March 30 movie: Bird of Paradise. I can't recommend this unless you're a huge fan of either Dolores del Rio or Joel McCrea. I am a huge fan of McCrea, which is why I watched it. McCrea shipwrecks himself on a Polynesian island so he can be with princess Dolores del Rio. They run away together and live a happy Gilligan's Island life together for .. the movie isn't very clear on how long. Long enough for McCrea to build them a hut and find them a goat, but not long enough for him to need a shave. Eventually McCrea's buddies come back and rescue them in the nick of time from the evil villagers. McCrea wants to take del Rio back to San Francisco but she sacrifices herself so that McCrea can escape.
The best thing about this movie is the McCrea spends the entire Gilligan's Island segment wearing only a loin cloth. Unfortunately the print is so bad as to prevent enjoyment of the scenery, either Polynesian or McCrean. He has a couple of scenes swimming in the loin cloth that I bet were outstanding, if I could have seen anything.
The moral of this pre-code movie seems to be that it's okay to shack up with a native beauty (in a literal shack no less), but she should be considerate enough to throw herself into a volcano and save him the embarrassment of introducing her to mother.
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