Song of the Islands

Great 1940s World War II Pacific island fantasy movie. The colors are so bright they almost can't be real. Victor Mature and Jack Oakie head to an island where Betty Grable lives in tropic splendor with her father (Thomas Mitchell - Gerald O'Hara from "Gone With The Wind", same Irish accent too by the way...). The music is just fantastic, Harry Owens and his orchestra are incredible, the classic Hula Comedienne Hilo Hattie is on hand as Palola to provide comic relief in her attempts to land Jack Oakie (Jack is afraid of Palola's Cannibal uncle however...). Gloriously non-politically correct in the way that only classic movies can be. Betty Grable in a grass skirt, (wow!) no wonder all the G. I. s you speak to from that time were crazy about her!

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.

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.

I kinda liked this movie. The plot is not much to write off and is questionable if it will have any appeal to adults because it involves full grown men and women acting like ten year olds. Set on the Hawaii Islands it has something to do with some millionaire rancher's son who falls for a enjoy-life goodnik loafer on the Islands. Romance, fighting, with some will they or will they not get together? That is a typical Betty Grable picture. Gable who couldn't really act but was always charming with a nice smile and is always fun to watch because the woman approached all her roles with gusto. It didn't matter the role; she played as if it were Scarlett O'Hara. Poor Victor Mature suffered in being cast in light tripe like this where he practiced how to take pratfalls and sound dopey and goofy before better things and dramatic roles elevated out of this parts. The popular radio star Jack Oakie provides much needed support and has many scenes where his sub plot line dominates the movies. This I have to mention because this is sorely missing in Hollywood movies, today. Let's take a recent hit like "Hitch", Kevin James gets no scene without Will Smith on the phone and in the background and it's a credit to him that he still finds a way to steal the movie. Gable too was not a very good dancer but again you forgive because she lights into it with so much pep and determination and that can be said for the whole movie. It is poorly written, obvious with no surprises but everybody plays it to the utmost fullest that makes you enjoy the whole silly farce for what it's what.

The story isn't much but Grable has lively song and dance numbers at the beginning and end with a big chorus line of hula girls in grass skirts (beginning) and cellophane skirts (end). Hermes Pan directed the dances. Hilo Hattie appears in a few songs, mainly "The Cockeyed Mayor of Kaunakakai" where she's entertaining if a bit overly excited. She was a popular entertainer in the 40s and onward and I was lucky to work at the Halekulani Hotel in the mid 70s when she was part of a show of old-time Hawaiian entertainers. Betty Grable is beautiful and a very energetic actor and dancer. Lightweight entertainment for sure.