Fair Wind to Java / Aloma of the South Seas

FAIR WIND TO JAVA, 1953, Paramount, 92 min. Dir. Joseph Kane. Fred MacMurray, captain of a late 19th-century ship in the East Indies, makes like an early Indiana Jones searching for a sunken vessel laden with a fortune in diamonds. But he has to keep looking over his shoulder when cunning, bloodthirsty pirates, an angry volcano and a smitten native girl (Vera Ralston) start to gum up the works. Gorgeous color adventure antics in true Republic Pictures style. Preserved by UCLA with funds from the Film Foundation.

ALOMA OF THE SOUTH SEAS, 1941, Universal, 71 min. Dir. Alfred Santell. As a boy, native Jon Hall is sent to be educated in England. But he returns to his island home to stop a revolution and promptly falls into the arms of first love Dorothy Lamour. Although shot on Paramount backlots, the color cinematography was nominated for an Oscar, as were the special effects – a spectacular earthquake and erupting volcano put an exclamation point on the climactic finale.