Bird of Paradise

Moviecut—Bird of Paradise

Bird of Paradise

source: Bird of Paradise

Dolores del Rio is a South Seas island princess who has a taboo affair with a young American sailor after she saves him from a shark; he considers their flirtatious clinches "a lark", but after she's swiped from him by her people, he re-captures her and sails for the remote island of Lani. It took three writers (Leonard Praskins, Wells Root, and Wanda Tuchock) to adapt Richard Walton Tully's play for the screen, though the story is told mostly in visual, elemental terms. Athletic Joel McCrea slides down a steep hill on a leaf, scales a coconut tree without slipping, and jumps from a high cliff into a palm tree without getting so much as a nick. His passion for Dolores' Luana is convincing, though rushed along. The screenwriters tease us with tidbits about a volcano curse, and it isn't long before the lava starts flowing. Executive produced by none other than David O. Selznick, this early "Radio Picture" benefits from the pre-Code era (with some sensual behavior between the leads, and a lovely underwater duet wherein Miss del Rio appears to be *). McCrea's happy team of mariners come and go and come back again (right on schedule), yet their salty, digging rapport is very lighthearted and amusing, and there's a charming moment at the beginning where they throw souvenirs to the natives. Not a bad early talkie, although special effects certainly had a long way to go--ditto for dramatic acting. Remade in 1951 with Debra Paget. ** from ****

Bird of Paradise is based on a 1912 play and the story of the beautiful native girl being sacrificed to a volcano is probably familiar to most moviegoers, but it was done here first and it showcases it's beautiful stars, Dolores Del Rio and Joel McCrea. It features some of the most beautiful black-and-white photography I've ever seen, and the music by Max Steiner is lovely. This piece of exotica has gotten a bum rap by many reviewers in the past, but it stands as a pleasant time-waster that will pass about an hour-and-a-half painlessly enough. The Alpha DVD print shows scratches and wear, but not enough to mar the enjoyment of the film.

A young man, sailing the South Seas with friends, is saved from a shark by a lovely chief's daughter. They fall madly in love, only to have him learn that his beautiful BIRD OF PARADISE is destined to be sacrificed to Pele, the volcano god. Essentially a piece of fluff, this film is enhanced by the performances of Dolores Del Rio & Joel McCrea. They handle the romantics quite nicely (her skinny dip providing proof this is a pre-Production Code movie). The rest of the cast, which includes Lon Chaney Jr. & 'Skeets' Gallagher, exist purely to provide support to the stars. Location filming in Hawaii and a beautiful, evocative score by Max Steiner emphasize the languid mood of the plot.

What might have seemed fresh and daring material in 1932 emerges as tiresome, cliché ridden nonsense about a Polynesian girl (DOLORES Del RIO) and a handsome American (JOEL McCREA) falling in love at first sight and running from the local natives who want to sacrifice her to the Gods so that the island's volcano will not burst with anger. The story is that kind of trifle, easy to like if it works--but it just looks amateurish and awkwardly played by the two leads. It's the sort of island romance you'd expect Paramount to make later on during the '40s with Dorothy Lamour and Jon Hall and preferably some Technicolor photography of an island paradise. Or maybe something with Maria Montez and Hall and Sabu at Universal. In fact, Montez might have made a more believable native girl. But RKO and David O. Selznick took a chance on this kind of material in the early '30s and got back very little for their effort. The Max Steiner score is a blurry fixture in the background on the bad soundtrack that TCM is offering when they show the film. The native chanting can hardly be ranked among his best scores. And the film's B&W photography is murky most of the time, appropriately so when the underwater sequences are shown but never with enough clarity throughout a bad print. When both picture and sound are at a low ebb, there's not much one can enjoy about a film like this. Summing up: Foolish nonsense then and now, not worth your time unless you have to see every film JOEL McCREA ever made, even the bad ones. Trivia note: CREIGHTON HALL in the credits is actually LON CHANEY, JR. and he has a tiny role, almost unnoticeable in what is really a bit part. Why another commentator says he gives a "great supporting performance" I'll never know.

This feature is interesting in a number of respects, both in its techniques and in its subject matter. And if neither of those is enough, Dolores Del Rio has a role that allows her to dazzle the viewer with her beauty and her screen presence. A young-looking Joel McCrea, as her co-star, is himself earnest and likable, though he is overshadowed by Del Rio in their scenes together. The story starts off with McCrea, as a sailor on a yacht, being rescued from a shark by Del Rio, as the daughter of the king of a native tribe. Romance develops from there, with McCrea's character dreaming of taking her back home with him when his trip is done, but having his plans hindered by the responsibilities she faces as a king's daughter. (Why any man, given the opportunity to live alone with a woman like Del Rio on a tropical island, would yearn for 'civilization', is also a pretty good question.) The story features some rather sensitive themes in the running contact between the two cultures. If it does not always face them comfortably, at least it is relatively even-handed much of the time. Although some 'primitive' beliefs are ascribed to the natives' culture, they are portrayed as sincere beliefs. There are also a number of points of interest on the technical side. Most obviously, there are the wealth of atmospheric shots of the tropical setting. But beyond that, there are a few interesting attempts to offer some interesting views with the camera, such as the water-level shots in the opening sailing sequence. One particularly interesting idea is that, for a long time, the language barrier is allowed to stand realistically between the characters, especially in McCrea's efforts to communicate, instead of using a stock device to get around it. Only much later is it assumed that Del Rio's character has learned enough English to be able to communicate. Certainly, there are times when this feature shows a little of its age, and in some respects it's not completely successful. But it would probably be worth watching to see Del Rio alone, and the rest of it contains several interesting aspects.

This was an intentionally trashy and salacious film--meant to titillate and appeal to the baser instincts of movie fans. You see, up until the mid-1930s, despite modern opinions to the contrary, many films were quite sexy and risqué--even by today's standards. So many people assume that nudity and adult themes were invented in films in the 1960s, but this is far from true. In the 1920s and 30s, it was not all that uncommon for topics like adultery, fornication and even homosexuality in films...and it was also not uncommon for nudity as well! The best example is the mid-1920s Biblical epic, BEN HUR--which featured several * scenes and some pretty violent themes (such as when "Golthor" boards the Roman ship with a head impaled on his sword). So with this background in mind, understand that this film is a great example of this genre as it intentionally "pushed the envelope" and in some parts of the country it was edited to suit local tastes (particularly outside the bigger cities). That's because the film is set on a tropical island where Ms. Del Rio plays an uninhibited native who swims naked during one very daring scene. By today's standards, it's not super-explicit, but it shows much more flesh than Jacqueline Bisset's famed swimming scenes from THE DEEP and definitely would have earned BIRD OF PARADISE and R-rating. The bottom line is that Radio Pictures put this scene in the film to attract a larger audience to an essentially dull and clichéd film. The story about Ms. Del Rio being a princess who is to be sacrificed to the volcano god, Pele, is all very silly. Also, no matter how much the alluring Ms. Del Rio and Joel McCrea try, this film just isn't all that interesting--except from a historical standpoint. The film is very skip-able except for film buffs and lovers of Pre-Code films, as the plot is pretty dumb and full of holes.

Bird of Paradise surely ranks as one of King Vidor's worst efforts---in fact it's hard to believe that the man who created The Crowd and The Big Parade could be involved with something as shoddy as this. Dolores Del Rio is hopelessly miscast as an island girl who falls for Joel McCrea, the seaman who virtually rapes her before jumping ship. We see lots of appallingly stereotypical natives (even for the period) and the writing is suffused with the worst racist instincts. Vidor redeemed himself later in his career with the thoughtful Japanese War Bride, but this is a depressing lowpoint in his ouevre.