Trailer
Plot summary
A yacht reaches an isolated island chain, and islanders paddle out in outrigger canoes to dive for the trinkets the crew tosses them. A shark arrives, panicking crew and islanders alike; Johnny Baker tries to catch it by hand casting a hook and is pulled overboard when the line loops around his ankle. Luana, the king's daughter, dives in and cuts the rope with the knife she had been thrown as a trinket. At a banquet that night, island men ritually carry off maidens, and Johnny tries the same with Luana, but her father, the king, stops him. The two fall in love, but she is already pledged to a prince from a neighboring island.
Cast
- Napoleon Pukuias The King
- Sofia Ortegaas Mahumahu
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Bird of Paradise (1932)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Bird of Paradise caused a scandal on its release because a scene appeared to show Dolores del Río swimming naked, though she was in fact wearing a flesh-colored G-string.
- Bird of Paradise was nearly the first sound film to use a full symphonic score from beginning to end, and composer Max Steiner became the first to receive screen credit for a score that was almost entirely through-composed.
- The native dance sequences in Bird of Paradise were boom-shot in Hollywood, and they were choreographed by Busby Berkeley, who went uncredited on the film.
- King Vidor and writer Wells Root reached Hawaii and started shooting background footage without a completed script, because actors Joel McCrea and Dolores del Río were delayed by other projects.
