Song of the Islands (1942)

hyped garbage

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Director: WALTER LANG. Screenplay: Joseph Schrank and Robert Pirosh, Robert Ellis and Helen Logan. Photographed in Color by Technicolor by Ernest Palmer. Film editor: Rby Simpson. Art directors: Richard Day, Joseph C. Wright. Set decorator: Thomas Little. Costumes designed by Gwen Wakeling. Make-up: Guy Pearce. 2nd unit director: Orro Brower. Technicolor color consultant: Natalie Kalmus. Associate Technicolor consultant: Morgan Padelford. Technical director: Hilo Hattie. Assistant directors: Bernard Carr, Fred Fox (2nd unit). Sound recording: E. Clayton Ward, Roger Heman. Producer: William LeBaron.Songs by Mack Gordon (lyrics) and Harry Owens (music): "Blue Shadows and White Gardenias" (Grable); "O'Brien Has Gone Hawaiian" (Grable); "Sing Me a Song of the Islands" (Grable, Hattie); "Down On Ami Ami Oni Oni Isle" (Grable, Hattie); "What's Buzzin', Cousin" (Oakie); "Hawaiian Drinking Song" (Hattie). Choreographer: Hermes Pan. Music director: Alfred Newman. Copyright 13 March 1942 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation. New York opening at the Roxy: 11 March 1942. U.S. release: 13 March 1942. Australian release: 4 November 1943 (sic). 6,716 feet. 74 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Tycoon's son falls for beachcomber's pretty daughter. COMMENT: Everyone knows that 20th Century-Fox had the best sound department in the business. Everyone, that is, except the industry's own sound supervisors, technicians and engineers. How often did Fox carry off Hollywood's most prestigious annual award for Sound Recording in the golden years from 1929 to 1976? Just eight times, would you believe? Wilson (1944), The Snake Pit (1948), Twelve O'Clock High (1949), All About Eve (1950), The King and I (1956), The Sound of Music (1965), Hello, Dolly! (1969), and Patton (1970).You'd never learn from this list that it was actually in musicals of the 1930s and 1940s that Fox's sound department really excelled. Take 1942, for example, a good year because each studio was able to nominate one movie. What was the Fox selection? "This Above All"!Okay, so in addition to its magnificent sound track, what does "Song of the Islands" have to recommend it? Nothing much except sprightly performances (even Victor Mature is quite personable), a witty script, catchy tunes, lavish production values and gorgeous Technicolor.What more do you want? Free admissions would be nice, but we've got that now with TV. Admittedly, we pay for it by sitting through myriads of dastardly advertisements, but you can't have everything!

Jeff Harper (Victor Mature) has been sent by his father to bargain for some prime cattle land....in Hawaii. While the cattle industry was big on some of the islands, why folks from the continental US would want a piece of this action is confusing. Regardless, Jeff arrives on the fictional Hawaiian island of Ahmi-Oni with his friend, Rusty (Jack Oakie). The first thing Jeff sees is Eileen (Betty Grable) and he's hooked but thinks (??) that she is a native and doesn't understand English (despite being VERY blonde). Soon he's in love and seems to have forgotten about his business...and soon Dad arrives to try to get talks back on track. Who will win out in the end? The love-struck son or the business-minded dad?This film is a pleasant and lightweight bit of entertainment. The songs are mostly a distraction as big production numbers seem to have nothing to do with island life...but so it was in the 1940s! The romance is also cute but the best part is the grouchy gather, as George Barbier as one of the best supporting actors of his age when it came to playing old grouches! Enjoyable but slight.

Apart from the fact that Victor Mature gets to act alongside of Thomas Mitchell, and the story is set in Hawaii, there is nothing to commend this film. Some of the Hawaiian characters are Americans made up to look Hawaiian. The characters are one-dimensional, and the story fails to engage the audience at any level.I'm not a Betty Grable fan, but she does look good in a straw skirt, and she has a nice back.The film is shot in beautiful Technicolor, but it is not a masterclass in colour grading.I would advise Mature fans to stay away from this film as it comes nowhere near the quality of 'Samson and Delilah'.

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.