IMDb RATING
6.0/10
1.6K
YOUR RATING
A native girl falls for a visitor to her island, but she's chosen to be sacrificed to the volcano god.A native girl falls for a visitor to her island, but she's chosen to be sacrificed to the volcano god.A native girl falls for a visitor to her island, but she's chosen to be sacrificed to the volcano god.
Dolores Del Río
- Luana
- (as Dolores del Rio)
Lon Chaney Jr.
- Thornton
- (as Creighton Chaney)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFilm debut of Lon Chaney Jr., billed under his real name of Creighton Chaney.
- GoofsWhen the sailboat is joined by the natives, a female is shown holding onto the bow at the waterline with her feet (toes) and being pushed by the ship as the crew looked directly down at her. Later, a side view of the sailboat is shown and the bow at the waterline is several feet behind the area where a person could stand.
- Quotes
Chester: What do they call this place?
Johnny Baker: Probably one of the Virgin Islands
Chester: Heaven forbid.
- ConnectionsEdited into The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
- SoundtracksWhere the Blue of the Night (Meets the Gold of the Day)
(1931) (uncredited)
Music by Fred E. Ahlert
Sung (with non-lexical vocables) by Johnny as Luana pulls his dinghy to shore.
Featured review
Interesting In a Number of Respects, & Del Rio Is Dazzling
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.
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.
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Cennet Perisi
- Filming locations
- Hawaii, USA(2nd unit establishing shots)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $752,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 20 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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