THE BLUE LAGOON (1949)

On a ship headed for Australia, a man named Reynolds dies and is buried at sea. His young son Michael is cared for by a sailor named Paddy, to be turned over to the American consulate when they arrive in Auckland. The boy is discovered to have whipping welts on his back and may not be mourning his father very much. He spends a lot of time with the only other child on board, Emmeline, and when the ship catches fire, the two, along with Paddy and Emmeline's caged bird, wind up in a canoe, the only survivors, and eventually wash up on an uncharted island. They find skeletons in a cave, not a good sign for their survival, but the three manage to scrape together some shelter and have plenty of food from fish and vegetation. Paddy, a heavy drinker, is freaked out by a huge skull-shaped rock, falls off a cliff and dies, leaving the two children on their own. Ten years later, the two adolescents have survived admirably, reading some books they had with them, including a manners manual, and collecting "beads" they find in the sea which are actually pearls. Two con men pass by the island in their boat and come to shore, realizing the riches in pearls available. One tries to force Michael to dive for the pearls, while the other sneaks Emmeline off to the boat for a more nefarious purpose. In a nicely done sequence, the two crooks wind up shooting each other dead. Deciding civilization is not for them, the two soon discover love and sex. They hold a wedding ceremony as described in the manners book and soon Emmeline bears a child whom they name Paddy. After surviving threats from an octopus, a snake, and a destructive storm, they decide to take off in a handmade canoe, hoping to be found by a passing ship. They are, but in an ambiguous ending, the baby is still alive though Michael and Emmeline appear to be dead.

Back in the day, I saw the 1980 remake of this, with the sexy leads Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins (both skimpily clad and occasionally naked). It was a big hit but got little critical respect. I have only hazy memories of it, mostly of enjoying looking at Atkins (who was of legal age at the time, though Shields was only 14, with her nude scenes done by a body double). This version, based on a 1908 novel, has much less focus on sex and more on a kind of society vs. nature situation. Jean Simmons is very good as Emmeline; she was 20 but can pass for younger, and she has star charisma already. Many viewers don't care much for Donald Houston as Michael, calling him wooden, but I think he’s quite natural in the role, enacting his character's idea of what a stalwart grown-up man should be. They're both good looking and play their coming of age in a non-sensational manner; they are viewed by one of the crooks as being "the rude clay of humanity." James Hayter and Cyril Cusack are fine as the crooks. The movie benefits from good cinematography and from being filmed partly on location in Fiji, though there are scenes that look like they were done on the Gilligan's Island set. Hard to find, as Paramount apparently bought the rights when they filmed the remake and have never released it on home video, though the print on YouTube is in good shape. [YouTube]