South Seas Woman (1953)

Plot: In November 1942, a US Shanghai Marine must explain at his Court-martial how he ended up deserting, stealing a boat, and being picked up off Guadalcanal with a beautiful Showgirl.
Stars: Burt Lancaster, Virginia Mayo, Chuck Connors

Mayo and Lancaster have a good time in this rather silly story, that seems to have been stolen from a first draft "Road to Zanzibar" script**.  I mean, how in the world do Connors/Mayo/Lancaster get from November 1941 Shanghai to French Polynesia and then to August 1942 Guadalcanal? Even more ridiculous, Connors sacrifices himself by jumping aboard a speeding Japanese Destroyer and tossing a bag of TNT down the smokestack!  You can practically see the Lancaster and the producers winking at us and saying "don't take these combat scenes seriously - laugh along with us".

Summary: I saw the subversive humor on re-watch,  but in first viewing, the change from screwball comedy to battle scenes was jarring. But even with that, the filler trial scenes, mediocre script, and low production values  - make this no more than an enjoyable time waster. But Lancaster and Mayo are an attractive pair - too bad the script wasn't better. 

** One of the recurring jokes?Lancaster constantly frustrates Connors-Mayo attempts to wed, and of course, like Crosby, Burt ends up with the girl at the end.