Call of the South Seas (1944) Poster

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5/10
Instead of the West, Let's Set This One In Tahiti
boblipton23 March 2019
Allan Lane washes up on a small French Polynesian island. After he sobers up, he goes to work for Roy Barcroft, who runs most of the economy, thanks to his generosity towards the islanders and the goodwill of Janet Martin. She's the half-French princess of the island -- she'll become queen when she marries -- who sings in the local saloon. She develops a yen for Lane. Then one day, there's a ship in port, and off walks US government official William Henry. He wants Lane for embezzlement.

It sounds pretty awful, and it's a rather silly example of the South Seas Romance, but the performances are pretty guide, even if Miss Martin walks around with a showgirl smile. It's directed by John English, one of Republic's cohort of western directors, given a chance to operate outside his usual venue. In truth, it looks like a Western script, with some adjectives crossed out and replaced; change the location to a Mexican border town and it rewrites itself except for the underwater volcano. Thanks to an amiable cast and a quick running time (less than an hour) it ends up a decent time-waster.
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Tahiti Tale
searchanddestroy-125 November 2012
Warning: Spoilers
A good little Republic Pictures programmer. Shot entirely in studios, with plenty of stock shots taken from Republic serials, this rare but tepid film doesn't bring much to this kind of adventure yarn. You have some beautiful gals, South Seas local music from the beginning to the end, a couple of bad guys - including the Republic Studios most prestigious heavy: Roy Barcroft, we saw in so many serials - some romance and enough fist fights to entertain the movie buffs like me who will always purchase these lost features.

John English, the director, is famous to have been William Witney's mate in making his most famous serials. The best ever. Republic made the most fantastic serials in the movie history.

Republic, serials, Roy Barcroft, three words which always remain together in American and B movies lovers' mind.
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3/10
Silly nonsense fills you with the tropical waves.
mark.waltz28 July 2017
Warning: Spoilers
There's lots to laugh with and a lot to laugh at in this over the top Republic programmer about life in the middle of the Pacific Ocean where angry gods explode volcanoes at will in the middle of the bay and a lonely princess seeks a husband so she can become queen. The volcano looks more like an oil strike, the island girls are obviously Caucasians in dark wigs, and the friendly natives dispense advice without charging $100 an hour. A few boring native style songs give this a false tropical atmosphere, and the good guys and bad guys have a shootout on the bay ad the volcano explodes just yards from them. Allan Lane, hero of very low budget Republic westerns, is the misunderstood hero here, believed to be a crook, and Janet Martin is the innocent princess without a prince. Fast enough to be an amusing time filler, but nothing more, and barely passable over less. Rising republic femme fatal Adele Mara also gets into the dark wig and sarong to go down Dorothy Lamour territory, while Anna Demetrio gets a few laughs as the jolly fat native who mothers everybody on the island.
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