The Blue Lagoon (1949 film)
The Blue Lagoon is a 1949 British coming-of-age romance and adventure film directed and co-produced by Frank Launder (with Sidney Gilliat) and starring Jean Simmons and Donald Houston. The screenplay was adapted by John Baines, Michael Hogan, and Frank Launder from the 1908 novel The Blue Lagoon by Henry De Vere Stacpoole. The original music score was composed by Clifton Parker and the cinematography was by Geoffrey Unsworth. The film tells the story of two young children shipwrecked on a tropical island paradise in the South Pacific. Emotional feelings and physical changes arise as they grow to maturity and fall in love. The film has major thematic similarities to the Biblical account of Adam and Eve. Plot In 1841, 8-year-old Emmeline Foster and 10-year-old Michael Reynolds, two British children, are the survivors of a shipwreck in the South Pacific. After days afloat, they are marooned on a lush tropical island in the company of kindly old sailor Paddy Button. Eventually, Paddy dies in a drunken binge, leaving Emmeline and Michael alone. They survive solely on their resourcefulness and the bounty of their remote paradise. Eight years later, in 1849, the now-adult couple live together in the island paradise, fish, and collect "beads" from the shellfish in the surrounding lagoon. One day, a ship arrives carrying Doctor Murdoch and James Carter, two British men, who are intimated to have fled as criminals from civilization. Surprised to find the couple on the island, Doctor Murdoch soon realises that Michael collects valuable pearls without knowing their true worth. While Murdoch attempts to trick Michael into getting him a bounty of pearls, Carter tries to kidnap Emmeline and escape. Murdoch and Carter kill each other on the boat, and Michael and Emmeline vow to never attempt to leave the island again. They marry, and during a tropical storm, a child, Paddy, is born. In 1852, Emmeline is reminded of the outside world and wants to leave the island. She fears for their child if Michael and she should die. Michael gives in to her pleading, and they pack a small boat and leave the island. Becalmed in mid-ocean, they succumb to exposure. A British ship finds them, but the movie only shows that Paddy is still alive in the small boat, leaving their fate unclear. Cast Jean Simmons as Emmeline Foster Donald Houston as Michael Reynolds Susan Stranks as Emmeline (younger) Peter Rudolph Jones as Michael (younger) Noel Purcell as Paddy Button James Hayter as Dr. Murdock Cyril Cusack as James Carter Nora Nicholson as Mrs. Stannard Maurice Denham as Ship's Captain Philip Stainton as Mr. Ansty Patrick Barr as Second Mate Lyn Evans as Trotter Russell Waters as Craggs John Boxer as Nick Corbett Bill Raymond as Marsden Production history The film was an adaptation of a novel whose previous screen adaptation was completed for release in 1923, but it is the earliest surviving adaptation. In 1928, Herbert Wilcox acquired the motion picture rights to the novel from I.W. Schlesinger to produce a