This James Michener tale has Gary Cooper as Mr Morgan – an American drifter and soldier of fortune who stumbles on the remote Pacific island paradise of Matareva, which is being turned into a minor-league hell by tyrannical missionary preacher Pastor Corbett (Barry Jones) in 1929.
Morgan encourages the natives to rebel successfully, and to the reverend’s astonishment, they continue to go to church without being driven.
Morgan also finds love, only to lose it when his island native lover, Maeva (Roberta Haynes), dies, bearing a daughter, Turia (Moira MacDonald), who he meets nearly twenty years later when he returns during World War II to find himself a local legend.
Cooper, at 52, is way too old for the part of the hedonistic Mr Morgan, but the picture – filmed entirely on location in Samoa – is a stunningly beautiful film to watch.
Mr Morgan
Gary Cooper
Pastor Corbett
Barry Jones
Maeva
Roberta Haynes
Turia
Moira MacDonald
Captain Harry Faber
John Hudson
Tonga
Mamea Matatumua
Rori, aged 21
Hans Kruse
Rori, aged 9
Felice Va’a
Mac
Terry Dunleavy
Russ
Howard Paulsen
Cutler
Donald Ashford
Kura
Herbert Ah Sue
Povana
Henrietta Godinet
Tomare
Kalapu
Kim Ling
La’ili
Maeva’s Aunt
Maylia
Hawkins
George Miedeske
Nalani
Timothy A. Miguel
Mrs Elliott
Kathleen Newick
Interpreter
Ezra Williams
Director
Mark Robson