The Blue Lagoon (1949 film)
Encyclopedia
The Blue Lagoon is a 1949 British
romance
and adventure film
produced and directed by Frank Launder
, starring Jean Simmons
and Donald Houston
. The screenplay was adapted by John Baines, Michael Hogan and Frank Launder from the novel The Blue Lagoon
by Henry De Vere Stacpoole
. The original music score was composed by Clifton Parker
and the cinematography was by Geoffrey Unsworth
.
The film tells the story of two young children shipwrecked on a tropical island paradise
in the South Pacific
. Emotional feelings and physical changes arise as they grow to maturity
and fall in love. The film has major thematic similarities to the Biblical
story of Adam and Eve
.
, Emmeline Foster and Michael Reynolds, two British children, are the survivors of a shipwreck
in the South Pacific. After days afloat, they are marooned
on a lush tropical island in the company of kindly old sailor Paddy Button. Eventually, Paddy dies in a drunken binge, leaving Emmeline and Michael, now attractively grown up, all alone with each other. Together, they survive solely on their resourcefulness, and the bounty of their remote paradise.
Years pass and both Emmeline and Michael become tanned, athletic and nubile young adults. Eventually, their relationship, more along the lines of brother and sister in their youth, blossoms into love, and then passion
. Emmeline and Michael have
their baby boy
, and they live together as common-law husband and wife, content in their solitude. But their marriage
is threatened by the arrival of two evil traders, who force the child to dive for pearl
s at gunpoint, before killing each other off.
Emmeline is reminded of the outside world and wants to leave the island. She fears for the child if she and Michael should die, and begins to think of his future. Michael finally succumbs to her pleading and they pack a small boat and leave the island. But becalmed in the middle of the ocean, they succumb to exposure. They are found by a British ship, but the film leaves their fate ambiguous.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
romance
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
and adventure film
Adventure film
Adventure films are a genre of film.Unlike pure, low-budget action films they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way....
produced and directed by Frank Launder
Frank Launder
Frank Launder was an English writer, director and producer, who made more than 40 films, many of them in collaboration with Sidney Gilliat....
, starring Jean Simmons
Jean Simmons
Jean Merilyn Simmons, OBE was an English actress. She appeared predominantly in motion pictures, beginning with films made in Great Britain during and after World War II – she was one of J...
and Donald Houston
Donald Houston
Donald Daniel Houston was a Welsh actor whose first two films – The Blue Lagoon with Jean Simmons, and A Run for Your Money with Sir Alec Guinness – were highly successful...
. The screenplay was adapted by John Baines, Michael Hogan and Frank Launder from the novel The Blue Lagoon
The Blue Lagoon (novel)
The Blue Lagoon is a romance novel by Henry De Vere Stacpoole, first published in 1908. The novel is the first of the Blue Lagoon trilogy, the second being The Garden of God and the third being The Gates of Morning ....
by Henry De Vere Stacpoole
Henry De Vere Stacpoole
Henry De Vere Stacpoole was an Irish author, born in Kingstown . His best known work is the 1908 romance novel The Blue Lagoon, which has been adapted into feature films on three occasions...
. The original music score was composed by Clifton Parker
Clifton Parker
Clifton Parker was an English composer, particularly noted for his film scores. During his career, he composed scores for over 50 feature films, as well as numerous documentary shorts, radio and television scores, over 100 songs and music for ballet and theatre.- Life :Edward John Clifton Parker...
and the cinematography was by Geoffrey Unsworth
Geoffrey Unsworth
Geoffrey Unsworth OBE, BSC was a British cinematographer who worked on nearly 90 feature films spanning over more than 40 years....
.
The film tells the story of two young children shipwrecked on a tropical island paradise
Desert island
A desert island or uninhabited island is an island that has yet to be populated by humans. Uninhabited islands are often used in movies or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereotypes for the idea of "paradise". Some uninhabited islands are protected as nature reserves and...
in the South Pacific
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
. Emotional feelings and physical changes arise as they grow to maturity
Sexual maturity
Sexual maturity is the age or stage when an organism can reproduce. It is sometimes considered synonymous with adulthood, though the two are distinct...
and fall in love. The film has major thematic similarities to the Biblical
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
story of Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
.
Plot
In the Victorian periodVictorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
, Emmeline Foster and Michael Reynolds, two British children, are the survivors of a shipwreck
Shipwreck
A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....
in the South Pacific. After days afloat, they are marooned
Marooning
Marooning is the intentional leaving of someone in a remote area, such as an uninhabited island. The word appears in writing in approximately 1709, and is derived from the term maroon, a word for a fugitive slave, which could be a corruption of Spanish cimarrón, meaning a household animal who has...
on a lush tropical island in the company of kindly old sailor Paddy Button. Eventually, Paddy dies in a drunken binge, leaving Emmeline and Michael, now attractively grown up, all alone with each other. Together, they survive solely on their resourcefulness, and the bounty of their remote paradise.
Years pass and both Emmeline and Michael become tanned, athletic and nubile young adults. Eventually, their relationship, more along the lines of brother and sister in their youth, blossoms into love, and then passion
Intimate relationship
An intimate relationship is a particularly close interpersonal relationship that involves physical or emotional intimacy. Physical intimacy is characterized by romantic or passionate love and attachment, or sexual activity. The term is also sometimes used euphemistically for a sexual...
. Emmeline and Michael have
Pregnancy
Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...
their baby boy
Infant
A newborn or baby is the very young offspring of a human or other mammal. A newborn is an infant who is within hours, days, or up to a few weeks from birth. In medical contexts, newborn or neonate refers to an infant in the first 28 days after birth...
, and they live together as common-law husband and wife, content in their solitude. But their marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
is threatened by the arrival of two evil traders, who force the child to dive for pearl
Pearl
A pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other...
s at gunpoint, before killing each other off.
Emmeline is reminded of the outside world and wants to leave the island. She fears for the child if she and Michael should die, and begins to think of his future. Michael finally succumbs to her pleading and they pack a small boat and leave the island. But becalmed in the middle of the ocean, they succumb to exposure. They are found by a British ship, but the film leaves their fate ambiguous.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Jean Simmons Jean Simmons Jean Merilyn Simmons, OBE was an English actress. She appeared predominantly in motion pictures, beginning with films made in Great Britain during and after World War II – she was one of J... |
Emmeline Foster |
| Donald Houston Donald Houston Donald Daniel Houston was a Welsh actor whose first two films – The Blue Lagoon with Jean Simmons, and A Run for Your Money with Sir Alec Guinness – were highly successful... |
Michael Reynolds |
| Susan Stranks Susan Stranks Susan Stranks is a British actress, television presenter and producer.-Career:Born in London, Stranks was ten years old when she played the role of the younger Emmeline Foster in the 1949 romantic adventure film The Blue Lagoon.... |
Emmeline (younger) |
| Peter Rudolph Jones | Michael (younger) |
| Noel Purcell Noel Purcell (actor) Noel Purcell was an Irish film and television actor.-Career:Purcell began his show business career at the age of 12 in Dublin's Gaiety Theatre. Later, he toured Ireland in a vaudeville act with Jimmy O'Dea.... |
Paddy Button |
| James Hayter | Dr. Murdock |
| Cyril Cusack Cyril Cusack Cyril James Cusack was an Irish actor, who appeared in more than 90 films.-Early life:Cusack was born in Durban, Natal, South Africa, the son of Alice Violet , an actress, and James Walter Cusack, a sergeant in the Natal mounted police. His parents separated when he was young and his mother took... |
James Carter |
| Nora Nicholson | Mrs. Stannard |
| Maurice Denham Maurice Denham Maurice Denham OBE was an English character actor who appeared in over 100 television programmes and films throughout his long career.-Life and career:... |
Ship's Captain |
| Phillip Stainton | Mr. Ansty |
| Patrick Barr Patrick Barr Patrick David Barr was a British film and television actor.Born in Akola, India, Patrick Barr went from stage to screen with The Merry Men of Sherwood . He spent the 1930s playing various beneficent authority figures and "reliable friend" types... |
Second Mate |
| Lyn Evans | Trotter |
| Russell Waters Russell Waters Russell Waters was a Scottish film actor.Waters was educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School, Glasgow and the University of Glasgow. He began acting with the Old English Comedy and Shakespeare Company then appeared in repertory theatre, at the Old Vic and in the West End. On screen Waters generally... |
Craggs |
| John Boxer John Boxer (British actor) John Boxer was a British film and television actor.Boxer's television appearances included Emergency – Ward 10, Dixon of Dock Green, The Saint, Randall and Hopkirk , The Onedin Line and The Life and Times of David Lloyd George.-Selected filmography:* There Ain't No Justice * Convoy *... |
Nick Corbett |
| Bill Raymond Bill Raymond Bill Raymond is an actor who has appeared in film, television and theatre since the 1960s.-Life and career:He featured in the second and fifth seasons of the HBO drama The Wire as "The Greek", the mysterious head of an international criminal organization. Other TV appearances include Miami Vice,... |
Marsden |
Background and production
- The film was a remakeRemakeA remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
of a black and white silent film shot in the UK in 1923, not long after the publication of the Henry De Vere Stacpoole novel on which it was based. The 1923 version was directed by W. Bowden and Dick Cruickshanks, starring Molly Adair and Dick Cruickshanks. - The evil traders were invented for this film and were not part of the novel.
- The film was shot on location in FijiFijiFiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, Yasawa IslandsYasawa IslandsThe Yasawa Group is an archipelago of about 20 volcanic islands in the Western Division of Fiji, with an approximate total area of 135 square kilometers.- Geography :The Yasawa volcanic group consists of six main islands and numerous smaller islets...
, and at Pinewood StudiosPinewood StudiosPinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately west of central London. The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows to commercials to pop promos.The purchase of Shepperton...
, Iver HeathIverIver is in the south-east corner of the English county of Buckinghamshire and it forms one of the largest civil parishes in the South Bucks district.Iver railway station is in Richings Park.-Etymology:...
, BuckinghamshireBuckinghamshireBuckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Other versions and sequel
- The film was remade in 1980 starring Brooke ShieldsBrooke ShieldsBrooke Christa Shields is an American actress and model. Some of her better-known movies include Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon, as well as TV shows such as Suddenly Susan, That '70s Show and Lipstick Jungle....
and Christopher AtkinsChristopher AtkinsChristopher Atkins is an American actor, who became famous with his costarring debut role in the 1980 film The Blue Lagoon.-Early life:...
. The updated version of The Blue LagoonThe Blue Lagoon (1980 film)The Blue Lagoon is a 1980 American romance and adventure film directed by Randal Kleiser. The screenplay by Douglas Day Stewart was based on the novel The Blue Lagoon by Henry De Vere Stacpoole. The film stars Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins...
, directed by Randal KleiserRandal KleiserJohn Randal Kleiser is an American film director and producer, perhaps best known for directing the 1978 musical film Grease.-Life and career:...
, was much closer to Henry DeVere Stacpoole's original novel, including nudity and sexual content appropriate to the story not found in the 1949 cinematic adaptation. - The updated version was followed in 1991 by the sequel Return to the Blue LagoonReturn to the Blue LagoonReturn to the Blue Lagoon is a 1991 American romance and adventure film starring Milla Jovovich and Brian Krause, produced and directed by William A. Graham. The screenplay by Leslie Stevens was based on the novel The Garden of God by Henry De Vere Stacpoole. The original music score was composed...
, starring Milla JovovichMilla JovovichMilla Jovovich December 17, 1975)is an American model, actress, musician, and fashion designer. Over her career, she has appeared in a number of science fiction and action-themed films, for which music channel VH1 has referred to her as the "reigning queen of kick-butt".Milla Jovovich began...
and Brian KrauseBrian KrauseBrian Jeffrey Krause is an American actor and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Leo Wyatt on the WB Network TV series Charmed from 1998 to 2006.-Background:...
. The sequel bears a strong similarity to the 1980 film, also directed by Randal Kleiser. It bears very little resemblance to Stacpoole's sequel, The Garden of GodThe Garden of GodThe Garden of God is a romance novel by Henry De Vere Stacpoole, first published in 1923. It is the first sequel to his best-selling novel The Blue Lagoon , and continued with The Gates of Morning .-Plot summary:...
. The pearl-greedy traders do not appear in Stacpoole's original novel. However, in Stacpoole's third book, The Gates of MorningThe Gates of MorningThe Gates of Morning is a romance novel by Henry De Vere Stacpoole, first published in 1925. It is the third novel of the Blue Lagoon trilogy which began with The Blue Lagoon and continued with The Garden of God ....
, a pair of sailors attack the people of a nearby island for pearls after seeing a woman wearing a double pearl hair ornament, as Emmeline does in the 1949 film.