Product Description

In the second collection of Troma’s Pre-Code Hollywood, discerning fans of truly unbridled cinema can see two slices of wild and raw movie magic from the days before the puritanical rule of the Hays Office! First up on the menu is Bird of Paradise!â€"In this early risque classic, 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 who has a tendency to go for nude swims at night. 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. Features Del Rio’s famous skinny dipping scene in an early example of the cinema nude scene. Our second slice of pre-code entertainment is the bona fide classic The Lady Refuses--A British aristocrat befriends a woman and hires her to begin distracting his son away from a conniving golddigger. She does, but finds herself falling in love with her titled boss instead. Gilbert Emery, as a patrician English peer, Sir Gerald Courtney, dominates this film as he tries to bring his rakehell son Russell (John Darrow) closer to him through a secret strategem involving June (Betty Compson), an economically distressed young woman. Veteran director George Archainbaud has strong vision for whatever niceties the scenario might bring, and his handling of the cast and storyline are top-notch.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61501 in DVD
• Released on: 1999-11-09
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Bird of Paradise - Which Version
Has Amazon ever cleared up the confusion regarding the version of this movie. The jacket shows the original 1932 version but the cast is from the 1951 remake.

The information for the DVD shown is NOT CORRECT!!
I hope that Amazon will clear up the information listed for this DVD. They list the cast of the remake from the 50's, they have the aspect ratio as widescreen. Which verson of the film is being offered here?? Please clear this up so that those that order will not be disapointed. I am not even sure that the widescreen verson from the 50's is even available on DVD.

BEAUTIFUL DEL RIO.
Director King Vidor found Richard Walton Tully's play of the same name on which this film is based hopelessly dated and uninteresting. Producer David O. Selznick countered thusly: "I don't care what story you use as long as the title remains intact and Del Rio jumps into a flaming volcano at the finish". The stunningly exotic beauty of Dolores Del Rio made her the first Mexican actress ever to become an international film star. Del Rio had weathered the transition from silents to talkies, but due to her accent and somewhat rudimentary acting ability, her roles had to be carefully chosen; this is probably her most memorable available to the public on video. Filmed on location in Hawaii, the movie's plusses lie in its appeal to the senses, namely in the striking black-and-white photography by Clyde De Vinna - he won an Oscar in 1928 for his work on WHITE SHADOWS IN THE SOUTH SEAS - and Max Steiner's richly evocative background score, designed to illustrate everything from Polynesian native dancing to idyllic, romantic interludes. The film was made rather quickly - stars Del Rio and McCrea had other commitments - and the script was was literally slapped together. BIRD OF PARADISE cost RKO more than a million dollars to make, a high expence in 1932; this lush, albeit antique romantic drama has long been overshadowed by the largely inferior 1951 Technicolor remake with Debra Paget and Louis Jourdan.