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
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Morgan encourages the natives to rebel successfully, and to the reverend’s astonishment, they continue to go to church without being driven.
