Directed by Woody "One Take" Van Dyke, this adventure film begins with callous white trader Anderson gleefully cheating a Marquesan diver out of a sizable pearl by paying him with a tick-tocky wristwatch. The diver is tickled pink with the promise of more "riches." He returns to the deeps, where an octopus snags him down long enough to drown him before his pals drag him up. Enter Doctor Blue, who has "succumbed to despair and to drink" due to being powerless to stop exploitation. Blue slaves over the diver, but after a night of desperate attempts involving massage and raising the man's arms over and over above his head, the man succumbs.
Blue confronts Anderson, who tells him to shut up forever about "conditions." Blue snarls aw hell no (large amount of silent swearing in silent films), and when a ship drifts into the harbor containing "measles-stricken native sailors," Anderson shuttles altruistic Blue to the ship with Anderson's scurvy men crewing the lighter, only it's not measles. It's bubonic plague, the sailors are already dead, and Scurvy Crew fastens Blue to the wheel, fires the ship and hustle away to elude an oncoming storm. The storm carries the ship to a peaceful island far, far away even as it douses the fire. At this point, the film's tints of sepia and yellow for daytime and dark blue for night scenes really prove effective. I choked beside Blue in every heaving wave covering him before he wriggled out of his bonds. He steers the foundering ship to an island where he's revered as a near-god by the natives who've not seen white people before (we're not told how) when he saves the life of little drowned Napua. He's the chief's son and brother to Torres, gorgeous but taboo because she's dedicated to the gods as virgin. Napua holds his breath valiantly in his role until the little guy comes back to life in a realistic fashion. This time the massage and holding-the-arms-overhead technique works.
Her Father, The Chief lifts the taboo as Blue and Torres find happiness. Except. Pearls adorn many necks and when Blue sees them gathered from the lagoon, he leaves Torres alone a lot as he accumulates numerous lovelies to pile in heaps and heap in piles. He lights a clifftop signal fire to any passing ship to return himself to civilization with wealth and presumably Torres. "You've Changed," says Torres sadly to her love, after spying Napua reports Blue's treasure hunting to her. In a credible display of real remorse, Blue works through his greed, tells and shows his love for their life together in a touching scene as he throws his pearls off the cliff. They leave the fire burning as they retire to their hut.
Darn!
Island #1 must not have been more than a three-hour tour away, because shortly Anderson and Scurvy Crew land and the people rejoice, because he'll be nice like Doctor Blue, right? Anderson wiggles his way into the village's trust by spreading bolts of colorful cloth (the colors came out tinted well enough) and cigarettes. Blue despairs to see the White Shadow blot his paradise, slugs Anderson and Scurvy Crewman shoots Blue dead. The final scene depicts Anderson's new trading post on their island with native girls smoking cigarettes sauntering before ogling sailors, native men diving for pearls for pittances, Napua forced to work to gather coconuts and Torres, dressed in a smothering Mother Hubbard rather than her grass skirt and dainty woven bra, mourning over Blue's grave that is marked with a tiki stone.
This movie was intense. As a stand-in for the Marquesas, Tahiti of 89 years ago delivers gorgeous footage of folks en masse climbing for coconuts, luaus, fishing, pearl diving, underwater scenes of real sharks, giant clams trapping your feet to prevent surfacing for air, and octopi menacing divers (staged, natch, but the footage was nicely edited). Clyde De Vinna won an Oscar in the 2nd Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, the film was the first MGM film with a pre-recorded soundtrack, and the first to feature the MGM lion roaring at the beginning. Early sound films often are adapted plays with ensuing loads o'exposition and dialogue, but this one had no more than required intertitles and a minimum of the Arm-Waving Acting that silents displayed. It's silent with synchronized music and sound effects including cries, laughs, whistling, and one spoken word, "Hello," as Blue approaches Torres for the first time as she swims au naturel with her buds amid shrouding greenery. The score is great, though.
The message about western civilization being bad for native peoples colors the film throughout and it's hard to argue with that. One good thing happens when Napua is resuscitated due to western doctoring. A lengthy romantic Meet Cute is Blue demonstrating whistling to Torres as she's entranced by the bird-like sounds. What happens next when lips are in that position is the usual expected event. I'd seen Blue in many B-westerns as character actor, but this is the first time I'd seen him star and he impressed me as talented; nowadays it seems John Gilbert is more remembered. Reddish, blue, sepia, etc. tints the film and plain b/w is only at the beginning and end. The gorgeous poster on this site's entry is by A. Wagener.
Blue confronts Anderson, who tells him to shut up forever about "conditions." Blue snarls aw hell no (large amount of silent swearing in silent films), and when a ship drifts into the harbor containing "measles-stricken native sailors," Anderson shuttles altruistic Blue to the ship with Anderson's scurvy men crewing the lighter, only it's not measles. It's bubonic plague, the sailors are already dead, and Scurvy Crew fastens Blue to the wheel, fires the ship and hustle away to elude an oncoming storm. The storm carries the ship to a peaceful island far, far away even as it douses the fire. At this point, the film's tints of sepia and yellow for daytime and dark blue for night scenes really prove effective. I choked beside Blue in every heaving wave covering him before he wriggled out of his bonds. He steers the foundering ship to an island where he's revered as a near-god by the natives who've not seen white people before (we're not told how) when he saves the life of little drowned Napua. He's the chief's son and brother to Torres, gorgeous but taboo because she's dedicated to the gods as virgin. Napua holds his breath valiantly in his role until the little guy comes back to life in a realistic fashion. This time the massage and holding-the-arms-overhead technique works.
Her Father, The Chief lifts the taboo as Blue and Torres find happiness. Except. Pearls adorn many necks and when Blue sees them gathered from the lagoon, he leaves Torres alone a lot as he accumulates numerous lovelies to pile in heaps and heap in piles. He lights a clifftop signal fire to any passing ship to return himself to civilization with wealth and presumably Torres. "You've Changed," says Torres sadly to her love, after spying Napua reports Blue's treasure hunting to her. In a credible display of real remorse, Blue works through his greed, tells and shows his love for their life together in a touching scene as he throws his pearls off the cliff. They leave the fire burning as they retire to their hut.
Darn!
Island #1 must not have been more than a three-hour tour away, because shortly Anderson and Scurvy Crew land and the people rejoice, because he'll be nice like Doctor Blue, right? Anderson wiggles his way into the village's trust by spreading bolts of colorful cloth (the colors came out tinted well enough) and cigarettes. Blue despairs to see the White Shadow blot his paradise, slugs Anderson and Scurvy Crewman shoots Blue dead. The final scene depicts Anderson's new trading post on their island with native girls smoking cigarettes sauntering before ogling sailors, native men diving for pearls for pittances, Napua forced to work to gather coconuts and Torres, dressed in a smothering Mother Hubbard rather than her grass skirt and dainty woven bra, mourning over Blue's grave that is marked with a tiki stone.
This movie was intense. As a stand-in for the Marquesas, Tahiti of 89 years ago delivers gorgeous footage of folks en masse climbing for coconuts, luaus, fishing, pearl diving, underwater scenes of real sharks, giant clams trapping your feet to prevent surfacing for air, and octopi menacing divers (staged, natch, but the footage was nicely edited). Clyde De Vinna won an Oscar in the 2nd Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, the film was the first MGM film with a pre-recorded soundtrack, and the first to feature the MGM lion roaring at the beginning. Early sound films often are adapted plays with ensuing loads o'exposition and dialogue, but this one had no more than required intertitles and a minimum of the Arm-Waving Acting that silents displayed. It's silent with synchronized music and sound effects including cries, laughs, whistling, and one spoken word, "Hello," as Blue approaches Torres for the first time as she swims au naturel with her buds amid shrouding greenery. The score is great, though.
The message about western civilization being bad for native peoples colors the film throughout and it's hard to argue with that. One good thing happens when Napua is resuscitated due to western doctoring. A lengthy romantic Meet Cute is Blue demonstrating whistling to Torres as she's entranced by the bird-like sounds. What happens next when lips are in that position is the usual expected event. I'd seen Blue in many B-westerns as character actor, but this is the first time I'd seen him star and he impressed me as talented; nowadays it seems John Gilbert is more remembered. Reddish, blue, sepia, etc. tints the film and plain b/w is only at the beginning and end. The gorgeous poster on this site's entry is by A. Wagener.