This is a definite turn off your brain film. If you can, you'll have a nice time--if you can't, then your eyes will roll--especially at the end.The film begins with a court martial. For some reason, Burt Lancaster's character is being tried for desertion and several other charges. At first he refuses to testify--and so those who admired and knew him came to his defense. What follows is a story about how Lancaster and his fellow Marine friend (Chuck Conners) got separated from their unit and had a rousing adventure--culminating with a battle between Lancaster and 10 of his friends and an entire Japanese invasion--of Guadalcanal even!! The story is fun and the interplay between Lancaster and Virginia Mayo was nice. Unfortunately, the film ends with one cliché after another and one of the most ridiculous battle scenes ever. In fact, I might consider it THE most ridiculous battle scene! My wife sat there--fuming at the stupidity of the last 10 minutes of the movie (and she was right) and my mother-in-law liked it--saying it was enjoyable nonetheless and had a nice happy ending. I think my opinion is a little of both (plus, I don't want to side with either one!).

I found my way to this film after seeing Veola Vonn playing "Arlette" a voluptuous painter's model in "Le Fantome de la rue Morgue" (1954) which is loosely based on an Edgar Allan Poe novel.On looking at Veola's film career she seemed to specialise in acting roles playing French ladies of easy virtue and the subject film is typical when she plays Lillie Duval a madame of a brothel on a remote French island.Although she was born in NYK.(1918-1995), I wondered whether she had French parents/relatives or connections to give substance to these roles.Virginia Mayo first came to my attention in "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) playing the initially good-time wife of Dana Andrews a returning bombardier officer from the U.S.A.F. being demobbed at the end of WWII.In this film Virginia as "Ginger Martin" shows off her very feminine figure to its best advantage and soon gets Chuck (The Rifleman) Connors (Pvt.Davey White) & Burt Lancaster (Sgt. O'Hearn) squabbling over her and how best to get back into WWII on the side of Uncle Sam.For Burt it must have made a change doing this knockabout comedy after filming the heavy dramatic acting required playing another sergeant in "From Here To Eternity (1953)" in the same year.Coincidentally both films have the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour as a theme.Another face I spotted was Paul Burke (The Naked City - 1960s TV series) playing an ensign at Sgt.O'Hearn's court marshal.Obviously the plot outlined in other user comments above is comedic and Hollywood stereotypes abound which include (from an American perspective,) all foreigners who cannot speak English but we must remember that these films were produced by Americans for average Americans.I would place the growing international maturity of U.S. film producers from 1962 with "The Longest Day".One obvious editing device used in "South Sea Woman" is to utilise B&W war newsreels of the real WWII U.S./Japanese conflict and splice them into the subject B&W film. Also used were back-projection screens with "real" studio action by the actors.Oh well, c'est la guerre.I rated it 6/10 on purely on an entertainment level.

Sergeant James O'Hearn is standing on trial for a number of serious misdemeanours, refusing to testify or even state his defence, the outlook is very bleak. Much against his wishes, good time girl Ginger Martin takes to the stand and the whole case against O'Hearn is going to be seen in a very different light. A tale of loves, friendships, rivalry's, bad luck, but most of all, heroism in the line of duty.The genre police have tagged this picture as an action/comedy/romance set just prior to the Pacific hostilities in WWII. That it's a multi genre piece is a given, that it's also an odd bit of cinema is also very much understandable. That's the only real complaint with South Sea Woman, it's so jaunty and full of fun that when we get to the wonderful, bold and tough last quarter, you are not exactly sure how to feel. It's like entering a fancy dress party and winning first prize but then suddenly being told the prize is for worst costume of the night!Anyway, the cast seem to be having a right laugh with it, Burt Lancaster (0'Hearn) and Chuck Connors (Davey White) are constantly at loggerheads about their participation in the conflict, and the direction they should be taking (humouressly so), because right in between them is Virginia Mayo (Ginger), sparklingly pretty she's all set to marry White, but O'Hearn is doing his hardest to ensure that that doesn't happen. This is the mainstay of the film, we (they) lurch from one fight to another, from one daft encounter to the next, bad luck and sheer bravado constantly zipping around with our protagonists, and then the shift to full blown drama. It ties up all the loose ends, and it in no way is a cop out ending, in fact far from it, but it does take some getting used to and even some time after the credits have rolled I personally was a bit bemused.It's a recommended film, if only for the sparky cast it is worth it, but just go into it expecting a whisk in the blender and you will be OK. 6/10

In 1942, Burt Lancaster, as Marine Sgt. James O'Hearn, is being court-marshaled for various offenses, including desertion and sinking a saloon. He stand firmly mute while various witnesses testify in such a way that he looks bad. Finally, when his friend's honor (Chuck Connors) is called into question, he decides to speak for himself at the trial."Foist," he explains, "we busted into that stinkin' Portagee dungeon and let them Free Frenchies go." The story is that he and his buddy, Connors, were left behind with Ginger, a saloon girl, (Virginia Mayo), when the Marines evacuated Shanghai. (I thought that was in 1939, not 1941, but let it go.) By a curious juxtaposition of events the trio wind up on a small, studio-bound South Sea Island called Namur, run by the Fascist-friendly Vichy French. They claim to be deserters in order to stay out of prison, and they are housed in the "hotel" run by a French woman and her "three lovely nieces." All of whom Lancaster seduces, while Connors is glued to Virginia Mayo, making goo-goo eyes at her and planning for a revolting event called "marriage." Lots of comedy as Lancaster and Connors -- in real life, both Irish athletes from New York City -- bop and deceive one another. Virginia Mayo's growing attraction to Lancaster only intensifies the rivalry.But that's nothing compared to the fight they initiate against the "Krauts" and the "Japs". They manage to sink a fleet of Japanese barges on their way to Guadalcanal, and even a Japanese destroyer, at the cost of Connors' life.Not much sense in going on about the plot. It's mostly comedic. The two tough Marines have to dress in frilly nighties while their uniforms are being pressed, for instance. As a comedy, this is pretty basic, and the absence of subtlety is notable but not necessarily regretted. There's plenty of action too, which I won't bother to spell out.Lancaster grins and shows off his mouthful of chicklets. Connors seems made of some iron alloy. (The two men couldn't be more different in their political attitudes off the screen.) Virginia Mayo is stuck in the role of a perambulating floozy, and yet it may be her most animated performance on screen. One can imagine the director yelling at her, "More, MORE!" And she delivers.It was made by the Warner Brothers. It could have been made by the Warner Brothers in 1939 instead of 1951, with Jimmy Cagney in the Lancaster role and some nobody in Connors' role. Man -- it moves FAST.What a lot of fun.