Retrospective: The Blue Lagoon (1949)
Shane Burridge
Most of those who watched Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins getting
the hots for each other in 1980's well-publicized THE BLUE LAGOON would
not have been aware of this earlier version filmed 30 years beforehand.
Based on the first of a trilogy of novels by Henry De Vere Stacpoole and
filmed on location in Fiji (as was the remake), the story is too simple to
generate much variation between either adaptation, but there's not a lot
that can be done with castaway plotlines anyway: Defoe started by
depositing one man on a deserted island in 'Robinson Crusoe', Wyss
followed it by marooning an entire Robinson family, and Stacpoole's spin
on it is to strand two children.
With no other people on a remote tropical island after the death of the
only adult in their company, it befalls two youngsters to colonize it simply
by presence alone. The most fascinating aspect of the premise - namely,
how exactly do a 9 and 10 year old survive on an uninhabited island? - is
completely ignored when the story jumps ahead in time ten years to show
them as adults. The boy develops into an athletic hunter-gatherer and
dives off waterfalls; the girl grows up to be Jean Simmons and puts on a
shirt. The lush natural setting and the isolation of the two protagonists sets
up an obvious Eden parallel, and the snake on this occasion is a passing
trader who brings greed, envy and deceit to their paradise. His departure
appears to leave no trace of these particular corruptions, but it's probably
no coincidence that Simmons and her fellow castaway Donald Houston
become sexually interested in each other immediately afterwards. The
absence of sexuality up until this point is the most difficult aspect of the
story to accept - I doubt that audiences in the late 40s would have been
convinced that two 20-year olds were still virgins after a decade marooned
with each other, let alone audiences in the 1980s (which is why the
Brooke Shields version plays more like a horny teen's fantasy). As would
be expected for the time, the act itself is represented so discreetly on
screen that it's almost invisible (there are some scenic views while Houston
narrates John Donne's "The Good-Morrow") and accomplished only after
the couple have become 'married' to each other using instructions from the
only book in their possession, an etiquette manual which has in effect
become their bible - as with Tarzan and Jane before them, these co-habitants
had to make a concession of propriety for the Censor's Office.
The innocent approach to 1949's LAGOON works better when viewed as an
alternative or balance to the less restricted remake (which at least follows the
source material more closely), making it easier to play along with the naïveté
and enjoy watching Simmons (oh yeah, and her co-star) wandering about
against the beautiful backdrop of the South Seas. But is it paradise? A few
unexpectedly creepy moments in the film give an indication that not all may
not turn out well in the final reel, and the outcome remains touch and go until
moments before the credits roll. Think how differently the movie would have
turned out with as little as the final ten seconds cropped off - because chances
are you may care more about Simmons and Houston than you would about
Shields and Atkins.
_________________________________________________________________
Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today it's FREE!
http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/