James Hitchcock Captain David O'Keefe was a real-life person, a 19th century Irish-born adventurer from Savannah, Georgia, who made his fortune in the copra trade on the South Pacific island of Yap. This film is a fictionalised version of his life-story, and as one might expect takes a few liberties with history. In the film O'Keefe becomes king of Yap and defends his people against the incursions of aggressive German colonisers. In reality, when O'Keefe arrived on the island in 1871 it was a Spanish colony and the newly-united German Empire had no interest in acquiring colonies in the South Pacific or anywhere else. Yap did not become German until 1899, well after the date at which the film is set. This change was possibly made because in 1954, only nine years after the end of the war, American audiences would have been more accustomed to seeing Germans than Spaniards as cinematic villains. The film does, however, provide one "good German" in the shape of O'Keefe's friend Alfred Tetens, another real-life person. O'Keefe did indeed marry a local girl as shown here, but the film tactfully omits the fact that their marriage was invalid because he already had a wife in Savannah. The Production Code officially forbade the depiction of racially mixed marriages or romances, but by the fifties there seemed to be an unofficial relaxation of this rule in force. Relationships between white men and non-white women could be shown provided (a) the girl was described as being of mixed race and (b) she was played by a white actress. This rule was applied in "Showboat" and "Love is a Many-Splendoured Thing", and is also applied here. O'Keefe's sweetheart Dalabo, supposedly of mixed European and Micronesian descent, is played by the Derbyshire-born Joan Rice. Dalabo has a rival for O'Keefe's affections, but the said rival, being pure- blooded Yapese, has to lose out. Rice, although undoubtedly decorative to look at, is never really convincing as a native of the South Seas, or for that matter of any part of the world further south than Derbyshire. Burt Lancaster, however, makes an agreeable hero, and receives good support from André Morell as Tetens. Later in his career Lancaster could be a very intense actor, often appearing in dramas with a serious social, political or philosophical purpose, but in his action films of the early fifties his style of acting was generally much more relaxed, and so it is here. Many film-makers of the early days of the cinema were reluctant to venture too far away from a Hollywood studio, even when their films were ostensibly set in some exotic part of the globe. This attitude still prevailed in some quarters during the fifties; for example "Brigadoon", also made in 1954, had to be shot on MGM's sound stage, against a vast painted backdrop of Scottish-style scenery, because Dore Schary was reluctant to stump up the cost of transporting cast and crew all the way to Scotland, or even to some part of America that looked like Scotland. In other quarters, however, attitudes were changing as the studios began to realise that local colour and authentic scenery could be useful weapons in their battle against the new enemy, television. "His Majesty O'Keefe" is a case in point, as much of the film was actually shot on location in the South Pacific. This doubtless increased the budget, but I think that the decision was the right one, as the result was a colourful, visually attractive film. Byron Haskin is unlikely to feature very highly on any list of Hollywood's great auteurs, but he was capable of producing some very decent and enjoyable adventure films (his 1953 version of "The War of the Worlds" is probably the best known) and this is another in that category. 7/10

Claudio Carvalho In 1870, the ambitious Captain David Dion O'Keefe (Burt Lancaster) leaves Hong Kong to seek the valuable copra in the South Seas. He pushes his crew too much and faces a mutiny. When the crew assumes the ship, they leave Captain O'Keefe in a small boat in the middle of nowhere. O'Keefe is found on the shore of the Island of Yap and is saved by the German agent from the company that has the monopoly in Yap, Alfred Tetins (Andre Morell), and the native Fatumak (Abraham Sofaer). When O'Keefe is recovered, he finds stranded in an island with a large quantity of coconuts and he sees the possibility of raising a fortune exploring the natural resource. However the natives do not like to work and O'Keefe returns to Hong Kong.Captain O'Keefe tries to raise a loan to buy a new vessel, but he does not find any sponsor but the Chinese dentist Sien Tang (Philip Ahn) that offers his old vessel, crew and supplies to O'Keefe to become his partner and share his profits. O'Keefe accepts and begins his dangerous journey through the South Seas."His Majesty O'Keefe" is a silly adventure of an ambitious captain that seeks fortune in Micronesia and becomes a king without a crown. The plot has action, romance and drama and entertains but is dated and does not work well, despite the excellent Burt Lancaster in the lead role. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Sua Majestade o Aventureiro" ("His Majesty the Adventurer")

soccermanz Burt Lancster was 41 when filming in Fiji - two years older than in "the Crimson Pirate" and four years after "The Flame and the Arrow" but I still expected Nic Cravat to turn up as his half Chinese mate or an island Chief. So one wonders what Steven Spielberg would have made out of the script - introducing some real sex instead of Haskin's suggestions that Lancster was not that bothered and far more athleticism into the fights where pulled punches were not even covered by the soundtrack ? But the Technicolor has more than stood the time making me wonder just how fr away Yap was from "Celebrity island" and why climbing for Copra was not one of their selected activities. Any film re-shown on Television has to stand up against the available alternatives so perhaps that I preferred to stop work, watch this film in its entirety rather than watch Tim Henman lose his first Two sets played at Wimbledon should be recommendation enough ?

Michael O'Keefe Capt. David O'Keefe (Burt Lancaster) sails the South Seas and finds an island that he thinks will make him rich. He becomes a king while trying to dupe the islanders of their Copra. Joan Rice plays a beautiful island girl. This movie kind of takes a long time to go really nowhere. The scenery is great. Other members of the cast: Benson Fong, Grant Taylor and Andre' Morell.