Friday, December 26, 2014

Movie review - "Manina the Girl in the Bikini" (1952) **

Brigitte Bardot simply had It - charisma, presence, incredible sex appeal. This was one of her first movies and made before she was an official star but you can't take your eyes off her. It's a shame she doesn't appear until the film is half way over - the actual leading man is someone called Jean-Francois Calve, whose physique is actually exploited as much as Bardot's. (He wears some hilarious lap lap pants as swimming trunks - he looks like a male stripper).

The plot has Calve as a uni student who goes diving for ancient Roman treasure off the coast; Bardot is the lighthouse keeper's daughter who spends most of her time running around in a bikini and diving off cliffs. It's not in colour, unfortunately, but Bardot is very beautiful. She sings a dubbed son.

The conflict somes from Calve's partner, a smuggler who has designs on Bardot and who we expect will try to rip off Calve. The film really needed more plot than that - a twist, another baddy, some gangsters, or something. Or else decently defined characters. As it is, the movie's running time feels padded with underwater footage, and songs.

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