Alicia I love this movie so much

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

juliastarkap I've always been a fan of musicals in tropical settings, and Pagan Love Song is no exception.The Music is beautiful and tropical, and Howard Keel and Esther Williams make a beautiful couple. I loved the scene at the end where Howard Keel imagines Esther Williams swimming.Although there is a very thin plot, Pagan Love Song is great entertainment for any occasion

utgard14 So-so musical with Howard Keel as an American coming to Tahiti to run a plantation he inherited. There he meets and immediately falls for a biracial Tahitian, played by Esther Williams. About as flimsy as they come, how much this entertains you will depend on how big a fan you are of the two stars. Keel sings a few decent songs and Esther has some nice swimming scenes. Both are great in their areas of expertise but their chemistry is nonexistent, so the romance aspect of the story falls flat. This was a troubled production that included a broken arm for Keel and a near-drowning incident for Esther. It also went way over budget and Esther found out she was pregnant during filming. The parts of the movie that were shot on location were shot in Hawaii, not Tahiti. The attractive scenery is certainly a plus, as is the short runtime. It's ultimately nothing special but if you enjoy handsome Keel's voice or beautiful Esther's swimming, you'll want to see it at least once. But be forewarned all that fake laughter gets old after awhile.

museumofdave What a fascinating historical document, a dazzling Technicolor window into the hearts and desires of the American public, or at least what MGM was marketing to them in 1950! As long as today's viewer isn't expecting to see a gripping love story or the conflict that might occur when two radically different cultures attempt to meld, as long as plot or logic or suspense don't matter much, this musical document is amazingly entertaining! And perhaps it's entertainment value evolves from secondary values such as color and location and decent singing. It's not Mutiny On The Bounty! I expect no one ever has watched an Esther Williams film for the intellectual challenge or for cutting edge plot development: first and foremost, we want to see Esther swim, to gloriously navigate the MGM waters as no one else has managed--in over a dozen films, this Million Dollar Mermaid dallied with her suitors, wore bathing suits perfectly, and ultimately proved who was boss in the romantic department, just as she does in this escapist delight. When Howard Keel sails into Tahiti (at the time there were no viable airfields accessible on Tahiti so the studio settled for Hawaii, and it's ravishing!), he mistakes Esther for a native swimmer, treats her with condescension and Esther goes along with the joke until she can turn the tables on him.In the meantime, Howard learns how to live more gregariously with the local natives, a happy lot who seldom challenge his ways, and who are always happy to run off to a luau or a beach party when there's coconut to be husked. There are a couple of lavish MGM showpieces here, one of them a staged cellophaned hula extravaganza featuring dazzling hula action and a performer who utilizes his body as a percussion instrument: it's a frenzied five minutes!! And wait until you see the mind- boggling Dali-esque underwater fantasy ballet, a trip through a bright coral wonderland peppered with golden flashes from the local fishies!Had Stanley Donen, director of such gems as Singin' In The Rain and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, been allowed to direct, this might have been one of Esther's best--but she had suffered under his indifferent attitude toward her talents on Take Me Out To The Ball Game, and she refused to work with him, so the studio provided Robert Alton. Fortunately, we are spared Red Skelton or the other usual guest appearances which hamper the pace, and we are gifted with actual lush photography from the island of what appears to be Kauai for a 50's time warp, a zippy escape from any kind of reality.

Neil Doyle It's safe to say that PAGAN LOVE SONG contains the thinnest wisp of a plot, even for an ESTHER WILLIAMS movie and barely a hint of conflict which only separates her briefly from HOWARD KEEL after a stormy argument over coconuts.But MGM wisely uses Hawaii to substitute for Tahiti and filmed the whole fluffy romance in gorgeous Technicolor, provided songs for Keel to belt out in his robust baritone manner, and kept things moving nicely for a brief running time of 76 minutes. Result? One of the most attractive looking of all Esther's films, including a couple of dream sequences that have her appearing like a mermaid among the colorful coral reef backgrounds underwater. There's also a dreamy swimming scene set in the clouds, as Keel daydreams about the luscious swimmer.It's a pity that none of the songs have much distinction and they are dropped into the proceedings with hardly any preparation--in other words, at the drop of a hat someone begins to sing with all the choreography intact. Keel's version of "The House of Singing Bamboo" is the best of the lot. It's only his second film, but he's already the pro when it comes to strutting his stuff for the camera.He and Esther perform with a naturalness that seems to fit the faux Tahitian settings and seem completely well-matched as a screen couple under Robert Alton's smooth direction.Summing up: An easy to take minor musical with enough eye candy to keep you pleasantly entertained even though there's almost no attempt at providing any real conflict in the easy-going storyline of a schoolteacher (Keel) who inherits a coconut plantation in Tahiti.