Down Among the Sheltering Palms (1953) DVD-R

Starring William Lundigan, Jane Greer, Mitzi Gaynor, David Wayne, Gloria DeHaven, Gene
Lockhart, Jack Paar
Directed by Edmund Goulding

Print: color
Runtime: 87 min.
Genre: musical
Print Quality: B

This colorful musical comedy was obviously inspired by the success of Broadway's South
Pacific. Army Captain Bill Willoby (William Lundigan) is ordered to make sure that his men
do not fraternize with the girls at a South Sea island base. His mission is forgotten when he
himself falls in love with Diana Forrester (Jane Greer), the daughter of a local missionary.
The fun begins when a native girl (Mitzi Gaynor) is offered to the captain as a goodwill gift by
island chieftain Jilouili(!) Naturally, there's a major breakdown in protocol, quite similar to
the one found in John Patrick's 1954 Broadway hit Teahouse of the August Moon. Featured
in the cast as a woman-hungry lieutenant is Jack Paar, which is why this film got so much
TV play in the 1960s. The incidental songs in Down Among the Sheltering Palms were
written by Harold Arlen and Ralph Blane.