Omoo-Omoo the Shark God (1949)

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Imagine my shock to learn that this film was based on a Herman Melville novel. I checked into Wikipedia and learned that Omoo-Omoo The Shark God was a sequel novel to Melville's first published work Typee. The film adaption of Typee was nothing to write home about. But next to this it is Citizen Kane. I'm sure the book was nothing like what we get here.Now if you said this was an Edgar Allan Poe story I might believe it better. A schooner bound for the South Seas is on a mission to recover two stolen black pearls that Captain Trevor Bardette stashed before he could get away. Those black babies were the eyes of the native Shark God, Omoo-Omoo. And Omoo-Omoo has tossed some mighty bad karma in the direction of Bardette and later his daughter Devera Burton.Ron Randell one of the crew of Bardette's schooner has made friends with Chief Pedro DeCordoba and he's working to recover the pearls without a finder's fee, just a chance to get away alive and with Ms. Burton. But the rest of that crew wants those pearls.I can only imagine what Herman Melville would have thought of this. This one is cheap all around. No color which would have been a must for a story set in the South Seas. The players looked pained delivering the dialog probably because it was so bad and because they were worried their salary checks might not clear. Lots of stock footage from various jungle films used and some shots from an aquarium no doubt.Probably they had no shark footage so a tiger which we all know is native to the Pacific Islands is brought in to do the shark god's dirty work.Don't criticize Ed Wood for making bad films before you see this.

A ship heads to Tahiti in order to recover some hidden pearls. The captain of the ship is sick, a native stowaway insisting that the illness is tied to the captains stealing of two huge black pearls that were the eyes of the natives' shark god statue. Its greed, romance and spliced in nature footage as some of the crew seek to make things right while others are looking for the treasure. Nominally based on a Herman Melville story this is mostly a concoction of Hollywood story telling with a Bengal tiger figuring prominently into the story (wasn't this about a shark god?).Creaky set bound film best known for its unique title rather than for any quality or lack there of. Neither good nor bad the film just sort of is. It's the type of thing that one used to run across at 3am on the Late and then half remember in the daylight. In this case it's the sort of thing that you remember the title of because it sounds so silly. Worth a look only if you need to know what is hidden behind the legendary title of the film. All others are advised to look elsewhere. (and if you do pick this up with the intention of doing so make sure its part of one of the numerous multi-film packs that it appears in so you get maximum bang for your buck)

With a title like "Omoo-Omoo The Shark God" I was making room on my Top Ten Worst Movie List for a possible contender, but you know, this wasn't all that bad. Just goes to show you that initial impressions can be deceiving. The first thing to get my double take reaction was seeing that the picture was based on a Herman Melville novel in the opening credits. If Omoo shares the same heritage as Moby Dick, it can't be all that bad.The story has to do with a pair of stolen black pearls of great wealth; they were the eyes of the shark god on the island of Taviti, just off the tip of Sumatra. The shark god is represented by a large stone statue revered by the island inhabitants, but without it's eyes to distinguish good from evil, the islanders have run up a string of bad luck resulting in a drought and poor crops. The captain of the Schooner Julie is returning to Taviti to finally claim the pearls he tried to steal the first time around, but wound up abandoning when the island drums drove him mad.The story adds intrigue by having the crew of the Julie take sides in the quest, with the Captain (Trevor Bardette) succumbing to an illness that is treated by a stowaway aboard ship. Tembo (Rudy Robles) is the son of the island Chief Tari (Pedro de Cordoba), and uses a combination of native medicine and mumbo jumbo to give the captain a temporary fix to make it to the island. However when the captain succumbs to his malady, the illness is passed on to his daughter by way of the voodoo like curse. It's up to good guy Jeff Garland (Ron Randell) to set things right by convincing Julie (Devera Burton) that the treasured pearls belong to Omoo-Omoo after all.I wasn't expecting all the stock footage the film employs to display island wildlife the way it did, particularly the pair of tigers doing battle about midway through. At first I didn't think it probable that tigers would be part of the landscape, but Sumatra is known for it's own species of big cat, so I guess that wasn't so much of a stretch. Earlier, there was a scene where Julie and Garland observe an underwater battle between an octopus and a moray eel. The logistics of the scene don't work at all, but it was entertaining enough to gloss over the believability factor. If you watch closely though, you'll notice the tentacles of the octopus push up against the side of the aquarium glass that it was filmed in.Anyway, taking the Herman Melville connection and combining it with the "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" flavor of the greed among the participants vying for the black pearls, you have an entertaining enough story for it's mere fifty eight minute length. Say now, Black Pearl, someone might be able to take that concept and really run with it. Hey, wait a minute...

Oh, Man, talk about the effect of advertising. Apparently, all that you have to do to enjoy box office succes is title your movie after a revered 19th century novel. Horrendous acting, directing, and cinematography in this sham of an effort.