You have expect to hear Hedy Lamarr screech, "Gif me da Cobra Jewel!" in her performance as the supposedly half-caste Tondelayo, an exotic but obviously insane beauty that destroys every man she touches. Going on a rampage if bored, not getting the type of attention she thinks that she deserves, or just not clad in enough jewelry, Tondelayo is the type of female that should be abandoned on a deserted island far away from any man. When rubber plantation owner Walter Pidgeon looses interest in her, she sets her sights on newcomer Richard Carlson who is no match for her spider woman wiles. They marry against Pidgeon's harsh advice, but instantly bored, she sets up a jealous fight between Carlson and Pidgeon which pleases her needy quest for being the focus of every man's desires.
All that is needed is a quick shot saying her famous line, "I am Tondelayo", and the camera cuts out to let her and Carlson move onto a seduction. They say that a man chases a girl until she catches him, but in this case, Carlson is indeed going to catch something, and it isn't the type of woman you want to spend the rest of your life with. Almost an update of the old Theda Bara "A Fool There Was" plot ("Kiss Me My Fool!"), this just adds sandy beaches and mosquito netting to the mix. Frank Morgan is the drunken doctor, both comical and pathetic, while Reginald Owen has some amusingly droll bits.
It is the campiness that saves this from being a bore. Lamarr, in dark makeup surrounded by little light, only slightly melts her icy interior as long as she is out to get what she wants from the men around her. The result are melodramatics that probably upset the producers over at Universal who were preparing similar vehicles for Maria Montez, and made the producers of Dorothy Lamour's sarong films over at Paramount laugh hysterically. It wouldn't take a child to see what this evil creature known as Tondelayo was up to, so when the payoff comes, it is an absolute hoot. The final reminded me of the consequences for villainy as seen for Bela Logosi in 1935's "The Raven" and Judith Anderson in 1940's "Rebecca". Walter Pidgeon wisely returned to the more sobering partnership with Greer Garson after this, while the bland Carlson drifted along as far as he could on the silver screen, while Lamarr had to wait until the end of the decade to play another temptress, Biblical vixen Delilah.
All that is needed is a quick shot saying her famous line, "I am Tondelayo", and the camera cuts out to let her and Carlson move onto a seduction. They say that a man chases a girl until she catches him, but in this case, Carlson is indeed going to catch something, and it isn't the type of woman you want to spend the rest of your life with. Almost an update of the old Theda Bara "A Fool There Was" plot ("Kiss Me My Fool!"), this just adds sandy beaches and mosquito netting to the mix. Frank Morgan is the drunken doctor, both comical and pathetic, while Reginald Owen has some amusingly droll bits.
It is the campiness that saves this from being a bore. Lamarr, in dark makeup surrounded by little light, only slightly melts her icy interior as long as she is out to get what she wants from the men around her. The result are melodramatics that probably upset the producers over at Universal who were preparing similar vehicles for Maria Montez, and made the producers of Dorothy Lamour's sarong films over at Paramount laugh hysterically. It wouldn't take a child to see what this evil creature known as Tondelayo was up to, so when the payoff comes, it is an absolute hoot. The final reminded me of the consequences for villainy as seen for Bela Logosi in 1935's "The Raven" and Judith Anderson in 1940's "Rebecca". Walter Pidgeon wisely returned to the more sobering partnership with Greer Garson after this, while the bland Carlson drifted along as far as he could on the silver screen, while Lamarr had to wait until the end of the decade to play another temptress, Biblical vixen Delilah.