the enthusiasm of innocent youth, Sabu is adorable. The color photography, campy atmosphere and overall sweetness of many of its characters (Montez's heavyset handmaiden, who ironically is also Sabu's mother pretending to be queen) makes this an above average time filler. Of course, there's the obligatory dance number, and if you look very carefully, you'll see a very young and sexy James Mitchell in dark make-up as one of the dancers, long before he danced on Broadway and was "Oklahoma's" dream Curly (and years before he became the nefarious Palmer Cortlandt on "All My Children"). This might not be in the same league as "Cobra Woman", but it's awfully close.

"Sam Miller" (Thomas Gomez) owns a gambling parlor on an island called Port Coral. Not too far away is another island called "Temple Island" which is essentially off-limits to most white men. The reason for this is because Sam has managed to pass a law to that effect. And the reason he did this is because he discovered gold underneath a pool adjacent to a native temple and he wants the gold all for himself. Then one day a man named "Frank Williams" discovers this gold as well and just happens to tell Sam about it. Wanting to keep the secret from anyone else, Sam strangles Frank. But things begin to get complicated when a shark fisherman by the name of "Kaloe" (John Hall) arrives and develops a romantic relationship with "Princess Tahia" (Maria Montez) who is the ruler of Temple Island. Anyway, although Kaloe becomes aware of the gold underneath the Temple's pool, he doesn't really care about it. But Sam doesn't know that and he is very intent upon getting it. Anyway, rather than disclose the entire story I will just say that this is a nice little tropical island film which manages to capture the beautiful island scenery pretty well. However, the acting isn't great by any means and the movie lacks a certain amount of depth. Personally, I would have preferred that it lasted a bit longer than 76 minutes but that's probably just me. All things considered I give it an average rating.

While so doing makes me feel an utter heel I really have no alternative but to dissent from Mr Theakston's enthusiastic review of this movie .It struck me as banal and downright racist in many ways .Maria Montez , a statuesque Latino ,is improbably cast as a South Sea islands Princess who rules over Temple Island .The floor of the temple is submerged and it contains a number of solid gold bricks .The significance of this is lost on the inhabitants of the island but not on the villainous Sam Miller (Thomas Gomez-giving the only halfway decent performance in the movie).He resolves that when the time is ripe he will seize the gold and marry the Princess too.He is not above murdering any who get in his way and he ensures the Princess' brother (Turhan Bey)is in his debt by cheating him at cards thus making sure the young man is perpetually in hock to him Enter the dashing Kahoe (Jon Hall) a shark hunter needing her permission to set up operations near Temple Island .He works out Miller's schemes and hindered rather than helped by sidekick Orano(Sabu) and the local factotum,part lawyer ,part policeman Dr Wong(Sidney Toler in Charlie Chan mode) sets out to thwart his plans and win the hand of the Princess The acting is generally woeful and the script trite .the ending is lively enough and there is some fun to be had at its sheer awfulness Some may revel in camp and I am capable of doing so but only when it is good camp -say The Doctor Phibes movies -but witless trash is not my scene .this is a waste of time

WHITE SAVAGE (1943) was one of first three Universal Picture Technicolor productions when they acquired their contract with the company (the other two being "Phantom of the Opera" and "Arabian Nights", and it shows in every respect.I was fortunate enough to catch White Savage on the big screen a few months back and was thoroughly impressed with the acting, script, and most of all, the beautiful set design and lavish Technicolor photography. The added sex appeal of Maria Montez does not hurt, either.Again, like in "Arabian Nights", Montez is teamed up with Jon Hall as Kaloe, a shark hunter who is after Vitamin A to sell. Unfortunately, he is unable to fish around Temple Island, where all of the sharks seem to be. He meets a rascally friend named Orano (Sabu) who, through connections, gets him to meet the Princess (Montez). Needless to say, after some mishaps, the two fall in love. Also in the picture is Princess Tahia's brother (played by Turhan Bey) who is a gambler and loses to Miller (Thomas Gomez), who is after the treasure hidden in the palace pool.The cast here, like most of the Universal Technicolor productions, is an all star one. Montez, Hall, Sabu and Bey end up all being Univeral-Tech favorites, and show up in almost all of the films. Also a rare treat is the added distinction of Sidney Toler in his Charlie Chan make-up, in an obviously similar role of a detective/lawyer/banker/et al. Thomas Gomez and Don Terry also round up the cast.The photography is constantly colorful. There is not one scene in the film where there isn't a splash of blue, red or green somewhere in the picture. Direction by Arthur Lubin is adequate, while the script by Richard Brooks never slows down when it shouldn't.Unfortunately, White Savage (1943) is not available on tape or disk, and due to the fact that Universal's commercial catalog lists the title as "black and white" by mishap (a simple error they have yet to corrected), most television stations will not play it. Even AMC, with a recent line-up of all the Montez titles, left this gem out of the package.I would strongly urge anyone at Universal or with any influence to investigate this film. It's quite an adventure, and is sure to attract audiences.I give it 8 or 9 out of 10. Not perfect, but at a little over an hour, time well spent.