Skip to main content

His Majesty O'Keefe (1954)

His Majesty O'Keefe. Feature film. (1954, 91 mins) IMDB

...the splendour of technicolor...

S

et in the South Pacific (Fiji), the film is colourful and majestic. Just what you'd expect from a film shot in that location.

The film stars Burt Lancaster who plays a ship's captain. While sailing south from Hong Kong, his crew throws him overboard and he ends up on a small island complete with locals in grass skirts, bone necklaces and skin paint.

It's an obscure island with one German running a trading post. He's there to collect coconuts which are sold in Hong Kong--worth their weight in gold. It hasn't been going well for our trader. He needs the locals to harvest the coconuts and they are not motivated to do so. They aren't interested in money. They are interested in FEI--stones they collect from another island. It's part of their religious beliefs.

Enter Lancaster to change that. Get a new boat and crew from Hong Kong to carry all those coconuts back to Hong Kong. He gets the boat and he has to figure out a way to get the locals to harvest the coconuts. He does. He'll help with the FEI if they help him.

Lancaster is charming and driven and tough and cunning and all sorts of other characteristics you'd want in a leading man, but he seems entirely motivated by greed. Not something you want in your hero unless you want to document his downfall which is pretty much what happens by the end of the story, but he does get the girl and fall in love.

Posted 2009/04/11 at 19h37ET in Movie Commentary.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

If Only We Could Agree

Monday, June 11, 2012 ... have you been accused of misspelling a word you know is correct ... S usanne O’Leary wrote an interesting article on her experience with the variations of the English language in different countries. You know the obvious ones like colour with or without a “u” but less obvious ones like travelled versus traveled. Growing up in Sweden she learnt English in school—the UK variation. In publishing her books, she read reviews where she was criticized for improper spelling. False accusations as it turns out. While I write tire and cozy, it’s not incorrect to write tyre or cosy. Same language. Both accepted. Just different. You can read her write-up here along with the numerous comments posted by readers. I found it interesting, but that’s me. As a Canadian I deal with this issue everyday. I feel her pain when she’s criticized for something based on ignorance. No fun. I was told by a boss that “data are” isn’t correct. It should be “data is.” Read...

Day 109: Writing a Novel—The Deep Blue Hold

Sunday, March 6, 2017 Note: Unedited writings from my notebook for this novel. Square bracket items represent added comments. At 18:47 Office ... I barely remembered anything about this story ... H as it really been three months? I guess it has. I put it out of my mind [so much so] that I barely remembered anything about this story. Not even the title. [Unreal!!!!!!] I had the general premise and an ending—enough I thought for a novel. What I lacked was a determination and desire to want to write it. Why bother… I wasn’t enjoying the process and I had no reason to believe the result wouldn’t be anything more than what’s gone before—nothing. James Piper Kitchener, Ontario Post comments on facebook page. Follow me on twitter. Posted 2017/04/14 at 14h02ET in The Deep Blue Cage | Writing A Novel

CRA & E-Filing

Tuesday, March 6, 2007 ... Online Tax Services Suspended by CRA ... I received an email press release from the Canada Revenue Agency late on Tuesday stating they were shutting down the computer that processed e-filed personal tax returns. For many tax preparers the announcement means they will have to file paper returns or wait for the system to come back on, but it could be a long wait. Until we can announce a business recovery date, the Agency will provide daily updates to the media on the steps we are taking. On the surface, e-filing a return makes sense because it is more efficient, but at present it only makes sense for simple returns. If you file a return beyond a T4 and an RRSP deduction, you can expect follow-up letters requesting original receipts. For accountants, this hassle means additional time—time that usually can't be recovered. As result, many accountants file paper returns for their benefit. What is required is a system that allows the recei...