Song of the Islands (1942)

Memorable, crazy movie

Crappy film

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Shot in color and released in 1942, "Song of the Islands" is a comedy about the relationship between Betty Grable (as Eileen O'Brien) and Victor Mature (as Jefferson Harper). The new couple seems happy until a conflict arises between their fathers.Her father, Dennis O'Brien (Thomas Mitchell), is a long-time resident of Hawaii. He leads a low-key life of relaxation, based upon the principles of aloha. Life for him is about goodness toward others. And an inspired laissez-faire laziness. When Jefferson's father (George Barbier)--owner of an adjacent cattle ranch--wants to purchase access rights to O'Brien's waterfront property so that he can more easily export his cattle, O'Brien is insulted. He would gladly give him the rights for free, but resents efforts to reduce the transaction to a legal contract.It's a premise that merely serves to contrast the two ways of life. The real story is the dancing and singing of Betty Grable and a chorus line of local hula girls. The dance numbers by Hermes Pan feature an Irish jig hula with swing elements (danced to "O'Brien Has Gone Hawaiian"). The songs, mostly by Owens and Gordon, include catchy ditties like "The Cockeyed Mayor of Kuanakakai (which gets a comic delivery by Hilo Hattie, who assumed that name after her role in this film) and "What's Buzzin' Cousin" (which comic relief Jack Oakie plays with).It's a film with a heart of celebration and it will serve to push the wartime popularity of Grable, who becomes America's best known pinup girl. It's release only four months after the attack on Pearl Harbor could be viewed as a tribute to the island way of life, but I honestly don't know how Americans viewed its release so soon after the historic surprise attack.

No wonder Clark Gable was hesitant to star in a film('Call of the Wild') with notorious scene stealer Jack Oakie as his sidekick. Jack really hams it up in this one with his nonstop clowning and occasional songs: a complete vaudeville entertainer!. If you like Jack, you'll like this early Technicolor escapist fare. He's joined at times by veteran comedic heavy Billy Gilbert, as the crude wild-looking cannibalistic father of the luscious Hawaiian girl Jack is romancing. Problem is, a matronly-looking native woman(Hilo Hattie) is very hot for Jack and he's not interested. She eventually does a song and dance number, serving in the combined roles of Charlotte Greenwood and Carmen Miranda in the standard Fox formula for Grable/Faye/Blaine musical comedies. This is followed by an all female native song and dance routine headed by Betty. Meanwhile, beefcake leading man Victor Mature is romancing and fighting with Betty . As a non-singing/dancing, non-comedian, he has little else to do. Also, the fathers of Betty and Victor initially are at each other's throats over the ownership of a key bit of land on this small island. In the end, all is forgiven and all the Caucasian principals join at the finale for an encore rendition of the theme song 'Sing me a song of the islands'.Plenty of music and comedy dispersed among the heavier stuff. Probably, Jack has more screen time than either Betty or Victor. A native male singing group also interacts with Jack. Betty's singing and dancing is pretty limited. Too bad this film is so rarely shown on TV and is not available on DVD. We really could use a Jack Oakie Collection to showcase his now under-appreciated entertainment talent. He was a significant presence in several other Fox musical comedies, including:'Tin Pan Alley', 'Hello, Frisco, Hello' and 'The Great American Broadcast' Too bad he was never in one of those films including Carmen Miranda. I think those two would have made a dynamite comedic pair.

I'm not sure but that Song of the Islands was had been done before December 7, 1941 and definitely before US servicemen started bleeding and dying in the South Seas. There certainly is no mention of World War II at all in this escapist Betty Grable film where she's poaching on Dorothy Lamour's south sea territory.I'm sure that Darryl Zanuck must have saw the kind of money that Paramount was raking in with those Dorothy Lamour sarong pictures. So why not put the woman who had risen to be their top musical star in the tropics. They gave Betty a hula grass skirt instead of a sarong, the better to show her legs with. Zanuck was also smart enough not to pass the blond Grable as a native Hawaiian. She's come home to teach school on the island where her father, Thomas Mitchell, has a small place, but also where George Barbier is the absentee owner of a cattle ranch. Barbier's place is run by Hal Spencer, but Victor Mature and Jack Oakie sail over from America to see if they can buy out Mitchell. Mature is Barbier's son and of course when he and Grable meet, the inevitable sparks do fly.Zanuck also put an official Hawaiian imprimatur on Song of the Islands by using Harry Owens to write the music with Mack Gordon's lyrics. Owens was the musical interpreter of Hawaii to the world, his most famous song being Sweet Leilani. And a Hawaiian national treasure named Hilo Hattie also appears in the film, singing in her inimitable style and setting her marriage cap for Jack Oakie.It's all light and pleasant escapist entertainment and Song of the Islands is a good indication of why Betty Grable was the number one pin-up of GIs all over the globe. Except for Rita Hayworth.

I never thought that this was one of the better Grable pictures and as I am taking a break from re-watching it for the first time in a decade I still hold to that original opinion.The film has, if possible, too many character actors - Thomas Mitchell, George Barbier, Jack Oakie, Billy Gilbert, Hilo Hattie. And there is too much bickering.OTOH, most of the songs are very tuneful, though undistinguished and the Technicolor is, as always, eye-popping.The high points in the film are almost all Grable. If the film had been destroyed after the first reel, it likely would not have mattered because Grable's absolutely gorgeous entry into the film on a small outrigger just off shore of a tropical is breathtaking as is her brilliantly pretty face and figure.And what a figure! All curves and plenty of them, looking delicious in clingy island dresses and hula girl out-fits. What a bundle! 5'4" (As I thought when looking at her while danced barefoot) and she measured in at 34 1/2-24-36 (self-described 1940).She is singing "Sing Me a Song of the Islands" as she heads towards shore with her blonde hair blowing gently in the breeze as she softly offers the song in that vastly under-rated melodious and well modulated beguiling voice of hers. She's radiant with gleaming white teeth and big eyes as she sings the entire song in 90 seconds with the big Technicolor camera slowly zooms in from a medium shot to what becomes a near full lose up if her expressive face, never once breaking away...all in one shot.I had a customer in my video store about 15 years ago who had not seen Song of the Islands since its original release in 1942 and all he remembered all those years was that opening shot of Betty Grable, her hair blowing in the tropical breeze and singing "Sing Me a Song of the Islands". Movie magic! Victor Mature is in the film, too. He looks fine.Hilo Hattie is the Hawaiian version of Charlotte Greenwood in the film; man hungry and doing her eccentric dances and songs.As mention, it is not one of the 'great Grables' of the era, in spite of having the talented Walter Lang, who had directed some of Grable's best films in the 1940.Unfortunately, what ever momentum the film has fairly comes to a halt about 50 minutes into the picture at which time there is little question (if there was ever any) about how the film will wrap up. The pictures weakest tunes are trotted out and Grable's last dance sequence is far from memorable.Jack Oakie, playing Mature's sidekick (and only 39 years old at the time) manages to squeeze in a song and a romance for himself with a pretty island girl even younger than Grable and he and Hilo Hattie have the last laugh in the film. (Oakie frequently seems to get a special moment at the end of the films he is in. He had a big following and was extremely popular with everyone.) All in all...very lightweight stuff. Nice try by all involved. There's better Grables out there.Now I'll go back and rewind the tape and watch that opening island sequence one more time. It's a freeze-framers delight!