Bird of Paradise (1932)
-
35% of users liked it
(1,816 ratings)
Having inherited the warhorse stage piece Bird of Paradise from his predecessor William LeBaron, RKO Radio production chief David O. Selznick opted to do the property up brown, hoping to transform the Richard Walton Tully original into RKO's "prestige" offering of 1932. Joel McCrea… More Having inherited the warhorse stage piece Bird of Paradise from his predecessor William LeBaron, RKO Radio production chief David O. Selznick opted to do the property up brown, hoping to transform the Richard Walton Tully original into RKO's "prestige" offering of 1932. Joel McCrea stars as a handsome South Seas soldier of fortune who falls in love with Dolores Del Rio, the daughter of a Polynesian native chieftain. Alas, their idyllic romance is destined to come to a sudden and violent end: tribal custom decrees that Del Rio is to be sacrificed to the local volcano. After initial resistance, the heroine nobly resigns herself to her fate, realizing that there is no place for her in her white lover's civilization. A more conservative (and far less costly) version of Bird of Paradise was filmed in 1952, with Jeff Chandler and Debra Paget. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- King Vidor
- Written By
- Richard Walton Tully, Wells Root
- Genres
- Drama, Action & Adventure, Romance, Classics
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Aug 12, 1932 Wide
- Studio
- Kino Lorber
Critic Reviews
-
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
If Bird of Paradise had used a director that knew how to loosen up but still become involved in the story, it might have had a more sensual, romantic feel in addition to its exoticism.
-
Jaime N. Christley, Slant Magazine
After years of neglect in the public domain, Kino's Bird of Paradise is obviously the phoenix, emerging renewed from a privately owned nitrate print.
-
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
The photography is exotic, but the story is for the birds.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
No Featured Audience Ratings Found…
Currently unavailable on Flixster
Also available on
Other Retailers
Not Available
Not Available
Subscription Services
Not Available
Not Available
Not Available
Cast
-
Dolores Del Rio
as Luana
-
Joel McCrea
as Johnny Baker
-
John Halliday
as Mac
-
Lon Chaney Jr
as Thornton
-
Richard 'Skeets' Gallagher
as Chester
-
Bert Roach
as Hector
-
Pukai
as The King
-
Agostino Borgato
as Medicine man
-
Sophie Ortego
as Old Native Woman
-
Wade Boteler
as Skipper Johnson
- Arnold Gray
-
Creighton Hale
as Thornton
- Reginald Simpson
- Creighton (Lon) Chaney Jr.
