''His Majesty O'Keefe'' is a 1954 American

adventure film The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...

directed by

Byron Haskin Byron Conrad Haskin (April 22, 1899 – April 16, 1984) was an American film and television director, special effects creator and cinematographer. He is best known for directing '' The War of the Worlds'' (1953), one of many films where he ...

and starring Burt Lancaster. The cast also included Joan Rice,

André Morell Cecil André Mesritz (20 August 1909 – 28 November 1978), known professionally as André Morell, was an English actor. He appeared frequently in theatre, film and on television from the 1930s to the 1970s. His best known screen roles were as ...

, Abraham Sofaer, Archie Savage, and Benson Fong. The screenplay by Borden Chase and James Hill was based on the novel of the same name by Laurence Klingman and Gerald Green (1952).

Plot

Captain David O'Keefe, seeking his fortune in the 19th century South Pacific, decides to enlist island natives to harvest copra, but runs into a wall of cultural problems. Backed by a Chinese dentist, he obtains a ship and sets about harvesting copra while fending off cantankerous native chieftains and ambitious German empire-builders. The natives, happy with their existence, see no reason to work hard to obtain copra, either for a German trading company or for O'Keefe. He finally motivates them by showing them how to produce large quantities of

Rai stones A rai stone (), or fei stone, is one of many large artifacts that were manufactured and treasured by the native inhabitants of the Yap islands in Federated States of Micronesia, Micronesia. They are also known as Yapese stone money or similar nam ...

, the stone money of Yap, and their valued coinage.

Cast

Historical basis

The story is based on the life of a sailor named David O'Keefe who in 1871 was shipwrecked on Yap in the

Caroline Islands The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the cen ...

, where he found the natives highly prized

quarried at great effort and danger on the island of

Palau Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands ...

. He organized the natives to produce the large stone disks by employing modern methods and then used them to buy copra for coconut oil. The stones he produced were not valued as highly as those obtained by traditional methods due to the lack of personal sacrifice in their production, and the effect of an inflationary over-production.

Production

Original book

O'Keefe's life was turned into a 1950 book by Lawrence Klingman and Gerard Green. The ''Los Angeles Times'' said the writers did "a magnificent job". The ''Chicago Tribune'' called it a "well told story". The ''New York Times'' called it "interesting" and "curious".

Development

Film rights were optioned in December 1950 by Norma Productions, the company of Harold Hecht and Burt Lancaster. In April 1951 Lancaster announced Fred Zinnemann would direct. Lancaster was very busy at this time in his career and the film was not made immediately. In January 1952 Frank Nugent was reported as working on the script. In May 1952

signed to direct. The film would be the last in a three-picture deal between Norma Productions and Warner Bros. The others had been '' The Flame and the Arrow'' and '' The Crimson Pirate''.

Preproduction

Haskin arrived in

Sydney, Australia Sydney is the capital city of the state of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about 80 km (50 mi) from the Pacific Ocean ...

in June 1952 and five Australian actors had roles in the supporting cast, including Lloyd Berrell, Guy Doleman, Muriel Steinbeck, Grant Taylor and Harvey Adams. Max Osbiston was offered a role but turned it down due to his film commitments. Later in June Haskin moved to Fiji where the bulk of the movie was shot. The film was made with "frozen" English funds, so many English technicians and cast were used and it was decided to shoot on location in Fiji, a British colony at the time. Joan Rice was cast in July 1952.

Shooting

Filming took four months, mostly on location in the South Pacific in Fiji – not Yap. Also, indigenous people and customs/dances portrayed in the movie were Fijian. The choreographer was Daniel Nagrin. The unit was based at the Beachcomber Hotel at Deuba Beach in Viti Levu. The entire village of Goloa five miles west of the hotel was rented. Two miles east of Deuba the unit built a temporary sound stage as well as a darkroom and lab. The village was handed over to the locals after the unit leftWitness of Cannibal Feast Helps in Production of Fiji Island Film: Natives Aid Stars Doing Film in Fijis Scott, John L. Los Angeles Times November 23, 1952: D1. "I can't say that we'd ever want to remake ''O'Keefe''," said Lancaster later. "It was so tough working in the humidity that one day I actually watched fungus grow on my clothes. Every day blazing sun or tropical rain beat down upon us and at night there were always mosquitos."LEAVES FROM LANCASTER'S LOGBOOK By WILLIAM H. BROWNELL Jr.HOLLYWOOD. New York Times January 18, 1953: X5. Haskin spoke highly of Australian actors saying:

American actors are hothouse plants by comparison because they don't have such an exacting apprenticeship as Australian radio and repertory give. Few of the unknowns we try out can pick up any script and do any kind of part with out rehearsal. But your boys can. And they don't mess about. Put them up in front of a camera and they get on with what's required of them.

Filming finished in November 1952.

Reception

The film was popular. According to ''Kinematograph Weekly'' the film was a "money maker" at the British box office in 1954. However Warner Bros were unhappy by the fact it went over budget. Hecht and Lancaster later welcomed ''His Majesty O'Keefe'''s screenwriter, James Hill, as an equal partner and renamed their company Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions in 1956.

Legacy

The film prompted Guy Doleman to go to Hollywood. Director

later returned to Australia to make '' Long John Silver'' (1954).

References

*Chujoy, Anatole. ''The Dance Encyclopedia''. (Simon and Schuster, 1967)

External links

* * *
Review of film
at New York Times
Review of film
at Variety {{Authority control 1950s historical adventure films 1954 films American historical adventure films Films based on American novels Films directed by Byron Haskin Films produced by Burt Lancaster Films produced by Harold Hecht Films scored by Dimitri Tiomkin Films set in the 19th century Films set in the Federated States of Micronesia Films shot in Fiji Norma Productions films Pirate films Seafaring films Warner Bros. films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films English-language historical adventure films