Pacific Destiny

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Pacific Destiny
Pacific Destiny (1956 film).jpg
British theatrical poster
Directed by Wolf Rilla
Written by Richard Mason (screenplay)
Jack Lee (adaptation)
Based onbook A Pattern of Islands by Sir Arthur Grimble
Produced by James Lawrie
Starring Denholm Elliott
Susan Stephen
CinematographyMartin Curtis
Edited byJohn Trumper
Music by James Bernard
Production
companies
Lawrie Productions Limited
British Lion Films Limited (in association with)
Shepperton Studios, England
Distributed byA British Lion Release (UK)
Release dates
  • 5 June 1956 (1956-06-05)(London, England)
Running time
96 mins [1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Pacific Destiny is a 1956 British drama film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Denholm Elliott, Susan Stephen and Michael Hordern. [2] [3] It was written by Richard Mason and Jack Lee based on the 1952 memoir A Pattern of Islands by Sir Arthur Grimble recounting his time in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands as a cadet officer and Resident Commissioner in the 1920s. [4] [5]

Contents

The screenplay concerns a young British couple who win the respect of the inhabitants of a South Pacific island during the colonial era. [6]

Film credits show Samoa as the filming location. [7]

Plot

The true story of inexperienced District Officer Cadet Arthur Grimble who arrives with his bride Olivia on a remote Pacific island to work in the Colonial Service. He finds it hard to meet the approval of his superior, the Resident Commissioner, who had been expecting a more experienced man. The harder Grimble tries to please him, the more things seem to go awry, and he soon finds himself banished to a smaller neighbouring island. Olivia though is not as easily discouraged as her husband by the situation, and lends her support in a way that eventually meets with the approval of the island people.

Cast

Dances arranged by The Hon. Peseta Sio and Mailo

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Pacific Destiny has the merit of getting away to an unfamiliar scene; and though it rarely manages to convey a vivid sense of life lived in a remote place, it strings together a series of enjoyably varied incidents, ranging from the comic to the melodramatic. The script, perhaps unavoidably episodic in view of its source, is inclined to simplify character and situation rather than to penetrate them. The shark episode is quite exciting, but in general the film lacks tension: Grimble's ultimate success is hardly in doubt. CinemaScope and Eastman Colour paint an attractive tropical background, though more, one feels, might have been made of the lively islanders, especially the children. Denholm Elliott and Susan Stephen give competent and likeable performances, but Michael Hordern as the Commissioner creates a more recognisably living character, Pacific Destiny, despite its limitations, is pleasingly unpretentious and warm-hearted." [8]

Leonard Maltin called it a "Boring (but true) story." [9]

TV Guide, though praising the performances of Elliott and Hordern, called it "a routine and boring story with a pretty picture backdrop." [7]

References

  1. ↑ "PACIFIC DESTINY - British Board of Film Classification". www.bbfc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017.
  2. ↑ "Pacific Destiny". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
  3. ↑ "Pacific Destiny (1956)". Archived from the original on 16 January 2009.
  4. ↑ Goble, Alan (1 January 1999). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN   9783110951943 – via Google Books.
  5. ↑ "A Pattern of Islands, By Arthur Grimble" . 24 June 2011. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022.
  6. ↑ "Pacific Destiny (1956) - Wolf Rilla - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  7. 1 2 "Pacific Destiny". TVGuide.com. Archived from the original on 7 September 2017.
  8. ↑ "Pacific Destiny". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 23 (264): 87. 1 January 1956. ProQuest   1305814620.
  9. ↑ "Pacific Destiny (1956) - Overview - TCM.com". Turner Classic Movies.
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