Return to Paradise
1953
Drama
An American drifter comes to a remote Polynesian island controlled by a Puritanical missionary and turns the social life of the island upside-down.
"They called him Morgantani and to some he was a god ... but to one woman, Mister Morgan was a Man !"
US | en | United States of America
Aspen Productions
100 min.
Released
Release: 7/19/1953
Mark RobsonDirector
Gary CooperMr. Morgan
Barry JonesPastor Corbett
Roberta HaynesMaeva
Moira WalkerTuria
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Reviews
CinemaSerf
5/30/2023
Barry Jones's "Pastor Corbett" rules a tiny Pacific island with a godly rod of iron until the unwelcome arrival of American "Morgan" (Gary Cooper). He's distinctly non-conformist and has no intention of observing the sabbath and the rest of preacher's regime. The latter man's resistance to the government soon elicits support from the put-upon islanders and soon a coup, of sorts, ensues. Once the new order has been established, a form of peace breaks out until WWII arrives on their patch and they find themselves hosting the crew of a shot-down American plane of soon they all want to be shot, pretty quickly! Initially, the clashes of personalities between Cooper and Jones are quite effective, but that quickly falls away and we are left with a rather unremarkable romantic drama that I felt rather dragged, especially the will they/won't they courting scenes between Cooper and Roberta Haynes's "Maeva". If character redemption is your thing, then maybe you'll get a bit more from this - but for me, what made it interesting at the start is allowed to peter out far too swiftly. Some nice island photography of Samoa, though.
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