 |
Tikis in films |
MNZombie
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Nov 14, 2007
Posts: 50
From: Lakeville, MN
|  Posted: 2008-08-10 08:46 am Permalink
I was flipping through Turner Classic Movies and caught the musical "My Dream is Yours" (1949)starring Doris Day. Doris plays an aspiring signer who at one point ends up singing as part of a Hawaiian floor show. It's basically just the one scene and if you want a quick glimpse, check out the trailer at TCM.com: http://www.tcm.com/video/videoPlayer/?cid=32101&titleId=922 Not the most impressive scene, but I love these little glimpses in the old films you wouldn't expect.
|
MrBaliHai
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 01, 2002
Posts: 775 | Posted: 2008-08-21 4:14 pm Permalink
Okay, this next one may be the "Party Central" of Tiki films...
"Brides of Blood", a terrible atomic-monster flick from the Philipines, was made in 1968. It's clear that the director was attempting to portray a South Seas paradise under attack by cannibalistic mutant plants and a guy in a pathetically bad rubber monster mask. Instead, what we get are some truly terrible examples of pseudo-Tiki carvings, like the island's chief idol (which looks more like a retarded jack-in-the-box than a Polynesian god), along with a couple of strippers from Manila decked out in grass skirts and sarongs. That fine, American actress, Beverly Hills, also appears as a scientist's slutty wife who gets conveniently disrobed by the monster just as I was starting to fall asleep.
Enjoy!
The monster with one red eye. Must be related to the Goof!
_________________
Weblog: Eye of the Goof
|
captnkirk
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 06, 2002
Posts: 319
From: Hockessin, Delaware
| Posted: 2008-08-24 06:50 am Permalink
I saw one recently. It was called Paradise Found, it is a biopic about the life of painter Paul Gauguin. Half the film takes place in Paris where he quits a lucrative job as a stock broker and becomes a painter. The other half is in French Polynesia where he paints the people and places that surround him. He has conflicts with his wife over quitting his job and his painting, he has conflicts with the local priest in Tahiti about the destruction of tikis (false idols) on the island.
I would not buy a copy of it, but it is worth a rental if you like movies about paradise. From what I know about him it is pretty close to the facts too.
[ This Message was edited by: captnkirk 2008-09-12 03:18 ]
|
MrBaliHai
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 01, 2002
Posts: 775 | Posted: 2008-09-11 10:58 am Permalink
"Midway" (1976): Capt. Matthew Garth (Charleton Heston) and his son, Ensign Thomas Garth (Edward Albert) have a drink in a Hawaiian tiki bar. You can see a couple of nice, carved tiki poles in the background, along with some shell and fishing-float lamps. Since this is set during WWII, 6 months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, I'd be interested to know whether or not there actually were tiki bars on Honolulu in 1942, or if this is just an anachronism. I suspect the latter.
_________________
Weblog: Eye of the Goof
|
Tom Slick
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 26, 2005
Posts: 1083
From: The Beaches of South Bay, SoCal
| Posted: 2008-09-12 11:09 am Permalink
In Season 1 of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, an episode called "Turn Back The Clock" features a 3 second clip of natives drumming and in the background you can see the Oceanic Art masks hanging from the cave wall. Its just after 32 min into the show.
|
congawa
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 11, 2008
Posts: 340
From: Long Beach, CA
| Posted: 2008-09-24 5:07 pm Permalink
I discovered another film from 1956 that features the Pago Pago in Tucson, Arizona. (Previously Cheeky Half posted some shots from A KISS BEFORE DYING, which also features it:)
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=302&forum=1&vpost=310594&hilite=kiss%20before%20dying
The following movie is CRIME AGAINST JOE, a low budget crime drama from Howard W. Koch Productions, starring John Bromfield (who usually played good looking cads in his movies). The female lead is played by Julie London, but she doesn't sing nor does she appear in the two Pago Pago scenes (the actress playing the club singer in these shots is named Alika Louis).
I figured out the locale because Bromfield says he's going to the "Pango Pango" (n's pronounced), which I assumed to really be Pago Pago (though I didn't dream they'd use the real business name in the film--they did). Then there is a street sign named N. Oracle Rd., which I looked up on Google maps and--voila--it was in Tucson. The brilliance of the people on this forum told me the rest:
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=16506&forum=2&6
(Elsewhere in the film are some scenes in downtown Tucson, and mentions of the University of Arizona, etc.)
I did some screen captures, including a couple of panoramas I put together from pan shots (I can post the individual frames if these came out too small to see). There are two scenes at the Pago Pago, one longer one earlier in the film and a later brief one that has the last tracking shot which gives you a good shot of the interior. Based on the interiors here (which look real), I'm thinking that A KISS BEFORE DYING was filmed at the real exterior, but used sound stage sets for the interior (it vibes too big, and it was a bigger budget movie that could afford to recreate interiors for maximum camera movement).
Here's the panorama of the front when Bromfield first arrives:
Some inside shots (note cool ceiling):
Panorama of the inside later in the film:
The front again:
Here's the sign (part of it) and a flavor of the industrial stretch where it was located:
Note the "N. Oracle Rd." street sign (address was 2201 N. Oracle Rd.):
Dig the covered wagon in front for true western tiki ambiance!
I have a few more shots which I can post, but didn't want to hog bandwidth right off.
Brent W.
|
MrBaliHai
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 01, 2002
Posts: 775 | Posted: 2008-09-24 5:23 pm Permalink
Nice work!
|
MrBaliHai
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 01, 2002
Posts: 775 | Posted: 2008-11-16 3:37 pm Permalink
Cool Moai from "Creature With the Atom Brain", a psychotronic classic about killer Nazi zombies.
_________________
Weblog: Eye of the Goof
|
bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10562
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2008-11-17 2:11 pm Permalink
Great images from the Pago Pago! Here is a matchbook (with that fabulous embossed breasts feature!):
I had missed that earlier post with the color pics, it's fun to compare the film still of the exterior with the rendering!:
The column and the doors line up exactly in both images!
This place was clearly Pre-Tiki in style and name, as I pointed out here:
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=12807&forum=2&vpost=276319
It would be interesting to compile a list of how many Pago Pagos existed in America.
|
Paipo
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 22, 2006
Posts: 1886
From: Aotearoa / NZ
| Posted: 2008-11-17 2:40 pm Permalink
One of a series of establishing shots of various 1950s household items in the opening scene of "Blood Diner". I only picked up the Lyman album under the table when I saw the screencap:
_________________
|
MrBaliHai
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 01, 2002
Posts: 775 | Posted: 2008-12-06 12:18 pm Permalink
Surprised no one's posted any caps from this yet:
Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki (1950)
_________________
Weblog: Eye of the Goof
|
dangergirl299
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Feb 18, 2003
Posts: 893
From: Bay Area
| Posted: 2009-02-16 12:45 pm Permalink
Anyone catch the recent episode of "Psych" called "Tuesday the 17th"? It takes place at "Camp Tikihama" and the main building was called the "Menehune Lodge."
There's been tiki references before on the show - anyone know if the creators are TC'ers?
|
King Bushwich the 33rd
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 10, 2005
Posts: 933
From: Ling Cod Beach, CA 90803
| Posted: 2009-02-17 11:04 am Permalink
While channel surfing through the Shotime channels, I found a scene where Vanessa Williams is dancing in front of a bunch of guys in fez's* in a place with heavy tiki decor. Turns out to be an updated version (1995) of Bye Bye Birdie
All Movie Guide: Bye Bye Birdie (1995)
Vanessa Williams in Bye Bye Birdie
* What is the proper plural version of fez anyway?
|
congawa
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 11, 2008
Posts: 340
From: Long Beach, CA
| Posted: 2009-02-17 3:21 pm Permalink
Quote:
|
* What is the proper plural version of fez anyway?
|
|
fiz?
|
Mr. NoNaMe
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 10, 2006
Posts: 1866 | Posted: 2009-02-27 3:18 pm Permalink
Necessary Roughness with Scott Bakula.
fezzes?
_________________
Viva Kate!
|
