AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

froberts73 Yaaawwwn. As Shakespeare put it, much ado about nothing. Most of the critics seemed to take "Boid of Paradise" (my 1st wife was from Brooklyn) as something in need of serious thought. I seriously thought it was tiresome.Big fuss about Del Rio's nude underwater swim. You couldn't even notice a nipple in the ripple. Hedy Lamarr displayed more skin in her first flick.Joel McRae, star of my fave Hitchock movie, "Foreign Correspondent" looked too skinny as he swung from vine to vine. Weismuller was really a swinger (in more ways than one) in the Tarzan series.Some of the scenes were ludicrous, especially the one with McRae riding tortoise-back. Hi-yo turtle.The native dance scenes were impressive, and, to be honest, the love scenes between the two stars were pretty convincing. One looked like a French kiss or, at least, a French-Canadian kiss.The erupting volcano and flowing lava did not convince, but, then it was '32 and special effects were not as sophisticated as they are today.All in all, "Bird of Paradise" was so-so. Hey, this bird laid an egg.

whpratt1 King Vidor the director of this film created a great black and white film that starred Dolores Del Rio, (Launa) who danced with lots of spark and sex appeal. Joel McCrea, (Johnny Baker) landed on this island and immediately fell head over heels in love with Launa, the only thing was she was promised to any worthy prince who might ask for her hand in marriage. Johnny's shipmates took off and left him with his new found love and were going to return and pick him up. Johnny managed to find a paradise island to take Launa and they both enjoyed being with each other and Johnny even built a shelter for them to live in. However, Johnny & Launa soon found their dream come to a crashing halt and the story goes in another direction. Lon Chaney, Jr. (Thornton) gave an outstanding supporting role and the music and film locations were great. Enjoy.

MartinHafer This was an intentionally trashy and salacious film--meant to titillate and appeal to the baser instincts of movie fans. You see, up until the mid-1930s, despite modern opinions to the contrary, many films were quite sexy and risqué--even by today's standards. So many people assume that nudity and adult themes were invented in films in the 1960s, but this is far from true. In the 1920s and 30s, it was not all that uncommon for topics like adultery, fornication and even homosexuality in films...and it was also not uncommon for nudity as well! The best example is the mid-1920s Biblical epic, BEN HUR--which featured several nude scenes and some pretty violent themes (such as when "Golthor" boards the Roman ship with a head impaled on his sword).So with this background in mind, understand that this film is a great example of this genre as it intentionally "pushed the envelope" and in some parts of the country it was edited to suit local tastes (particularly outside the bigger cities). That's because the film is set on a tropical island where Ms. Del Rio plays an uninhibited native who swims naked during one very daring scene. By today's standards, it's not super-explicit, but it shows much more flesh than Jacqueline Bisset's famed swimming scenes from THE DEEP and definitely would have earned BIRD OF PARADISE and R-rating.The bottom line is that Radio Pictures put this scene in the film to attract a larger audience to an essentially dull and clichéd film. The story about Ms. Del Rio being a princess who is to be sacrificed to the volcano god, Pele, is all very silly. Also, no matter how much the alluring Ms. Del Rio and Joel McCrea try, this film just isn't all that interesting--except from a historical standpoint. The film is very skip-able except for film buffs and lovers of Pre-Code films, as the plot is pretty dumb and full of holes.

Snow Leopard This feature is interesting in a number of respects, both in its techniques and in its subject matter. And if neither of those is enough, Dolores Del Rio has a role that allows her to dazzle the viewer with her beauty and her screen presence. A young-looking Joel McCrea, as her co-star, is himself earnest and likable, though he is overshadowed by Del Rio in their scenes together.The story starts off with McCrea, as a sailor on a yacht, being rescued from a shark by Del Rio, as the daughter of the king of a native tribe. Romance develops from there, with McCrea's character dreaming of taking her back home with him when his trip is done, but having his plans hindered by the responsibilities she faces as a king's daughter. (Why any man, given the opportunity to live alone with a woman like Del Rio on a tropical island, would yearn for 'civilization', is also a pretty good question.)The story features some rather sensitive themes in the running contact between the two cultures. If it does not always face them comfortably, at least it is relatively even-handed much of the time. Although some 'primitive' beliefs are ascribed to the natives' culture, they are portrayed as sincere beliefs. There are also a number of points of interest on the technical side. Most obviously, there are the wealth of atmospheric shots of the tropical setting. But beyond that, there are a few interesting attempts to offer some interesting views with the camera, such as the water-level shots in the opening sailing sequence.One particularly interesting idea is that, for a long time, the language barrier is allowed to stand realistically between the characters, especially in McCrea's efforts to communicate, instead of using a stock device to get around it. Only much later is it assumed that Del Rio's character has learned enough English to be able to communicate.Certainly, there are times when this feature shows a little of its age, and in some respects it's not completely successful. But it would probably be worth watching to see Del Rio alone, and the rest of it contains several interesting aspects.