On the idyllic Pacific island of, shall we say, Bongo Bongo, the happy, cheerful natives dance and sing when they are not fishing or making copra to trade at the store for silks and satins. Tono loves the beautiful Ida (twenty year old Movita, one time wife of Marlon Brando and still alive). However, she loves everybody. She only has two, very fetching, dresses: a short, strapless one fastened tight across the bust, and a looser, backless one tied round the neck with a plunging front, which I am surprised got past the Hays Code. The captain of the inter-island ferry recovers from a drunken stupor and tells the trading post manager he won't be calling any more: the copra is worth it, but if there were pearls
. The trade summons the chief and asks why the young men don't go pearl diving anymore. "Bad, juju, taboo!" says the chief. "Fiddlesticks, says the trader, "your young men are lazy". "Not so," says the chief; "they don't like being eaten by sharks." Ida now comes across a white man washed up on the beach. She takes him back to the empty mission station next to her hut, to the annoyance of Tono, and the disinterestedness of the trader, who only a moment ago had been bemoaning the lack of white company. It appears that the man is a famous painter called Kennedy who has gone blind. He was on a ship heading for Suva where the British Government had established an eye hospital under an eminent New York specialist. However, the ship blew up and he appears to be the only survivor, and he has lost all the money he had to pay for the operation. Movita, who has been seriously neglecting Tono whilst showing Kennedy how natives live, goes out to the pearl fisheries and dives for a pearl. On surfacing she is attacked by a shark, but Tono rescues her. Knowing the pearl is to pay for the operation encourages the trader into an evil plan. He goes to a neighbouring island and persuades a drinking companion to imitate a doctor. Once they've got the pearl they will both leave the South Seas. Meanwhile, Tono, believing that once Kennedy can see, he will leave the island, sets off for Suva in his one-man outrigger. The trader and the quack carry out their plan: the quack bandages Kennedy's eyes and Ida gives him the pearl. However, the quack tries to double cross his partner and in a struggle blinds him with something from his medicine bag. The trader manages to shoot the quack, but then falls into some quicksand - and vanishes. At this point a nice schooner enters the lagoon. On board are Tono and the surgeon. Kennedy is brought on board and successfully operated upon. The surgeon's price is that Kennedy will give up ideas of miscegenation and return to civilisation and painting - the surgeon already has one of his paintings. When he can see again, Kennedy goes back on the bargain and the film ends with him in a clinch with Ida. One felt very sorry for Tono, and worried for Kennedy and Ida with Tono still around. Entertaining hokum with a fair balance between stock footage from the islands and better than average sets. And that plunging neckline!
3 out of 4 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
