Johnny falls for an indigenous girl whose beauty and innocence belies the volcanic passion beneath! A Pre-Code melodrama warning of the dire consequences of miscegenation tainted by contemporaneous racism and cultural appropriation, King Vidor deftly deflects these critiques and tells an exciting tale of lovers on the run who eventually get burned by responsibility and tradition. It’s like Tarzan in reverse where the woman is the jungle champion, and the man must learn her ways to survive. Except Luana (Dolores del Rio) doesn’t stab nearly every apex predator to death with her knife like the aforementioned brute! But we do get to see the male protagonist Johnny Baker (Joel McCrea) slip-n-slide down a grassy hill while gripping a piglet and if that wasn’t enough, he rides the surf on a huge sea turtle!
The story may be trite (civilized man falls for innocent native girl) but it’s amazing how creatively King Vidor composes and structures the film with the help of three cinematographers, that elevates this from mundanity to (near) masterpiece! The underwater foreplay sequences of Luana and Johnny are astoundingly beautiful, languid and liquid as Luana dives in the nude! The strong legs and thigh muscles flex and kick as she twists and reveals her torso and Johnny’s physique, though clothed in shorts, is no less impressive. The film is stridently scored by Max Steiner and his music accentuates tenderness one moment then thrums with violence the next. The native dance sequences are choreographed by an uncredited Busby Berkeley and though not filmed from extreme high-angle, are composed in long-shot with dozens of extras dancing in-time.
As Johnny and Luana try to forge a temporary existence on another island away from her angry parents (her father is the Chief) and awaiting his boat back to Chicago, the couple share some intimate moments with coconut juice and playful lip wrestling, which is quite erotic, even by today’s standards. The climax of the film involves the couple bound to stakes as she is to be sacrificed to Pele the volcano god. They escape but Johnny is severely injured and unconscious, so she shows her sweet love by kissing him with a mouthful of fruit juice to fend off dehydration. His friends implore her to come back to civilization with them, but she chooses to appease the wrath of Pele: for both her tribe and her lover.
Final Grade: (B)
