Ruler of the island
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Ruler of the island |
| Original title | The Hawaiians |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1970 |
| length | 134 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Tom Gries |
| script | James R. Webb |
| production | Walter Mirisch |
| music | Henry Mancini |
| camera |
Lucien Ballard Philip H. Lathrop |
| cut |
Byron W. Brandt, Ralph E. Winters |
| occupation | |
| |
Rulers of the Island (Original title: The Hawaiians ) is an American drama from 1970 . Directed by Tom Gries , the screenplay was written by James R. Webb based on the novel Hawaii by James Michener . The film tried to build on the success of Hawaii ( 1965 , director: George Roy Hill ), which started in the plot of the book before.
action
1870: The ship's captain Whipple Hoxworth drives Chinese workers to Honolulu . He inherits a large plantation with predominantly barren soil from his grandfather and settles there with his wife Purity. Hoxworth hires Nyuk Tsin and Mun Ki, whom he met during his last passage. After discovering that his cousin has acquired most of his inheritance, he sets up a new plantation. There he grows the pineapple fruits captured in French Guiana , with his wife, and above all his Chinese workers, helping him. Purity breaks inwardly because of her husband's bigoted morals and falls into depression, so that Nyuk Tsin himself has to breastfeed Purity's child. To Whipple's horror, Purity leaves him to live the lives of her Hawaiian ancestors in a beach hut.
The plantation becomes economically successful. Hoxworth is helping the United States to take power in Hawaii and the collapse of the Hawaiian monarchy. In gratitude for their help, Whipple is giving Nyuk Tsin a piece of land. A parallel plot tells of Nyuk Tsin's commitment to a leprosy colony after her husband Mun Ki fell ill with it. In addition, her daughter Mei Li falls unhappily in love with the Hoxworths' son, Noel. A big fire in the Chinese quarter destroys Nyuk Tsin's construction work. But she doesn't let that discourage her and she is grateful that all of her children are independent and grown up.
Reviews
Film-Dienst wrote that the film was "a lavish adventure and history spectacle that disintegrated into countless episodes" , "of which only a few touch human" . He suffered "from the severe shortening" of the "bulky" novel, from the "associated lack of conception and a lack of psychological delineation of the main character" .
The magazine prisma wrote that the film was "an elaborate and multi-layered melodrama" , but that it did not reach the "complexity of the book" .
"In addition to the charismatic Charlton Heston, Tina Chen in particular convinces with her expressiveness and versatility in view of the 30 years of action."
The Protestant film observer is disappointed : Boring film adaptation of a bestseller novel by James A. Michener […]. Due to the necessary shortening, the story appears badly mutilated and does not gain through representation, dialogue or camera work. Only the face of a Chinese actress, Tina Chen, is imprinted in this film, which is easy to forget.
Awards
The film was nominated for an Oscar in 1971 for Best Costume Design ( Bill Thomas ) . Tina Chen was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 1971 for Best Supporting Actress .
backgrounds
The film was shot in various locations in Hawaii as well as in film studios in Culver City and Los Angeles .
literature
- James A. Michener : Hawaii. Novel (original title: Hawaii ). German by Fritz Lorch . Pawlak, Herrsching 1991, 1056 pp., ISBN 3-88199-861-6
Web links
- The Hawaiians in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rulers of the Island in the Lexicon of International Films , accessed on October 9, 2008
- ↑ prisma , accessed October 9, 2008
- ↑ http://www.teleboy.info/programm/detail/index.php?const_id=200810130140001
- ↑ Evangelical Press Association, Munich, Review No. 496/1970.
- ^ Filming locations for The Hawaiians , accessed October 9, 2008