''Aloma of the South Seas'' is a 1926 American silent

comedy drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

starring

Gilda Gray Gilda Gray (born Marianna Michalska; October 24, 1901 – December 22, 1959) was a Polish-American dancer and actress who popularized a dance called the "shimmy" which became fashionable in 1920s films and theater productions. Early life and 'th ...

as an

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r, filmed in

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and

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

, and based on a 1925 play of the same title by John B. Hymer and LeRoy Clemens. Gilda Gray, publicity photo c

The film was spoofed by a 1926 ''

Mutt and Jeff ''Mutt and Jeff'' was a long-running and widely popular American newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Bud Fisher in 1907 about "two mismatched tinhorns". It is commonly regarded as the first daily comic strip. The concept of a newsp ...

'' animated cartoon, ''Aroma of the South Seas''.

Plot

Bob Holden (Percy Marmont), an embittered World War I veteran, has gone to the South Seas to drown in drink the memory of his old girlfriend, Sylvia (Julanne Johnston) who has married his best friend, Van Templeton (William Powell) in his absence. This happened only because Templeton withheld word from Sylvia that Holden had survived the war. In the South Seas, Holden becomes the object of Aloma’s (Gilda Gray) loving and ministering attentions and eventually promises to marry her. Naturally, Nuitane (Warner Baxter), Aloma’s abandoned Polynesian boyfriend is jealous. The plot gets thicker when Templeton and Sylvia arrive on the island rather inexplicably. Templeton tries to force himself upon Aloma but is foiled by Holden. The jilted Nuitane decides to feed Holden to the sharks, but suddenly realizes that Templeton is the extra man in the love pentagon. As Templeton is devoured, Nuitane calmly observes: “Sharks not eat Nuitane—sharks like white meat.” Minus the evil interloper, the two couples fall happily into a race-appropriate (for that era) clinch.

Cast

Release

The film premiered at Paramount's Rialto Theatre in New York City on May 16, 1926. Grossing $3 million in the U.S. alone, this was the most successful film of 1926 and the fourth most successful film of the 1920s.

Preservation

The film is now considered to be a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

.''Aloma of the South Seas'' at Arne Andersen's Lost Film Files: ''Paramount Pictures'' 1926

Remake

The film was remade as '' Aloma of the South Seas'' (1941), starring

Dorothy Lamour Dorothy Lamour (born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton; December 10, 1914 – September 22, 1996) was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for having appeared in the '' Road to...'' movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing ...

and Jon Hall. The plot was completely reworked, leaving only the setting in common with the earlier film.

References

External links

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Swedish poster featuring Gilda Gray
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at silenthollywood.com * 1926 films American black-and-white films American silent feature films Lost American films Lost comedy-drama films Famous Players-Lasky films Films directed by Maurice Tourneur Films shot in Puerto Rico Films set in Oceania American comedy-drama films 1926 comedy-drama films 1926 lost films 1920s American films Silent comedy-drama films Silent American drama films Silent American comedy films {{1920s-silent-drama-film-stub