Manina, the Lighthouse-Keeper’s Daughter Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Manina, the Lighthouse-Keeper’s Daughter Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 2, 2020

Can a so-called “blonde bombshell” still qualify for that title if she’s a brunette? Discerning viewers with an interest in that subject may have a perfect example in Manina, the Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter (which was released under a variety of different titles internationally), since this 1952 outing offers an early look at one Brigitte Bardot, here all of 17 years of age, and sporting at least somewhat darker tresses than many might expect. One of the alternate titles for this film (and the one that graced movie palaces in the United States) was Manina, The Girl in the Bikini, and some may find it downright amusing that Bardot’s skimpy swimwear that she wears for the bulk of this film evidently led to mass public outrage (or at least feigned outrage, as so often seems to be the case), though ironically Bardot’s role in the film is probably secondary at best. The main part of the plot involves a Parisian student named Gérard Morère (Jean-François Calvé) who hears a lecture about sunken treasure supposedly off the Corsican coast, an area he just so happens to have explored. His interest is piqued enough that he sets about trying to put together an “expedition” of sorts to scout the region, which of course includes an island with a lighthouse where a lovely girl named Manina (Brigitte Bardot) lives with her father.

It in fact takes a good while before the Bardot character even enters the picture, as the first part of the film is spent detailing Gérard's attempts not just to fund his escapade, but to actually get to where the action is (so to speak). Gérard's history with the region is also touched on, including the fact that he had met Manina when she was a young girl (well, younger girl). Part of this expository set up also includes Gérard meeting a lounge singer named Franchucha (Espanita Cortez), which in turn directly or indirectly introduces him to a connving guy named Éric (Howard Vernon, whom some fans will recognize from Jess Franco films), who has a boat that can get Gérard from Tangiers to the island of Levezzi. And it's not in fact until Gérard finally arrives at Levezzi that Manina really becomes part of the story.

Manina, the Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter is a bit of a mishmash, tonally speaking. Some parts of the film, including a quasi-caper aspect to retrieve priceless artifacts off of the ocean floor struck me as presaging later “heist” movies in exotic locales like Topkapi, but this film never achieves the consistently whimsical quality that the Dassin film offers. And in fact, some of this film is on the overtly melodramatic side, including the almost but not quite ménage à trois that develops between Gérard, Éric, and Manina. Éric’s rather obvious villainy is telegraphed almost from the get go, something that probably defeats any real suspense about where the plot is headed.

The romantic angle is also a little ham handed at times, with Bardot’s sweetness certainly on display, but only hints of the “sex kitten” persona she would become famous for, and which some might assume must have been exhibited in the film considering the virulent backlash it encountered from the “morals police” of the day. The last part of the film is almost comically edited, with weird cross cutting between two, and arguably three, interlinked stories, as if director Willy Rozier knew he had to tie things up quickly, but wasn’t quite sure of how to go about doing that.

Manina, the Lighthouse-Keeper’s Daughter Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Manina, the Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka! Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. There's a brief introductory text card announcing this is a "restoration", though no further information is provided, and the minimalist press sheet Eureka! sent along with its check disc also has a similar lack of information. I remember having seen a rather shoddy quality DVD of this film many (as in many) years ago, and going simply on the basis of obviously unreliable memory, this presentation is heads and shoulders above that one, but there are still quite a few issues that more persnickety videophiles may be distracted by. A lot of this presentation looks very good, with solid contrast, good detail levels, and appealing gray scale. But there's all sorts of damage that has not been affected by whatever restoration gauntlet the element utilized for this transfer was put through. Some of it is rather minor, including lots of speckling, dirt and other signs of age related wear and tear, but there's also much more evident damage at times, including a rather shockingly huge lateral scratch that shows up during one of the first interchanges between Gérard and Manina on a rocky beach. There are several other moments where larger signs of damage prevail, if only for a second or two. Missing frames, warped frames, and what looks like some photochemical staining also mar the presentation at times. Grain looks natural and I noticed no major compression issues.

Manina, the Lighthouse-Keeper’s Daughter Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Manina, the Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter has an LPCM 2.0 mono track which unfortunately probably has more consistently noticeable damage than the video side of things. For those of you old enough to remember long playing records, a lot of this track sounds like a very badly scratched and poorly cared for album, with tons of cracks, pops, and even skips to contend with. Hiss is prevalent, but more noticeable are what I'd term "waves" of a kind of quasi-white noise that wash over things at regular intervals. A few phonemes of dialogue get lost due to missed frames or dropouts on the soundtrack, but the optional subtitles can help fill in the blanks in that regard. The film does have a few musical moments, and those sound rather boxy while at the same can be afflicted with the damage mentioned above. This is all said so that expectations are adjusted properly, but overall, the track, while far from optimal, is listenable and doesn't present any completely debilitating aspects.

Manina, the Lighthouse-Keeper’s Daughter Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• 56 Rue Pigalle (HD; 1:27:45) is a noir-ish melodrama from 1949 directed by Willy Rozier.


• Rozier-Chalais Duel (HD; 5:20) is an amazing piece that documents a swordfight between Rozier and film critic François Chalais, after Rozier challenged Chalais to a duel after Chalais' review of 56 Rue Pigalle wasn't kind. Rozier prevailed in the battle. Remind me to be really positive about any living French director's work going forward.


• Brigitte Bardot Stills Gallery (HD) is authored without a timecode, but does advance automatically, so have the Pause button on your remote handy if want to linger on any given image (and it's a Bardot image gallery, meaning lingering is probably almost required).

Manina, the Lighthouse-Keeper’s Daughter Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bardot was still something of a "Lolita" in Manina, the Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter, something that may make her character's romantic involvement a little squirm inducing at times (though it's nowhere near the "May-December" aspect of the Nabokov novel). Bardot is a sweet faced, rather innocent looking naif in this film, almost kind of like a winsome French Audrey Hepburn, with a bit of a gamine quality. Fans of the French legend will probably want to check out this early appearance, but the film itself is kind of a grabbag of ideas and styles, lurching from wry humor to melodrama at the drop of a — well, bikini. Both video and (especially) audio encounter some hurdles along the way, but the supplementary package is quite interesting, for those considering a purchase.