Pagan Love Song

Buy This Item Pagan Love Song by MGM (Video & DVD)  Available from Amazon  $19.98  on 10-31-2008     Esther Williams never looked lovelier than she does in <I>Pagan Love Song</I>, bronzed and beflowered to play Mimi, a half-American, half-Tahitian girl who was raised on the island but who longs for the good old U.S. of A. "All my life's been one long vacation," she sighs, "and I'm bored." Luckily, Hap Endicott (Howard Keel) arrives on the scene. He's an Ohio schoolteacher who has come to manage his late uncle's coconut plantation. The two meet cute, and love and singing ensue. There are a few cringe-inducing moments of the "colonialism can be fun!" variety (the Happy Natives don't need to be paid--just throw them a party!), but it's all so silly and well intentioned that it's hard to hold a grudge. <I>Pagan Love Song</I>'s many pleasures include songs at the drop of the hat, some terrific Tahitian dancing, and a lovely moment when a lovelorn Hap looks up and sees Mimi swimming gracefully among the clouds. A must for any Esther Williams fan. <I>--Ali Davis</I> Reader Reviews Esther Williams stars in this silly South Pacific love story, filmed largely on the Hawaiian island of Kauai (although the story is supposed to be set in Tahiti...) Her love interest is the schmaltzy show tune crooner Howard Keel, playing a lazy American who inherits an abandoned coconut farm, and after making it out to the island picks up a yen for the half-Tahitian hottie played by Williams. She tames him, he mellows out, learns to like small children and to kick back into Tahitian time, just like the locals. Musically, the Harry Warren compositions are not, admittedly, among his best work, although there is a dazzling Tahitian dance number, staged in a Busby Berkeley-like fashion, and if you know Kauai at all, the improbable cutaways from one beach to the next are pretty hilarious. Not the greatest musicial ever (and Williams hardly gets in the water at all!) but it has it's charms. Take the "happy native" stuff with a grain of salt, though.

Pagan Love Song Available from Amazon Price: $19.98 Updated on 10-31-2008.

SPONSORED LINKS