Esther's other tropical film, besides this one, was "On an island with you". They both also had Esther with a fake tan. I enjoyed both of them even though each had a couple of small problems. I really enjoyed the tropical island scenery here, which with it being almost 70 years ago, really gave me a "tropical getaway paradise" feeling, even more so than when looking at those same places today. Those islands I reckon really did provide a magical paradise getaway back in 1950. That was before they got hit with modern influences, high levels of tourism, and the internet which people everywhere including those islands now have. You can never feel as sucluded away anywhere anymore when with the internet right in front of you, you can bring so much up right in front of your eyes now at quick and simple pushes of a button. That just makes it all seem less private now. Not to mention how someone standing 15- 20 feet away can take a picture where you accidentally get in, and then it could be posted all over the internet. Back then if you got caught in a picture, most likely only a few people would see the picture like their close family and friends, instead of it being put on the internet for the world. Also back then, people had better manners and wouldn't deliberately take your picture without your consent, unlike today where people would and do. Yes, all those reasons definitely don't make tropical getaways quite the same anymore. I like the first scene with Howard Keel arriving on the ship (which is how everyone traveled abroad (USA to Pacific islands, USA to Europe, etc.) the first half of the 20th century before airline travel). Esther, who fools Keel into him thinking she's a native Tahitian who doesn't speak much English, has fun teasing him the first part of the film while then going back to her American family's house and talking about what a fool Keel is to her semi snobbish mother. That is more brought out during a semi elite garden party her mother throws that Keel comes to wearing a tropical slip (thinking it was a native Tahitian party like the earlier copra party where everyone was dressed as such) and making himself known, not quite the way he wanted. The earlier copra party was a scene where the natives half drank and partied/ half worked to make copra, I liked when seeing those natives climb those palm trees simultaneously side by side on about 5 side by side trees to pick the coconuts. I like when Esther says how she wishes to leave Tahiti and says "I'll be perfectly happy to never see another man in a hammock drinking coconut milk", then cutting to show Keel doing just that. At that point Esther still had Keel fooled into thinking she's native, and when he calls her a "broken down beachcomber" who she questions Keel what that means when she finally reveals to Keel about knowing English, but still hasn't revealed to him yet about actually being American (that part is revealed to him at the elite party earlier mentioned when Keel shows up not quite appropriately dressed). I enjoyed the songs during the first half of the film, first at Keel's hut (which he was initially disappointed about since he was expecting more of a modern (well 1950s modern) house with such amenities) when he sings "House of the singing bamboo" while using a clothespin to make melodic sounds out of the bamboo structured walls. I also enjoyed "Just singing in the sun" as Keel rides his bike through the old fashioned tropical scenery, nice old time scene. I also enjoyed the running joke of the bathtub breaking in half every time they try to deliver it, and also the scene with the elderly Tahitian woman bringing Keel a pig (that keeps trying to sqirm away, and eventually does) and her enjoying the simple pleasures of hearing Keel play on his typewriter. That's the word I keep meaning to use about people on the island (and in general everywhere) back in those days, more simple pleasures. The film was best throughout the whole first half, and during Esther's water scenes near the end. The part where Keel had to take in three Tahitian kids, I doubt that even back then, you were obligated to suddenly adopt three kids with no prior notice whatsoever in Tahiti. It was never explained who those kids belonged to before showing up in front of Keel. The song Keel sang to the kids about table manners seemed like something more of a thing for kids to watch. I didn't care too much for the scene where Keel gets upset cause he thought they left the copra out in the rain, it even stirred up tension between him and Esther. That scene just didn't fit with the rest of the film I really enjoyed the Esther water scenes near the end. First the magical fantasy sequence of seeing Esther swimming through the sky. I'd like to think I can almost see her swimming through the sky like that now, since she has now passed on and is up in heaven. I also loved the moment of Esther and some other girls dancing on an island, and then her swimming through all the coral reefs and underwater aquatic life, it was beautiful.

Seeing it with an American friend, who is also a fan of "classic-era" musicals and had an old VHS in not too bad condition, 'Pagan Love Song' is pleasant enough. It does not see the best of Howard Keel or Esther Williams, but they are the film's biggest attractions and don't disappoint.Getting 'Pagan Love Song's' flaws out of the way, the thinness of the story makes paper thicker in comparison and it gets contrived and nonsensical in places, coming to life in the song/dance scenes and floundering often elsewhere. The script does lack wit and does come over as a bit leaden and heavy-handed in delivery.Direction-wise, 'Pagan Love Song' did cry out for a more experienced director (i.e. Stanley Donen), because Robert Alton's direction does come over as indifferent and his inexperience does get in the way out of the storytelling.The songs are certainly pleasant enough, beautifully sung and charmingly choreographed, but don't expect any classics, ones that stand the test of time in timeless fashion or anything unforgettable. "The House of Singing Bamboo" is the standout.As said, the main attractions are Keel and Williams and neither disappoint. Keel is handsome, robust and charming, and his voice (one of the warmest and most beautiful male singing voices on film) is in golden condition. Williams also radiates charm and how she handles the water ballet stuff is mind-blowing. The rest of the cast don't stand out as much but are hardly a liability, look out for a pre-'The King and I' and 'West Side Story' Rita Moreno.Chemistry-wise, Keel and Williams are easy-going and assured. While not exactly irresistible as such, the romantic elements were sweet and fared better than most of the rest of the film's storytelling.Visually, 'Pagan Love Song' is just exquisite. The scenery is the very meaning of exotic and the whole film is gorgeously photographed, especially in regard to the water ballet sequences, which are some of the most visually beautiful scenes in any film featuring Williams and her water ballet, and the fantasy sequence.Overall, don't expect much from the story and script but fans of Keel and Williams will be delighted, even if the film is seen just for them. 6/10 Bethany Cox

The most minor of Arthur Freed's minor MGM musicals, and one suspects he took it on because it showcased his (rather pedestrian) lyrics. It's a Tahitian treat, by present-day standards astonishingly racist, with the happy, stupid natives bowing and doing the bidding of Howard Keel, an Ohio teacher who has inherited a dilapidated tropical estate, and Esther Williams, who keeps saying she's through-and-through Tahitian and has dusky makeup to back it up, but comes equipped with a Nebraska accent and seems incapable of playing anything but American. About the most dramatic thing that happens is it rains, and Keel and Williams squabble and make up, while a very young Rita Moreno schemes to get them back together. The two stars look terrific, Keel runs around shirtless most of the time, the Harry Warren melodies are very easy to take, and Esther's one underwater ballet displays Technicolor hues that will probably never be seen again. The storytelling's lazy and condescending, Robert Alton is not a natural-born director, and inconsequential doesn't begin to describe it. For all that, it's fun and tuneful and unpretentious, and you may even enjoy the over-simplistic world view of 1950.

Pleasant and generally interesting escapist fare. Howard Keel's bachelor character(Hap) decides to ditch his Ohio teaching job when presented with the fantasy opportunity of making a living in Tahiti, exporting coconut products. He envisions a laid back life in a tropical paradise, with native maidens swooning over him, which is what we get in this film. Esther is the 'pagan' maiden he most connects with. She is supposed to be half American. Although she looks like an over-tanned Caucasian, she seems to have absorbed more of the Tahitian half of her cultural heritage. But, now she is bored with her uncomplicated life and is looking for an opportunity to move to the USA. Hap just may be her ticket to this dream, after he too gets bored with the slow pace of Tahitian life.Although Esther is given top billing , this clearly is mainly Howard's film. I love listening to his rich baritone singing voice, and he does not disappoint here, in his second MGM musical. The frequent inclusion of natives(both real and stand ins) in the scenes between the romantic twosomes is a definite plus, along with the gorgeous Hawaiian scenery, as a stand in for Tahiti. In contrast to the pronouncements of some others that the songs are pedestrian, I found them quite adequate for the situations, no doubt aided by Keel's renditions. True, the total score doesn't compare with Keel's previous musical "Anne Get your Gun", nor his subsequent musical "Showboat", but it certainly tops the truly 'pedestrian' songs given him in his second paring with Esther, in "Texas Carnival". Most are love songs or expressions of the joy of their lives, but "Etiquette" is a fun novelty song that gets Howard interacting with his adopted native children. The plot is quite hokey, but who cares. This is a trip to paradise, as most of us imagine it, at least for a while. Yes, "South Pacific" was then the rage on stage, but the film version was far in the future. Thus, this film presumably helped fill the gap between, and was a modest box office success. Plus, this story is much less complicated,if that is what you like. Too bad Howard didn't get to star in that later film, as well.Of course, there is some hip-swinging dancing, by both sexes, mostly during a festival, and mostly somewhere between the languid Hawaiian style and the frenetic traditional Tahitian style, as seen in "The Bounty", for example. Perhaps more impressive is Freddie Letuli's knife-juggling and twirling act. Although billed as the fire knife dancer, no flames were included here. A native Samoan, Freddie organized shows of Polynesian dancing, along with his act. Although not specified, the main dance scenes may have included his dancers. A few years before, he got the idea of adding flames to the ends of a twirling baton(not knife), and created a sensation.A young Rita Moreno provides a much more authentic-appearing Tahitian(although actually of Puerto Rican heritage)than Esther. If I were Hap, I would have set my sights on her. Rita usually played subsidiary ethnic women, and still performs today, 65 years later! Her roles in "The King and I" and "West Side Story" are perhaps the best remembered. Unfortunately, her one song in this film was cut.MGM signed Howard as their answer to Warner Brother's Gordon MacRae. In fact, Howard had already done, on stage, Gordon's later two most famous film roles, in "Carousel" and "Oklahoma", before scoring a big success in his first MGM musical "Anne Get your Gun", released earlier in '50. The present film was obviously a lower budget offering, without clear cut hit songs intended. Of course, he would go on to star in a string of popular musicals, with various top bona fide singing actresses as his leading lady. These include: "Showboat", "Calamity Jane"(my favorite), Kiss Me Kate" and "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"(his favorite). He would again costar with Esther the following year in the musical comedy "Texas Carnival", but they had to share the spotlight with Red Skelton, Anne Miller , and Keenan Wynn. Their final film as the costars was, the quite different, "Jupiter's Delight".This film is essentially a color remake of the very early talky(1929) "The Pagan", with a rather similar screen play, and which was actually largely filmed in Tahiti. The title and theme song of the present film are derived from the theme song for that film, composed by the productive team of Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed, who also came out with the famous "Singing in the Rain" that year. However, "The Pagan", was not otherwise a musical, whereas the present film is a light musical. The other tunes were newly composed by veteran tunesmith Harry Warren, with Arthur Freed again doing the lyrics. Warren composed most of the songs for a number of MGM musicals in the late '40s and early '50s, after having done the same at Fox studios during their string of musical hits during the early '40s.Incidentally, the word 'pagan' here obvious connotes an exotic primitive culture and mindset, rather than a strict religious meaning. In fact, it is derived from the Latin 'paganus', meaning rustic or primitive people. Christianity first took hold mostly in the larger cities of the late Roman Empire. Thus, the generally more recalcitrant empire paganus population was,for a time, symbolic of the old non-Christian beliefs and practices.Currently available as part of the expensive Esther Williams Collection 2 DVD set