BIRD OF PARADISE 1932
80 mins B/W
The old Richard Walton Tully stage perennial stands the test of the innumerable South Seas pictures that have been done since its stage production way back yonder. Outside of its romantic side, the subject's greatest asset is the truly fine performance of Dolores Del Rio as the savage princess Luana. The punch of her performance is admirably supplemented by the playing of the stalwart Joel McCrea, who plays simply and with natural grace a romantic role that has been tested by the years for its basic appeal.
Spectacular side of the production has received handsome treatment by director King Vidor. Possibilities for stunning tropical Hawaiion scenery have been realized to the fullest. Story gets into motion promptly aboard a pleasure yacht carrying a group of Americans on a jaunt, with one of the amatuer skippers driving the ship under full canvas in a stiff wind through a tricky channel into an atoll. Yacht comes safely to anchor and the natives come out to greet it, opening the story neatly.
Director - King Vidor
Music - Max Steiner
Summary.
A young man (Joel McCrea) falls overboard and is saved by a beautiful Polynesian girl (Dolores Del Rio). They fall in love, but their idyll is smashed when the local volcano begins to erupt. The man discovers that the local custom is to sacrifice a young woman to the volcanic gods. They try to escape but realize that "east is east and west is west, and never the twain shall meet."
by Ed Lorusso
Leonard Maltin Summary. 1998
Exotic but empty South Seas romance with McCrea as adventurer who falls in love with native girl Del Rio. Handsome but Unmoving, Remade in 1951