Pagan Love Song Reviews

American schoolteacher Hazard Endicott (Howard Keel) heads off for Tahiti to take over his late uncle's coconut plantation. He meets fellow American Mimi Bennett (Esther Williams), mistakes her for a Tahitian, falls in love, and goes out of his way to sweep her off her feet. Not surprisingly, he succeeds. Williams performs one of her patented water ballets, nicely choreographed with some good underwater photography, but that's about it for entertainment. Producer Arthur Freed, known for his high production values, let everything slide in this bomb, although he did help pen the song lyrics and used his own 1929 composition for the title tune. The lifeless direction is by Robert Alton, who was better known for choreography and returned to that trade shortly after finishing this film. Originally Freed had contracted Stanley Donen as director, but he was replaced when Williams refused to work with him.