James Hitchcock In 1944 U.S. Marine Master Gunnery Sergeant James O'Hearn is facing a court martial for desertion, theft, scandalous conduct and destruction of property, charges which in time of war carry the death penalty. ("Scandalous conduct" in this context means sex outside marriage; if that were to be regarded as a capital offence under military law I suspect that the fighting strength of most of the world's armies would be drastically reduced overnight). The above might suggest that this is a serious courtroom drama along the lines of "The Caine Mutiny". Admittedly, the film starts off in serious vein, but as soon as Ginger Martin (she with whom O'Hearn allegedly conducted himself scandalously) takes the stand seriousness goes out of the window and it descends into ridiculous comedy.Ginger is presumably the "South Sea Woman" of the title, but she is actually a white American rather than a Polynesian and only finds herself in the South Seas by chance. When O'Hearn first meets her she is working as a showgirl at a nightclub in Shanghai, where his regiment is stationed, and is the girlfriend of his friend Private Davy White. An attempt by White to slip away to marry Ginger leads to the three finding themselves adrift at sea on a small motor boat. In a series of increasingly farcical misadventures, in the course of which they inadvertently commit the acts which will form the basis of the charges against O'Hearn, they are rescued by a Chinese junk and eventually cast away on the French-ruled island of Namou. As the Governor of Namou is pro-Vichy, and as the attack on Pearl Harbor has now brought America into the war, the two Marines have to pretend to be deserters in order to avoid being interned. White and Ginger attempt to marry several times, but are always frustrated. It is at this point that the film changes direction again, largely abandoning comedy and turning into a patriotic wartime adventure as O'Hearn and White discover a fiendish Nazi plot and decide to take action to thwart it, to seize a boat and to rejoin the Marines who are fighting the Japanese at Guadalcanal. Mixing genres in this way is often a risky business, the risk being that the resulting film can end up as neither fish nor flesh nor fowl nor good red herring, or in this case neither drama nor comedy nor action. I don't think there was ever any possibility of this film being a sort of "Caine Mutiny Court Martial", but it could certainly have been made either as a comedy about the adventures of a pair of bungling Marines and a girl or as a standard gung-ho action war film about two heroic Marines with a sub-plot about their love-interest. The attempt to make the film as a combination of these two approaches simply results in a misbegotten dog's breakfast, a film which is not very amusing when it tries to be a comedy and not very exciting when it tries to be a wartime adventure. About all one can say for it is that Virginia Mayo looks lovely, as she normally did. This is not quite Burt Lancaster's worst movie; he normally saved his worst for those occasions, mostly in the sixties and seventies, when he allowed his political judgement to overcome his artistic judgement and ended up playing a villainous right-wing fanatic in turgid, paranoid left-wing thrillers like "Executive Action" or "The Cassandra Crossing". It is not, however, one of his better ones, and is one that is probably best forgotten by all but the most obsessive Lancaster fans. 4/10

MartinHafer This is a definite turn off your brain film. If you can, you'll have a nice time--if you can't, then your eyes will roll--especially at the end.The film begins with a court martial. For some reason, Burt Lancaster's character is being tried for desertion and several other charges. At first he refuses to testify--and so those who admired and knew him came to his defense. What follows is a story about how Lancaster and his fellow Marine friend (Chuck Conners) got separated from their unit and had a rousing adventure--culminating with a battle between Lancaster and 10 of his friends and an entire Japanese invasion--of Guadalcanal even!! The story is fun and the interplay between Lancaster and Virginia Mayo was nice. Unfortunately, the film ends with one cliché after another and one of the most ridiculous battle scenes ever. In fact, I might consider it THE most ridiculous battle scene! My wife sat there--fuming at the stupidity of the last 10 minutes of the movie (and she was right) and my mother-in-law liked it--saying it was enjoyable nonetheless and had a nice happy ending. I think my opinion is a little of both (plus, I don't want to side with either one!).

Spikeopath Sergeant James O'Hearn is standing on trial for a number of serious misdemeanours, refusing to testify or even state his defence, the outlook is very bleak. Much against his wishes, good time girl Ginger Martin takes to the stand and the whole case against O'Hearn is going to be seen in a very different light. A tale of loves, friendships, rivalry's, bad luck, but most of all, heroism in the line of duty.The genre police have tagged this picture as an action/comedy/romance set just prior to the Pacific hostilities in WWII. That it's a multi genre piece is a given, that it's also an odd bit of cinema is also very much understandable. That's the only real complaint with South Sea Woman, it's so jaunty and full of fun that when we get to the wonderful, bold and tough last quarter, you are not exactly sure how to feel. It's like entering a fancy dress party and winning first prize but then suddenly being told the prize is for worst costume of the night!Anyway, the cast seem to be having a right laugh with it, Burt Lancaster (0'Hearn) and Chuck Connors (Davey White) are constantly at loggerheads about their participation in the conflict, and the direction they should be taking (humouressly so), because right in between them is Virginia Mayo (Ginger), sparklingly pretty she's all set to marry White, but O'Hearn is doing his hardest to ensure that that doesn't happen. This is the mainstay of the film, we (they) lurch from one fight to another, from one daft encounter to the next, bad luck and sheer bravado constantly zipping around with our protagonists, and then the shift to full blown drama. It ties up all the loose ends, and it in no way is a cop out ending, in fact far from it, but it does take some getting used to and even some time after the credits have rolled I personally was a bit bemused.It's a recommended film, if only for the sparky cast it is worth it, but just go into it expecting a whisk in the blender and you will be OK. 6/10

Robert J. Maxwell In 1942, Burt Lancaster, as Marine Sgt. James O'Hearn, is being court-marshaled for various offenses, including desertion and sinking a saloon. He stand firmly mute while various witnesses testify in such a way that he looks bad. Finally, when his friend's honor (Chuck Connors) is called into question, he decides to speak for himself at the trial."Foist," he explains, "we busted into that stinkin' Portagee dungeon and let them Free Frenchies go." The story is that he and his buddy, Connors, were left behind with Ginger, a saloon girl, (Virginia Mayo), when the Marines evacuated Shanghai. (I thought that was in 1939, not 1941, but let it go.) By a curious juxtaposition of events the trio wind up on a small, studio-bound South Sea Island called Namur, run by the Fascist-friendly Vichy French. They claim to be deserters in order to stay out of prison, and they are housed in the "hotel" run by a French woman and her "three lovely nieces." All of whom Lancaster seduces, while Connors is glued to Virginia Mayo, making goo-goo eyes at her and planning for a revolting event called "marriage." Lots of comedy as Lancaster and Connors -- in real life, both Irish athletes from New York City -- bop and deceive one another. Virginia Mayo's growing attraction to Lancaster only intensifies the rivalry.But that's nothing compared to the fight they initiate against the "Krauts" and the "Japs". They manage to sink a fleet of Japanese barges on their way to Guadalcanal, and even a Japanese destroyer, at the cost of Connors' life.Not much sense in going on about the plot. It's mostly comedic. The two tough Marines have to dress in frilly nighties while their uniforms are being pressed, for instance. As a comedy, this is pretty basic, and the absence of subtlety is notable but not necessarily regretted. There's plenty of action too, which I won't bother to spell out.Lancaster grins and shows off his mouthful of chicklets. Connors seems made of some iron alloy. (The two men couldn't be more different in their political attitudes off the screen.) Virginia Mayo is stuck in the role of a perambulating floozy, and yet it may be her most animated performance on screen. One can imagine the director yelling at her, "More, MORE!" And she delivers.It was made by the Warner Brothers. It could have been made by the Warner Brothers in 1939 instead of 1951, with Jimmy Cagney in the Lancaster role and some nobody in Connors' role. Man -- it moves FAST.What a lot of fun.