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The Blue Lagoon
Lobby card for The Blue Lagoon
Directed by
Frank Launder
Produced by
Sydney Gilliat
Frank Launder
Written by
Novel:
Henry De Vere Stacpoole
Screenplay:
John Baines
Michael Hogan
Frank Launder
Starring
Jean Simmons
Donald Houston
Noel Purcell
James Hayter
Cyril Cusack
Music by
Clifton Parker
Cinematography
Geoffrey Unsworth
Editing by
Thelma Connell
Distributed by
GFD (UK)
Universal Pictures (USA)
Release date(s)
October 1, 1949 (USA)
Running time
101 min.
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile
The Blue Lagoon is a 1949 British romance and adventure film produced and directed by Frank Launder, starring Jean Simmons and Donald Houston. The screenplay was adapted by John Baines, Michael Hogan and Frank Launder from the novel The Blue Lagoon by Henry De Vere Stacpoole. The original music score was composed by Clifton Parker and the cinematography was by Geoffrey Unsworth.
The film tells the story of two young children shipwrecked on a tropical island paradise in the South Pacific. Emotional feelings and physical changes arise as they grow to maturity and fall in love. The film has major thematic similarities to the Biblical story of Adam and Eve.
Contents
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Background and production
- The film was a remake of a black and white silent film shot in the UK in 1923, not long after the publication of the Henry De Vere Stacpoole novel on which it was based. The 1923 version was directed by W. Bowden and Dick Cruickshanks, starring Molly Adair and Dick Cruickshanks.
- The evil traders were invented for this film and were not part of the novel.
- The film was shot on location and at Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England.
Plot summary
In the Victorian period, Emmeline Foster (Susan Stranks) and Michael Reynolds (Peter Rudolph Jones), two British children, are the survivors of a shipwreck in the South Pacific. After days afloat, they are marooned on a lush tropical island in the company of kindly old sailor Paddy Button (Noel Purcell). Eventually, Paddy dies, leaving Emmeline (Jean Simmons) and Michael (Donald Houston), now attractively grown up, all alone with each other. Together, they survive solely on their resourcefulness, and the bounty of their remote paradise.
Years pass and both Emmeline and Michael become nubile young adults, tanned to a flawless bronze, and fitter than Olympic gymnasts. Eventually, their raging hormones lead the two young castaways into each other’s arms. Their relationship, more along the lines of brother and sister in their youth, blossoms into love, and then passion. Emmeline and Michael have their baby boy, and they live together as common-law husband and wife, content in their solitude. But their marriage is threatened by the arrival of two evil traders, who force the boy to dive for pearls at gunpoint, before killing each other off.
Cast
Actor
Role
Jean Simmons
Emmeline Foster
Donald Houston
Michael Reynolds
Susan Stranks
Emmeline (younger)
Peter Rudolph Jones
Michael (younger)
Noel Purcell
Paddy Button
James Hayter
Dr. Murdock
Cyril Cusack
James Carter
Nora Nicholson
Mrs. Stannard
Maurice Denham
Ship’s Captain
Phillip Stainton
Mr. Ansty
Patrick Barr
Second Mate
Lyn Evans
Trotter
Russell Waters
Craggs
John Boxer
Nick Corbett
Bill Raymond
Marsden
Other versions and sequel
- The film was remade in 1980 starring Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins. The updated version of The Blue Lagoon, directed by Randal Kleiser, was much closer to Henry DeVere Stacpoole’s original novel, including nudity and sexual content appropriate to the story but not found in this original cinematic adaptation.
- The updated version was followed in 1991 by the sequel Return to the Blue Lagoon, starring Milla Jovovich and Brian Krause. The sequel bears a strong similarity to the 1980 film, also directed by Randal Kleiser. It bears very little resemblance to Stacpoole’s sequel, The Garden of God. The pearl-greedy traders do not appear in Stacpoole’s original novel. However, in the second sequel, The Gates of Morning, a pair of sailors attack the people of a nearby island because they know its waters are rich with pearls, and it is possible the filmmakers used this.
External links
- The Blue Lagoon (1949) at the Internet Movie Database
- The Blue Lagoon (1949) at the TCM Movie Database
- The Blue Lagoon (1949) at Allmovie
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Lagoon_%28film%29”
Categories: 1949 films | Adventure films | British films | Coming-of-age films | English-language films | Films based on romance books | Films directed by Frank Launder | Pinewood films | Romantic drama films | Romantic period films | Screenplays by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat | Universal Pictures films | Victorian era films