ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

Consider the cast of this early 1950s comedy set in the Philippines. The plot is comprised of high jinks and high adventure, with Burt Lancaster, Chuck Conners, and the gorgeous Virginia Mayo!

Don't be fooled by the unusual opening, in which we see a military court martial convene to try Marine Sargent Burt Lancaster for a list of crimes that don't really sound very criminal — even though they do sound like the plot a fine story, told in flashback when Virginia takes the stand to explain how she ended up alone with Burt on a raft in the Pacific, with a mast flying a distress flag made from her panties!

We don't see Chuck in the courtroom, and Burt stubbornly refuses to either testify or even enter a plea of guilty or not guilty!

But Virginia is called to the stand, and her testimony (heard as periodic narration) leads us into the flashbacks that make up most of the movie.

In the first fifteen minutes we see Burt and Chuck fight their way out of a Shanghai bar to rescue Miss Mayo from the gangster-like owner, who has lecherous intentions! No surprise there, because Virginia is wearing a micro-mini cocktail waitress costumes, because she works as one of those gals who goes around taking pictures of the patrons and selling them copies.

If she'd come up to me and made that offer, I'd ask her to hand me the camera so I could take a picture of her!





This lady gives the phrase "Please hold the Mayo!" a whole new meaning!

The chemistry between Burt and Chuck as two-fisted buddies who don't always agree but who always have each other's backs apparently extended to real life. IMDB has this trivia item.
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Burt Lancaster was responsible for getting Chuck Connors cast in this film. With this substantial role, Chuck Connors opted out of his professional baseball career and decided to pursue acting full-time.
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After escaping from the bar with the rescued Miss Mayo, the three adventurers drift out to sea in a small, disabled boat. Burt is determined to rejoin his Marine unit, who shipped out while he was trying to get Chuck back in time to avoid a court martial.

But Chuck and Virginia are happy as honeymooners to be together, and they plan to get married as soon as possible.

For a while the plot ping-pongs back and forth between brief comic adventures and courtroom scenes, with Virginia's narration and on-screen testimony providing the details.

The trio get stranded at sea on a Chinese junk, while Burt rants and raves about how this situation has deprived the two soldiers from doing their duty and fighting the enemies of America! A fight between the two men starts a fire on the junk, and after putting out, the crew throws the three adventures overboard near a French-held island!

From here on out the story about how the two men and the lovely lady try to cope with the shocking news that the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor. When faced with a fat French governor who plans to imprison them because he's allied himself with the enemies of America, they're forced to put on a hysterical act and pretend they're deserters!

And by God . . . it works!

And this is how our three main characters accumulate a long list of incriminating criminal charges because of a series of unfortunate incidents, through no fault of their own! How all this eventually works out is something I certainly didn't see coming, and I'm sure you won't either.

Watch this movie and find out for yourself. It's worth the effort.

___________ South Sea Woman Original Trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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As lovely as Virginia Mayo is, I've always felt there was something slightly off about her eyes. They seemed to be just a tad too close together.





But I made some modifications to the photo above and discovered that in addition to being slightly too close to each other, the right eye was tilted a bit more, causing that eye to be little lower than her left eye.





You can see what I did to the picture above by comparing the original photo on the left to the one on the right.



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)