{"id":6832,"date":"2013-07-20T02:54:11","date_gmt":"2013-07-20T06:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6832"},"modified":"2015-08-30T03:27:52","modified_gmt":"2015-08-30T07:27:52","slug":"br-blue-lagoon-the-1980","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6832","title":{"rendered":"BR: Blue Lagoon, The (1980)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Film: Very Good<\/p>\n

BR Transfer: Excellent<\/p>\n

BR Extras: Excellent<\/p>\n

Label: Twilight Time<\/p>\n

Region: All<\/p>\n

Released: December 11, 2012<\/p>\n

Genre: Drama \/ Romance<\/p>\n

Synopsis: Two kids must survive on their own and deal with blazing <\/strong>sexual attractions after being shipwrecked on a tropical island.<\/p>\n

Special Features: 1999 Audio commentary #1: director Randal Kleiser, writer Douglas Day Stewart, and actress Brooke Shields \/ 1999 Audio commentary #2: director Randal Kleiser, actor Christopher Atkins \/ 1980 featurette: “An Adventure in Filmmaking: The Making of The Blue Lagoon” (11:02) \/ Theatrical Trailer and 3 Teaser Trailers \/ 8-page colour booklet with liner notes by film historian Julie Kirgo \/ Limited to 3000 copies \/ Available exclusively from Screen Archives Entertainment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Review:<\/p>\n

A dream project of director Randall Kleiser, Henry De Vere Stacpoole\u2019s Victorian novel was given a third and more faithful treatment featuring an attractive couple, rampant nudity, and spectacular location cinematography which helped Columbia\u2019s film become a top grosser in 1980.<\/p>\n

23 years later it\u2019s mostly remembered with a little bit of a snicker, partially due to the scenes which cynical critics would argue as being mere contrivances to show the private areas of a cast that didn\u2019t have the greatest dramatic skill. Brooke Shields had yet to develop a slightly broader master thespian range, and Christopher Atkins \u2013 then a sailing instructor with aspirations for a career in medicine \u2013 had never acted before, but when placed beside the 1949 version<\/a>, a film steeped in British politesse, Kleiser\u2019s attempt to create the \u2018ultimate south seas\u2019 adventure holds up surprisingly well.<\/p>\n

The cast\u2019s inexperience in hard drama works because they\u2019re supposed to play a pair of na\u00efve kids whose development and need to learn basic survival skills slowly blurs memories of their prior civilized lives \u2013 language, music, culture, and mores remain simplistic, if not fade into impressions \u2013 and with teen passions brewing under the covers, it\u2019s inevitable sex takes over.<\/p>\n

The provocative nature of the 1980 film remains pretty surprisingly, especially since it was sanctioned \/ financed by a major Hollywood studio, and Kleiser\u2019s film is very much a reflection of the permissiveness and frankness explored by directors during the seventies that reached near acceptance before the studios realized more money could be made by tailoring a film to the PG crowd. The Blue Lagoon<\/strong>, and Kleiser\u2019s naked twentysomething Grecian frolic Summer Lovers <\/strong><\/a>(1982), would\u2019ve received NC-17 ratings today, assuming a studio would\u2019ve been perfectly fine with the steamy material in BL.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a naivete to the filmmaker\u2019s stances because it was made in a time when nudity of various ages could be justified onscreen, but after a flurry of contemporary dreadful crimes and scandals, it makes any display of non-adult nudity almost taboo in American cinema (unless there\u2019s a recognizable European influence: in financing, to permit an old-style European release version; or in the direction from a European filmmaker with a pre-existing body of frank \/ controversial work).<\/p>\n

With most critical focus still hovering around the naughty material decades later, it\u2019s easy to wholly miss the film\u2019s genuine virtues: screenwriter Douglas Day Stewart stayed much closer to the novel and delved deeper into the pubescent petty conflicts of the two kids once they\u2019re wholly alone in the wilds of their island paradise, clumsily discovering their respective gender biology, and later the birth and rearing of a child.<\/p>\n

Kleiser\u2019s direction is often inspired, and while transgressing into artiness in terms of lengthy montages of sexual discovery, swimming in the buff, and the ennui of being on an isle with plenty of time to ponder Life in the shade, it all completely suits the film, and lends the production a European veneer. His device of using Victorian stereoscopic stills of kids, adults, lovers, a married couple, and parents is very effective in framing scenes that do, on occasional, run on purely for the sake of exploiting Nestor Almendros\u2019 beautiful visuals, as well as montages that allowed Basil Poledouris\u2019 to write a rich, classical-styled orchestral score, and lush main theme.<\/p>\n

The integration of natives and a blood sacrifice is a minor diversion to break up the kids otherwise monotonous lives and juvenile behaviour, and it\u2019s more successful than the pearl thieves implanted by the screenwriters in the 1949 version which was also not in Stacpoole\u2019s novel. Unlike the prior version, Stewart stuck with the novel\u2019s original ending, even keeping the fate of the couple and their son vague in the final shot (and making it easy for the studio to produce a follow-up story).<\/p>\n

Also retained are the original qualities of Paddy Button, the ship\u2019s surly cook who whisks the annoying kids off the sinking boat and teaches them life and survival skills on the isle before dying in a drunken binge. Leo McKern gives a solid performance as the grumpy drunkard who genuinely cares for the kids’ welfare, and both Elva Josephspn and Glenn Kohan are fine as the young Emmeline and Richard \u2013 the stranded cousins who were re-Christened as unrelated kids Emmeline and Michael in the \u201949 version.<\/p>\n

BL is still an easy (and kind of deserving) target for satire and ridicule because there are moments where Kleiser\u2019s efforts to display frankness also edge into the ridiculous \u2013 the narration in Columbia\u2019s original trailers is hysterically funny, selling the film like a mainstream Radley Metzger tale of magical discovery – but this is a handsome production with authentic locations, great period and location detail, and while fanciful and contrived to showcase two hot stars and their bare bodkins in heat, it\u2019s also a time capsule for a level of cinematic and narrative permissiveness of a bygone era.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Home Video Releases<\/strong><\/p>\n

Popular in cinemas and home video, Sony\u2019s 1999 DVD featured dual commentary tracks that provide solid details of the film\u2019s casting, filming, and release. The first track has director Kleiser with writer Steward, and the pair is later joined by Shields once her scenes begin. Kleiser returns with Atkins on the second track, and in both commentaries the discussions are steady, with each member clearly having a soft spot for an experience that went beyond mere picture-making.<\/p>\n

Kleiser emphasizes the uniqueness of the production, which is essentially two teens on an island going through laborious growing pains instead of big screen action; and one can understand why initially every studio passed on the project during the director\u2019s first shopping effort. Kleiser doesn\u2019t detail whether the film was planned to be as ripe with nudity from the get-go, but it is surprising that Columbia said yes, given the film\u2019s inherently controversial material.<\/p>\n

To Kleiser\u2019s credit \u2013 and the careful lighting of Almendros (Days of Heaven<\/strong>) \u2013 nudity becomes less of an issue after the first set of scenes; part of the actors\u2019 comfort likely stemmed from the shoot itself, where the small crew of U.S. and Aussie technicians (led by co-producer \/ Martin director Richard Franklin) took advantage of the isolation and comfort zones to be nude themselves. (Atkins describes being made up by a topless artist, while the production\u2019s dolphin trainer \/ cook also doubled as Shields for the nude scenes.)<\/p>\n

Kleiser also confirms the film was shot with a safety zone for TV, matting the film for theatrical exhibition, but opening up the frame for TV (which sometimes yielded some unintentional material, like the tape used to block Shields otherwise bare chest).<\/p>\n

Both Sony\u2019s DVD and TT\u2019s BR have the same slight blur in the scene where Atkins\u2019 attempts to sail off solo on his poorly built raft, so presumably the flaw lay in the original camera negative. The film\u2019s visuals are otherwise sumptuous, and the HD transfer brings out the gorgeous natural lighting employed by Almendros, whom Kleiser called \u2018the greatest artist\u2019 with whom he\u2019s ever worked.<\/p>\n

The BR\u2019s sound mix is fine, but there is one flaw not present (at least so severely) on the Sony DVD which only offered a Dolby 2.0 surround mix. Whereas the 2.0 mix featured a fairly clean main title sequence with music and directional sound effects of the sail ship, the 5.1 remix for the BR is noticeably over-processed, causing a discernible drainpipe effect in the score. This flaw is only present during the title sequence, but it\u2019s very prominent when Poledouris\u2019 low and mid-level strings play the main title\u2019s melody as the last main credits unfold.<\/p>\n

One can only assume the flaw existed in the 2.0 mix but became prominent when the sound stems were spread out for a 5.1 environment, or Sony simply added too much processing to simulate more directional effects for the title sequence to ensure the film begins with an enveloping sound design.<\/p>\n

Twilight Time\u2019s ported over the same DVD extras \u2013 minus Brooke Shield\u2019s photo diary of the shoot, perhaps due to rights issues \u2013 and added more trailers and an isolated stereo score track of Poledouris\u2019 gorgeous score, heard in uncompressed DTS.<\/p>\n

Columbia\u2019s original trailer is brilliant work of P.R. nonsense, selling the film as an erotic experience (and perhaps using the same narrator as for Radley Metzger\u2019s The Lickerish Quartet<\/a><\/strong>), yet it\u2019s a clear indication of the studio not shying away from the film\u2019s R-rated matter. Instead of treating it with caution, the studio acknowledged its hot content, and sold it to its rated audience. Even the promotional making-of featurette features the frank full-frontal shots of Atkins, and Shields\u2019 body double (who\u2019s also named in a screen caption to ensure What You See Was Performed by an Adult). Note: although Stewart mentions in his commentary that he was charged with filing some making-of footage on Super 8, that featurette wasn’t ultimately included on the DVD nor BR.)<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s ratings system would\u2019ve mandated edits to avoid a NC-17 rating, saving a franker \u2018director\u2019s cut\u2019 for the inevitable unrated home video release, but in 1980, Kleiser, based on his success with Grease<\/strong> (1978) and the adult climate of the era, was able to deliver his version. In the end Columbia received a top-grossing film of the year, and a cult film that continues to remain in print on video.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Postscript<\/strong><\/p>\n

Exploiting the good fame and fortune of BL, Randall Kleiser, who began his career in TV, followed up with the bubbleheaded box office success Summer Lovers<\/strong> before aiming his sights on dramatic (Grandview<\/strong>, U.S.A.<\/strong>) and comedic fare (Big Top Pee Wee<\/strong>). His subsequent work has included rather banal family fodder during the early nineties \u2013 White Fang<\/strong> (1991), Honey I Blew Up the Kid<\/strong> (1992) – and a mere two films in the prior decade, Lovewrecked (2005) and Red Riding Hood<\/strong> (2006).<\/p>\n

Douglas Day Stewart, who had previously worked with Kleiser in TV on The Boy in the Plastic Bubble<\/strong> (1976), managed to parlay the success of BL and his Oscar-nominated script for An Officer and a Gentleman <\/strong>(1982) into a brief directorial career with the cult film Thief of Hearts<\/strong> (1984) and Listen to Me<\/strong> (1989).<\/p>\n

Whereas Brooke Shields\u2019 next film, Endless Love<\/strong> (1981), furthered her career as a box office star of oversexed teen romances, few subsequent efforts offered any parts with challenging dimensions. Her immediate work tended to hover in the adventure \/ comic book terrain \u2013 Sahara<\/strong> (1983) attempted to evoke vintage movie serials after the success of Raiders of the Lost Ark<\/strong> (1982) – and she\u2019s largely alternated between the odd feature film, TV movies (the cultish teleplay Wet Gold<\/strong>, a re-imagining of \u00a0Treasure of the Sierra Madre<\/a><\/strong> followed in 1984), and TV series.<\/p>\n

After co-starring in a pair of cult movies \u2013 The Pirate Movie<\/strong> (1982), A Night in Heaven<\/strong> (1983) \u2013 Christopher Atkins\u2019 career sort of faltered. An appearance in Dallas<\/strong> (1983-1984) failed to interest critics and fans, and his character was written out of the series, leaving Atkins with mostly direct-to-video productions that have continued with prodigious results.<\/p>\n

In the disc\u2019s first commentary track, Kleiser recalls his original cast \u2013 Willie Aames and Diane Lane \u2013 who chose to bail on the project at the last minute due to the heavy nudity. Seeing the success of BL, Aames soon agreed to appear in the rip-off film Paradise<\/strong> (1982) with Phoebe Cates, but its failure (and critical ridicule) sent him back to TV from whence he came.<\/p>\n

As for the BL franchise, after going through several scripts \u2013 one idea recalled by Kleiser featured Em and Richard surviving their sea voyage, and attempting a life in Boston \u2013 Columbia delivered a cash-in sequel ten years later. Kleiser wasn\u2019t happy with the final results and Stewart avoided any involvement with Return to the Blue Lagoon <\/strong>(1991), based on Stacpoole\u2019s own sequel, the novel The Garden of God<\/strong>. Sony\u2019s last effort to rekindle the franchise was the TV movie Blue Lagoon: The Awakening <\/strong>(2012), set in the present day, which featured a small part for Atkins.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2013 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

External References<\/em>:<\/p>\n

IMDB<\/a> — Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a> — Author Wiki<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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