For the Birds

I went to the local library's booksale yesterday, and picked up quite a haul - thirteen DVDs (at $1/each). Most of them were faves that I wanted to add to my permanent collection. I'll make a commented list later. But a few were new to me. For example, I decided to take a chance on Bird of Paradise (1951).

This is a classic tropical romance, filmed in Technicolor, directed by Delmer Daves. It stars Louis Jourdan, a rich Frenchman, sailing to a Pacific isle with his classmate, Jeff Chandler (!), the son of the island's chief. OK, turns out he has a European grandfather, so it's only 3/4 brown face (and hair dye). After an unpleasant meeting with shabby, racist Jack Elam, the ship lands.

Only one ship a year visits the island, and they are greeted by joyous native children swimming out to meet them. This is a big part of why I wanted to see this: it was shot on location in Hawai'i, so there were some real authentic settings. In this scene, the extras were clearly local kids having a ball being in a movie. The joy was real.

One person Jourdan wants to meet is Chandler's sister, dark, blue-eyed Debra Paget. Since she is the chief's daughter, she is taboo, and he can't speak with her. But boy, can they exchange smoldering glances! But he does meet the Kahuna (Maurice Schwartz!), who predicted that a white man would come and bring disaster to the island.

But Jourdan and Paget work their way around the taboo. Paget does a fire walk to show that the gods approve, and they eventually get married. But when the volcano erupts, who do you think will need to appease it?

As I said, this movie is full of authentic (-ish) Polynesian music, dress and customs. Everyone, including Jourdan and Chandler, wear sarongs, there is surfing, old Hawaiian songs and hulas. Also, Louis Jourdan is a fine swimmer, and gets to show it off. Chandler isn't bad either, and has quite the build. But Paget really stands out - smoldering isn't the word for it. Sex just radiates out of her eyes. She can even hula. 

Although this was about as culturally sensitive as you can expect, it still isn't great. Still, it did document real living traditions, especially in the backgrounds and musical selections. Maybe better than, say, Moana.

In conclusion, there were no birds of paradise, either floral or avian, in this movie.