Hawaii Then, Hawaii Now

To Let Interested Parties Know:

I purchased the long-awaited dvd of "Hawaii" last weekend and, sure enough, it is only the 161 minute version. Although the transfer is technically a very good one, it is too disappointing to sit through, knowing that the video release has 27 minutes of excised footage. The single sequence that suffers the most cutting is the voyage/storm at sea episodes and, in the aggregate, many brief but telling moments in which Jerusha confronts Abner's exteme fundamentalism. This cutting weakens the impact of their relationship and undermines her keen, pre-feminist intelligence and willingness to challenge him publicly (and privately) in her own way. [I always think that Jerusha would have eventually gone the way of Unitarianism, in sharp contrast to Abner's staunch Calvinism.] Too much small but revelatory detail is sacrificed through this cutting, although it may not adversely affect the overall storyline for someone who has never before seen the film. It is also a cheaply produced package without so much as a single insert of liner notes or scene breakdown.

There is, however, a lovely 10-minute "making of 'Hawaii' featurette" which I had never seen before and, therefore, makes the purchase worthwhile. It features some "backstage scenes" footage and contemporaneous narration by Julie Andrews and even shows her clowning around on set rather charmingly.

In all, disappointing and possibly an unintended reflection of the recent troubles at the now-defunct MGM-UA label. I would keep a lookout for the full version as shown occasionally on TNT. By the way, the dvd does allow one to include or overlook the Overture and Exit Music, but does not include an option for the Entr'acte.

"Thank you, thank you--you're most kind. In fact you're every kind."

"Incest was not common. It was sometimes practiced amongst the highest chiefly families, whose offspring were deemed to have no peer beyond their own siblings. Anyone "lesser" would diminish the status of the family and offspring before the gods and the people.

It is the Western fascination with sexuality that has falsely elevated the importance and frequency of incest in the society of old Hawaii. It is this same fascination that has focused upon and exaggerated Hawaiian sexual behavior. A similar Western fascination with violence and cruelty has exaggerated and/or fabricated reports of cannibalism, human sacrifice, infanticide and more"


Amen - who has practiced incest more than the Dupont family in Delaware. They have their own insane asylum because of all of the inbreeding.

Just to keep all that money "in the family."

It's always sickened me how Westerners (particularly Americans) consider themselves superior to every other civilization in the world and try to push their "values" on everyone else (Iraq comes to mind).