Waste of time

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

The first must-see film of the year.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

There was a time in the Hollywood past when major film actresses bound to studio contracts had to play roles exotic women in wigs and dark makeup. Hedy Lamarr was one of the first. In this film Jane Powell is an exotic native girl who is the interest of Dana Andrews once jumping to avoid persecution willing to settle an in an exotic land to merely escape free world punishment. Although widely buzzed as an exotic island of cannibals the people are merely afraid once their identity is discovered armed European men will conquer them and destroy their family life and culture. The construct of cannibalism in the film is escapees ruin their chance of freedom and even survival and must be killed as their security measure. The person who is eaten is not done so for ritual or for sustenance but because as an escapee likely to blow their cover and destroy them they must hide all evidence of his body once they murder him.

Jane Powell is a native chick who meets up with fathead Dana Andrews.For 90 minutes everybody runs around through the jungle thicket trying to figure out what the hell is going on. The indigenous peoples are on the loose, a ship captain wants to get underway, Jane is mauled by Dana, and the audience is slapping themselves to stay awake.Remake of an entirely different film called 'Typee' (an Indian tribe). Not much to recommend. The island warriors are terrible shots and the movie was made too early to have Jane flash her coconuts, not that she would.......... maybe she would now, but she's 87 years old. What guy would want to see that? Well, I would, but then I'm a horny mother-- well, never mind.

This film stars Dana Andrews, Don Dubbins and Jane Powell who is made up to be an island girl. Dana and Don are part of a ship where the captain is an ogre. They leave him when they stop on an island. They end up finding a tribe of people. Jane Powell catches Dana'a eye early on. Jane still looks gorgeous under all the island girl makeup she is wearing. Jane learns English thru Dana and they eventually fall in love. Dana even saves the tribe leaders life when another tribe attacks. His friend wants to leave, but there is no chance to leave while Dana is in love with Jane. Don ends up leaving on his own and Dana tells Jane he loves her. Dana finds out the killed Don because they thought he would bring back trouble. Dana breaks a taboo and is also sentenced to death. He and Jane see Dana's ship and they take a boat to try to escape. Dana gets on the ship and Jane paddles away. He goes after her as the tribe catches them. The head tribe man cannot kill them, but one of the other spears Jane in the back. Dana comes to her and paddles to the ship with her in his lap. I cannot tell you if she died or not. It's not that clear. The captain makes a statement about not marrying a couple in twenty years and that a married man makes a docile hand. That makes me think Jane survived. I could be wrong, but I choose to believe she lived. If she did, I give the film an 8 out of 10. If not, it gets a 6 because I hate sad endings. The film is never boring and quite interesting to watch.

This is an interesting and fun movie. Evidently filmed in the Pacific - the extras appear to be Polynesian. Typical of '50's movies, however, the stars are all white. The use of the native Polynesian language adds an element of realism. The ending is more romantic than Melville's book, but the movie appears to have kept the general feeling of "Typee" from which the story is taken. In all it is movie to enjoy.