The South Seas have always been a favourite setting for romantic pictures ever since "Moana of the South Seas" and Dorothy Lamour.
Somerset Maugham's famous "Rain" has been filmed several times, but never in the actual locale of the story, Pago Pago.
Tahiti saw the filming of Nordhoff and Hall's novel "Mutiny on the Bounty", and Bora Bora was the inspiration for the same authors' "The High Barbaree", an exquisite story wretchedly pictured.
"Return to Paradise", starring Gary Cooper, was filmed in the village of Lefaga in Samoa, some fifty miles from the port town of Apia, about as far away as one can get without leaving the island entirely. The village is straight out of a fairy story and the lovely bay on which it is located was for a few weeks in 1952 inundated by Hollywood.
The movie takes me back to my time in Samoa in 1978 - click here. And, yes, of course, I visited and swam off what became known as Return to Paradise Beach. It's so long ago now but not forgotten!
What was then a pristine and almost forgotten beach has now become a luxury resort, the Return to Paradise Resort, with room rates starting at $275 a night.
