Adapted by Dalton Trumbo and Daniel Taradash from James Michener's sprawling (over a thousand pages) 1955 novel, Hawaii follows a band of New England missionaries committed to helping the Western-educated Prince Keoki (Manu Tupou, who died last year) spread Christianity and bring order to the Hawaiian Islands. Reverends Quigley (John Cullum), Whipple (Gene Hackman), and Hewlett (Lou Antonio), all in great costumes but exceptionally bad wigs, are accepted at once, but Abner Hale (Max von Sydow), a gaunt, awkward Calvinist, is single and mentor Reverend Thorn (Torin Thatcher) must arrange a prospective marriage to young Jerusha (Julie Andrews), the daughter of colleague Charles Bromley (Carroll O'Connor). To Abner's great shock, she agrees to marry him and make the perilous journey to the other side of the world.

Abner and Jerusha are assigned to the island of Maui, where enormous Queen Malama (Jocelyne LaGarde) rules with a mix of pragmatism and instant gratification. The Hales are shocked by certain aspects of the native culture: incestuous marriages are encouraged, while the killing of newborns with only minor birthmarks is considered humane. The natives, in turn, are bemused by the White Man's strict and, to their eyes, often hypocritical morality. Queen Malama takes an instant liking to Jerusha, whose natural warmth and instinctive approach to the natives as equals wins many near-converts, but Abner's extremism just as quickly drives them away. Meanwhile, in a coincidence much too outrageous to be believed, Jerusha bumps into her former fiance, whaler Rafer Hoxworth (Richard Harris), who wants to take Jerusha back to civilization.

Hawaii works best as a colorful adventure, less well as an examination of colliding cultures and religions, and not at all as a love story, though the earnestness of the leads almost pull it off. The idea that, after losing touch with one another while she was living in New England but, years later, Rafer and Jerusha would almost literally bump into one another on Maui, in the middle of jungle, late at night, is too absurd to take seriously. There might have been more weight to this tale in the novel, but in the film it goes nowhere. Tempted though Jerusha might be by Rafer's offer, it's equally clear from the get-go that she's too dedicated to her husband and adopted community to abandon it all, and a brief love scene between them seems utterly out of place, as if they needed it for the trailer.

Of course, Rafer is coarse and lusty and down to earth where Abner is prim and proper and a stick in the mud, begging the question how Jerusha might have been attracted to either man. Her romance with Abner is written to be cute rather than real. He's painfully shy and benefits from her mothering, but the realities of living with a man devoted to God at the expense of all else is never addressed in any meaningful way.

Neither are conflicts of culture and religious intolerance. A host of issues are raised, from the white man's introduction of western diseases to the hypocrisy of the church wanting to "save" God's heathen children while forbidding interracial marriages with their newfound brothers and sisters. That these matters are raised at all was somewhat unusual for what in 1966 was designed as a general entertainment. It's unfortunate, though, that both Abner and various natives are written to be cute and cuddly in certain scenes to avoid dealing with the missionaries' fundamentalism and especially Abner's obstinacies head-on.

At times the film shamelessly panders to its audience, such a one scene that finds time for the suddenly-hot star of The Sound of Music to sing, however briefly, and in footage of young, bare-breasted Hawaiian women. I'll bet producer Walter Mirisch, director George Roy Hill, and editor Stuart Gilmore had a lot of meetings trying to figure out just how much nudity they could get away with without losing the family trade and raising the ire of conservative Christian groups (particularly as at that time religious group sales accounted for a good portion of a roadshow engagement's income).

Despite these problems, the adventure itself and Gone with the Wind-like epicness make Hawaii an entertaining yarn. The attention to period detail is unusually good. The 1820s is a decade of American history not often explored in movies, and the look of the sets and costumes seem authentic. (It's odd, however, to see actors like Hackman and O'Connor in a period film; we've since come to think of them as singularly contemporary actors.)

The voyage to Hawaii is very well done, at times quite thrilling. Scenes were shot aboard a real schooner, and the violent heaving of the ship with the real actors aboard (not stuntmen) adds to the authenticity. A storm at the Strait of Magellan is depicted with elaborate traveling mattes. There's an unrealness to the effect but it's also vividly striking.

Video & Audio

Hawaii is presented in anamorphic widescreen format, preserving and its lush Panavision (2.35:1) photography. The image is generally okay with strong color, though there is an unusual amount of combing, and the quality of the image is inconsistent. Part of the problem may be that MGM's DVD is not the original roadshow version, which reportedly ran 189 minutes and is complete on VHS. This DVD version includes an optional overture and exit music, but without those the picture runs just 161 minutes, nearly a half-hour shorter than the initial roadshow release. Oddly, the optional overture and exit music use appallingly bad frame grabs (possibly created for TV or laserdisc release) where a black screen would've been preferable.

The soundtrack has its problems, too. Some reports indicate that Hawaii may have been released theatrically in mono only, even in 70mm blow-up venues, and that a stereo mix was created much later for home video and television syndication. Whatever is true, the mono mix is okay but wanting. Curiously, the overture, unlike the rest of the film, is in full stereo. Optional English, French, and Spanish subtitles are available.

Extra Features

There are two short supplements. The first is The Making of "Hawaii", a 9-plus-minute featurette in full frame format that probably ran once on network television and then was forgotten about until the advent of home video and cable TV. As '60s promo films go, this one's pretty good, featuring some nice behind-the-scenes footage of Andrews, von Sydow, director George Roy Hill, costume designer Dorothy Jeakins, and producer Walter Mirisch, among others. What looks like a 16mm print was sourced; it's horribly faded but watchable.

Less forgivable is a murky looking Theatrical Trailer, presumably another hand-me-down from the laserdisc, in 4:3 LBX format.

Parting Thoughts

Why MGM didn't simply release the complete Hawaii is a mystery, though it's possible the original negative was cut to conform with the shorter version, and that to reconstruct the 189-minute cut would have been too expensive. In any form though, Hawaii is definitely old-fashioned entertainment that hasn't aged as well as the great roadshows of its era - Lawrence of Arabia and 2001: A Space Odyssey, or in some ways even lesser fare like Khartoum and Circus World. But if you like glossy Hollywood showmanship, are thinking about a vacation to Hawaii, or are a fan of Julie Andrews, then Hawaii comes recommended.

Stuart Galbraith IV is a Los Angeles and Kyoto-based film historian whose work includes The Emperor and the Wolf -- The Lives and Films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune. His new book, Cinema Nippon will be published by Taschen in 2005.