The Blue Lagoon (1949)

Simply A Masterpiece

Overrated

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Did you know the 1980 version of Blue Lagoon was a remake? I didn't, either. As it turns out, none other than the usually prudish Jean Simmons played in the original! Obviously, this version was a lot less filthy than the remake, and there wasn't any nudity, but for 1949, it was incredibly daring. Jean and her costar Donald Houston were practically clad in loincloths the entire movie, and the actor and actress who played them as children were actually topless during their island scenes.In case you don't know the story, two children and a deckhand survive a shipwreck in a tiny lifeboat. They find an uninhabited island, and while they don't give up hope of being rescued, they settle in and make a home. As the years pass and the children's hormones kick in, nature takes over and they start to notice each other.It's the proverbial fantasy, stranded on a desert island with the love of your life, but The Blue Lagoon is actually a pretty sad story. They were children when they were stranded, and it wasn't by choice. They miss their families and long for contact with the outside world. They have no idea where they are, and have very little hope of being found and rescued.Although it was very nasty for its time, and although it shows a completely different performance from Jean Simmons, I don't really recommend this one. The remake is just as sad, if not more so, but with a lot more nudity and sex, so I can't really recommend that one, either.DLM warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, there are some scenes in this movie that won't be your friend. The camera bobs about during the boat and canoe scenes, and it might make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"

One of my favorite ballads is of British origin and it's If You Were The Only Girl In The World. It became popular in the Twenties right around the time that the silent British cinema came out with the first version of The Blue Lagoon. I didn't even know there was one until researching it only today. The song certainly could have served as a theme for all the versions.I can only compare this version to the one done by Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins that came out in 1980. That one of course had the full frontal nudity and the accompanying scandal, something that the high minded J. Arthur Rank would never have put into one of his films. Still Jean Simmons and Donald Houston are something to look at.This is another of those universal stories that everyone knows, a boy and girl shipwrecked at sea at the ages of 10 and 9 and stay for ten years on a desert island. At first one of the sailors from the boat they were on, Noel Purcell is shipwrecked with them. He apparently teaches them enough to survive because he dies and the kids have to fend for themselves. And as these are Edwardian era English kids they aren't exactly schooled in the facts of life. Never mind with her the only girl and him the only boy they figure it out. Besides the sensationalism the main difference between this and the Atkins/Shields version is that Simmons and Houston are thoroughly British and Chris and Brooke cannot be mistaken for anything, but Americans. Still the sexual tension is there as we know the first time we see them as adults. We know, but they have to figure it out.This version is dated in time because when they do get their first visitors in a pair of cutthroats played by James Hayter and Cyril Cusack they are identified as coming in the summer of 1914. Life does play funny tricks because soon enough there would be any number of British boys and girls who would love to be playing house in the south seas as opposed to being in the trenches in France and hearing bad news about a loved one there. And in researching The Blue Lagoon I learned there is yet another version coming out soon. Maybe that might give impetus to some film preservers to go to work on this one. It's a good film, but the color is pretty washed out and it needs a visit to the film labs.

I saw this movie when I was about 6 or 7 which would be around 1961 at the Royal Navy Club in Port Louis, Mauritius, back in the days when Mauritius was a British Colony. Life was rich in pomp and ceremony. The movie was played on a blank wall at the end of a swimming pool. The pool was covered by planks of wood to allow people to sit in a theatre style. I think it would have been the first movie of my life. It was definitely B&W and my parents had brought me along as a treat. It was the most memorable night I can remember. Living on Mauritius gave a it a particularly strange sense of reality which lives on in me today. I keep have these moments when I think about this movie and the effect it had on me. So today I just googled it to see all these reviews and thoughts I would add mine. It is a great childhood memory and one I will take to my grave happily. I would love to see it again! If anyone can tell me where I can get a copy that would be perfect.

I remember it like it was last night because it was. ItsOctober 6th 2:00 in the morning ET I am flipping through channels (Basic Cable), and for some reason I stop on Channel 22 (TBS Superstation). There was a movie in progress. All I could see was two kids on a small row boat one of them was obviously female and not wearing a shirt. The other was a male with very curly hair. The commercial break came and they announced the name of the movie, The Blue Lagoon. I had never heard of this movie before. Knowing I had a 7 am meeting the next morning didn't stop me from staying up until 3:30 in the morning to watch the movie. Weather it was the interest to see nudity or the wanting to know what was going to happen to these two individuals, the story sparked my interest to watch it. The next day after work I went online to the Internet Movie Database and looked up the movie. Finding out more and more made me want to buy the movie. In reading the comments from other patrons I found out there was no movie available. Now I am on the verge of sending a letter to the Movie company and asking for the release of the original The Blue Lagoon of 1949. Whose with me??? P.S. Sorry I didn't tape the edited version on TV I didn't know how good the movie was