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Beyond Tiki, Bilge, and Test / Beyond Tiki

B movies go Exotic

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T

I've been combing through oldies.com for old movies on DVD that have that retro, over-the-top, savage, exotic, etc., element that make them, if not tiki, at least likely to appeal to many tikiphiles. A real bonus for me is that the DVDs are in nice cases with wild, technicolor-like cover art. They can be stored/displayed over a flat surface giving an extremely colorful, "Hollywood B movies go Exotic" look. One look and you can smell the popcorn.

As of this writing, I got nearly all of them for "5 for $25" on oldies.com (actually $4.50 each, using an added discount; shipping free). That site is easy to search by title, giving a nice view of the cover art for each. Believe me, a lot of these DVD covers are too much!

After a while I realized that my efforts amounted to "research" which just might be of interest to a Beyond Tiki reader. So here are some titles I've sifted out, in some (vague and overlapping) categories I just made up, and some with comments (most I haven't watched yet):

South Seas, maybe even a stray hint of tiki:
PEARL OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC -- aboard TV's ADVENTURES IN PARADISE's schooner, the Leaky Tiki! (See: http://capitainetroy.free.fr/eng/details.html ); great cover art.
SHE GODS OF SHARK REEF -- tiki-ish underwater idol rules the island's sultry maidens...
FIEND OF DOPE ISLAND / PAGAN ISLAND -- too much...
BIRD OF PARADISE
MONSOON
ISLAND CAPTIVES
PORT OF MISSING GIRLS
MILLION DOLLAR WEEKEND
ROBINSON CRUSOE OF CLIPPER ISLAND
SINNERS IN PARADISE
WALLABY JIM OF THE ISLANDS

Jungles! Savage women in leopard-print outfits! Etc...:
THE SAVAGE GIRL
PICTURE BRIDES
QUEEN OF THE AMAZONS
FORBIDDEN JUNGLE
THE WILD WOMEN OF WONGO
RAMAR OF THE JUNGLE
BLONDE SAVAGE
JUNGLE BRIDE
LIANE: JUNGLE GODDESS
QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE
EAST OF BORNEO

"Nautical," loosely conceived:
THE PHANTOM FROM 10,000 LEAGUES
UNDERSEA KINGDOM
NIGHT TIDE -- Malibu and Venice Beach, 1961; Dennis Hopper; beatnik scenes; jazz bar with tropical decor. Strangely excellent and lame at the same time.
DESPERATE CARGO
BENEATH THE 12-MILE REEF
WINDJAMMER
MYSTERY LINER
DANGEROUS PASSAGE

Islands:
HORRORS OF SPIDER ISLAND
FOG ISLAND
RETURN TO FANTASY ISLAND

The exotic East:
CHINATOWN AFTER DARK
CHARLIE CHAN AND THE CURSE OF THE DRAGON QUEEN
TERRY AND THE PIRATES

Etc.:
MONTE CARLO NIGHTS
GIRL FROM RIO

**
Many (most) of these have great covers, but the content on the disc is, mmm, well, often of the "so bad, it's good" variety (though in truth, often just plain bad). (Sound like any thrift store albums you've bought?) If goofy and weird stuff like this is of interest, take a look at some of these titles oldies.com. (And no, no affiliation with oldies.com here!)

T

Here's another one, just released, and with explicit tiki content:
OMOO-OMOO: THE SHARK GOD (b/w, 1949)
"Based on the classic story by Herman Melville..."

The DVD cover art is typical of these movies, and this one has a large tiki, flanked by tiki torches:
http://www.oldies.com/product-view/5301D.html

I think the guy's wearing a tiki pendant too!

Another flick is Thunder over Hawaii (Naked Paradise).

Oldies.com also has a great selection of Sci-Fi movies.
The box sets (three so far) come with a reproduction of a classic wind-up robot.

And don't forget......"The Wild Women of Wongo"

(as if anybody could forget!)

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