Nancy Kwan is exquisite and I would watch her in anything, but unfortunately everything draped around her in this film is a bore. Without really delving in to her character as a person, the film quickly transports her from Polynesia to London via Paris early on, the set up being an excuse to show off a beautiful young woman and the culture clash with the boys at a boarding school. "She loved the whole student body ... and they sure loved hers!!" as the movie poster blares.
Kwan's character, Tamahine, is childlike in her innocence, but talks bluntly about sex and seems to have a one-track mind for pleasure. She uses the word "love" for "sex," e.g. "At what age is permitted love?" and "On my island, we have schools for loving." She talks about her father having many lovers, men needing women, and says "I am thinking, there is only one thing that will make a boy into a man. A woman." She wants to see the sex education film shown the young boys, and strips off her clothes without being asked for an artist ("It's only my body!"). She also tosses flowers down to boys from a balcony in her underwear, and later climbs a phallic tower after taking off her skirt. I loved that Kwan got a role in a sex farce in 1963 when representation was lacking, so while silly and exploitive, these were easily the best parts of the film.
Unfortunately, the stereotypes were hard to overlook and diminished my enjoyment. Tamahine is shown to come from a race of simple people, uninterested in anything other than pleasure. She also discusses her family's cannibalistic feasts back home, so we get the idea they're savages. Almost all her dialogue is delivered wide-eyed, in broken English. I was still captivated by her, but just wish the script was a little better, even considering the genre. When Kwan isn't on the screen, we get subplots like the headmaster's daughter carrying on with a teacher that aren't in the least interesting. If you're a Nancy Kwan fan as I am, watch it but be prepared to cringe; if you're not, skip it.
