''The Girls of Pleasure Island'' is a 1953

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

comedy film directed by Alvin Ganzer and

F. Hugh Herbert Frederick Hugh Herbert (May 29, 1897 - May 17, 1958) was a playwright, screenwriter, novelist, short story writer, and infrequent film director. Biography Born in Vienna, Austria, Herbert was educated at the University of London. He emigrated in ...

. The screenplay by

is based on the novel ''Pleasure Island'' by former Marine William Maier. The original music score is composed by

Lyn Murray Lyn Murray (born Lionel Breeze, August 13, 1909 – May 20, 1989) was a composer, conductor, and arranger of music for radio, film and television. Early years Born in London, Murray was the son of a violinist. Before entering a career in music, ...

Plot

In 1945, Roger Halyard is a stiff-upper-lipped British gentleman who lives on a South Pacific island with his three nubile, naive daughters, Violet, Hester and Gloria. Hoping to shelter the girls from the lascivious advances of the opposite sex, Halyard is thwarted when 1,500 Marines arrive to transform the island into an aircraft landing base. Despite the best efforts of Halyard, his housekeeper Thelma, and Marine Colonel Reade, romance blossoms between the three girls and a trio of handsome leathernecks.

Movie rights and storyline revisions

William Maier was a

USMC The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through co ...

officer who served in the South Pacific during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, rising to the rank of Major by 1945. His book was a mixed genre effort, often pastoral in tone, and largely dealt with the protagonist's efforts to prevent disruption to the indigenous way of life on the half of the island he owned.

Louella Parsons Louella Parsons (born Louella Rose Oettinger; August 6, 1881 – December 9, 1972) was an American movie columnist and a screenwriter. She was retained by William Randolph Hearst because she had championed Hearst's mistress Marion Davies and su ...

revealed in her syndicated newspaper column that the movie rights to the book had been purchased by

Harry Cohn Harry Cohn (July 23, 1891 – February 27, 1958) was a co-founder, president, and production director of Columbia Pictures Corporation. Life and career Cohn was born to a working-class Jewish family in New York City. His father, Joseph Cohn, wa ...

for

Columbia Studios Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the multi ...

three months before its publication. Cohn's intent was to film the picture on

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

, using the working title of ''Virgin Island''. The producer was to be S. Sylvan Simon, with Roland Kibbee writing the screenplay. However, nothing came of the venture, and the movie rights were later picked up by

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

, with F. Hugh Herbert assigned to write and direct the film. Herbert's screenplay removed the fictional island from

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...

Polynesia Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...

, made the central character Roger Halyard the British Administrator of the island instead of a private landowner, and dispensed entirely with the indigenous population and most of the European colonists. The three daughters, who had independent lifestyles and seldom interacted in the book, were rendered as less mature and closer knit in the screenplay, which also invented the character of Thelma the housekeeper. The book's chief villain, Colonel Reade, was whitewashed from a boozy lecher to a sympathetic commander, while the youngest daughter was renamed from Elsie to Gloria and made two years younger in the movie.

Production

Based on a 1949 novel ''Pleasure Island'' that was the

working title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...

, Paramount acquired the property in 1951 from

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

who did not produce it. At times,

Robert Donat Friedrich Robert Donat (18 March 1905 – 9 June 1958) was an English actor. He is best remembered for his roles in Alfred Hitchcock's '' The 39 Steps'' (1935) and ''Goodbye, Mr. Chips'' (1939), winning for the latter the Academy Award for ...

and

William Holden William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor, and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film ''Stalag 17'' (1953) ...

were considered for the film. For the three English daughters, Paramount interviewed 900 aspiring actresses, with nine given

screen test A screen test is a method of determining the suitability of an actor or actress for performing on film or in a particular role. The performer is generally given a scene, or selected lines and actions, and instructed to perform in front of a came ...

s at

Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to te ...

Joan Elan Joan Elan (July 24, 1928 – January 7, 1981)US Social Security Applications and Claim Index 1936–2007, retrieved froAncestry.com/ref> was an English actress, whose film, stage, and television career occurred mainly in the United States. She i ...

Audrey Dalton Audrey Dalton (born 21 January 1934) is an Irish-born former film and television actress who mostly worked in the United States during the Golden Age of Hollywood, when she arrived at Paramount Pictures, columnist Erkstine Johnson, stated she st ...

and

Dorothy Bromiley Dorothy Bromiley Phelan (born 18 September 1930) is a British former film, stage and television actress and authority on historic domestic needlework. Life Born in Manchester, Lancashire, the only child of Frank Bromiley and Ada Winifred (né ...

, each of them then attending a different drama school, were chosen. The three were contracted by Paramount and were given massive publicity including a cover story in

LIFE magazine ''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest ma ...

and made tours to promote the film, including "GI

Premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...

s" to troops fighting the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. The film was made on Paramount's

backlot A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions, or space for temporary set construction. Uses Some movie studios build a wide variety of ...

in 1952. During the filming director

became ill and was replaced by assistant director Alvin Ganzer. Included in the cast playing marines were

Earl Holliman Henry Earl Holliman (born September 11, 1928) is an American actor, animal-rights activist, and singer known for his many character roles in films, mostly Westerns and dramas, in the 1950s and 1960s. He won a Golden Globe Award for the film '' ...

Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. Ross S. Bagdasarian (; January 27, 1919 – January 16, 1972), known professionally by his stage name David Seville, was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor, best known for creating the cartoon band Alvin and the Chipmu ...

Benny Bartlett Floyd B. Bartlett, known professionally as Benny Bartlett or Bennie Bartlett (August 16, 1924 – December 26, 1999), was an American child actor, musician, and later a member of the long-running feature-film series ''The Bowery Boys''. Biog ...

Buck Young John Otto "Buck" Young (April 12, 1920 – February 9, 2000) was an American actor who played the role as Sergeant Whipple on the ''Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.'' TV series, and Deputy Joe Watson on ''The Andy Griffith Show''. In 1944, during World Wa ...

and

Johnny Downs John Morey Downs (October 10, 1913 – June 6, 1994) was an American child actor, singer, and dancer. He began his career as a child actor, most notably playing Johnny in the ''Our Gang'' short series from 1923 to 1926. He remained active ...

Main cast

* Don Taylor - Lieutenant Gilmartin *

Leo Genn Leopold John Genn (9 August 190526 January 1978) was an English actor and barrister. Distinguished by his relaxed charm and smooth, "black velvet" voice, he had a lengthy career in theatre, film, television, and radio; often playing aristocr ...

- Roger Halyard *

Elsa Lanchester Elsa Sullivan Lanchester (28 October 1902 – 26 December 1986) was a British-American actress with a long career in theatre, film and television.Obituary ''Variety'', 31 December 1986. Lanchester studied dance as a child and after the Fir ...

- Thelma *

Philip Ober Philip Nott Ober (March 23, 1902 – September 13, 1982) was an American screen and stage actor. He later retired from acting to work as a diplomat. Ober is best remembered for his roles in the films ''From Here to Eternity'' (1953) and ''North ...

- Colonel Reade *

- Violet Halyard *

- Hester Halyard *

- Gloria Halyard * Peter Baldwin - Private Henry Smith *

Gene Barry Gene Barry (born Eugene Klass, June 14, 1919 – December 9, 2009) was an American stage, screen, and television actor and singer. Barry is best remembered for his leading roles in the films ''The Atomic City'' (1952) and ''The War of The World ...

- Captain Beaton *

Arthur Gould-Porter Arthur Gould-Porter (4 January 1905 – 2 January 1987) was an English actor who appeared in films and on television and stage. His film and TV career spanned from 1942 to 1977, and although mainly a character actor he is remembered for his par ...

- Reverend Bates * Barry Bernard - Wilkinson

Notes

External links

* * Gene Barry photos from the film http://www.xmission.com/~emailbox/gb-girlsofpleasureisland.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Girls Of Pleasure Island, The 1953 films 1953 comedy films American comedy films Films based on American novels Pacific War films Paramount Pictures films Films scored by Lyn Murray Films set in 1945 Films set on islands Films about the United States Marine Corps Films with screenplays by F. Hugh Herbert 1950s English-language films Films directed by Alvin Ganzer 1950s American films