PEARL OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC. RKO Radio Pictures, 1955. Virginia Mayo, Dennis Morgan, David Farrar, Murvyn Vye, Lance Fuller, Basil Ruysdael, Lisa Montell. Director: Allan Dwan.

   An old-fashioned South Seas melodrama straight from the pulp magazines, but by the time this movie was made, the pulps were gone — and they did it better.

   Lured to a South Seas island as a possible source of valuable black pearls, two men and a woman plan to steal them from the natives, who have been been cut off from the rest of the world for several decades. They do speak English and use nets to catch fish instead spears, thanks to the presence of the aged Tuan Michael (Basil Ruysdael) who has guided their lives and interpreted their god’s wishes for them through all that time.

   The girl is Virginia Mayo. Dennis Morgan is her former lover and she is currently romancing his partner, played by David Farrar. The latter, a chap called Bully Hague, is an out-and-out thug, while Morgan is more of an honest crook. It is fun to see Virginia Mayo dressed up like a prim Bible-carrying missionary as part of their plan, and while this is no musical, she also manages to sing a song or two along the way.

   The problem is, the three adventurers really have no plan to speak of. They are either making it up as they go along, or they are too incompetent to stick to it, especially the fellow named Bully, who gets nastier and nastier as the movie plods along. This was sort of fun to watch, but there’s really no meat to go with the bones.