Waikiki Wedding

WAIKIKI WEDDING (Paramount, 1937), directed by Frank Tuttle, is an enjoyable but sadly neglected musical set in Hawaii starring Paramount's box office attraction, Bing Crosby, crooning to the up-and-grooming Shirley Ross, a fine vocalist in her own right whose popularity faded as quickly as it started, with her peak years at Paramount being from 1936 to 1938. By 1939, she left the studio after appearing in some secondary roles, including another Crosby musical, Paris HONEYMOON (1938), in which the object to his affection there was a newcomer named Franciska Gaal, but to re-discover Shirley Ross, WAIKIKI WEDDING is a good introduction. And now for a brief synopsis and inside look of the movie.

Set in Hawaii, the story begins with Tony Marvin (Bing Crosby) and his pal, Shad Buggle (Bob Burns), accompanied by his pet pig, attending a native wedding feast, in which Tony participated with a Hawaiian song. Tony, a smooth talking publicity man for J.B. Todhunter (George Barbier), president of a pineapple company, is hired to escort Georgia Smith (Shirley Ross), from Birch Falls, a "Miss Pineapple Queen" contest winner, on her Hawaiian tour, accompanied by her companion, Myrtle Finch (Martha Raye), who in turn becomes escorted by Shad. Because Georgia is not satisfied with her trip, threatening to return home to the states and refusing to participate in any publicity campaigns, Tony goes through extremes in keeping her in Hawaii, ranging from having her accused of smuggling a black pearl, abducted by a native group headed by Kimo (Anthony Quinn); vocalizing to her, and having her attend ceremonial dances. After discovering this whole affair to be nothing but tricks to keep her in Hawaii, the angry Georgia decides to book passage on the next boat to return home and marry her dull fiancé, Victor P. Quimby (Leif Erickson), causing Tony, who now loves her, to continue using provide more tricks instead of sincerity to keep her.

Along with the lightweight plot and Hawaiian surroundings, the bright score by Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin include: "Blue Hawaii" and "In a Little Hula Heaven" (sung by chorus during opening credits); "Nani Ona Pua" (sung by Bing Crosby); "Blue Hawaii" (sung by Crosby); "Blue Hawaii" (sung by Crosby and Shirley Ross); "Sweet Leilani" by Harry Owens, (sung by Crosby); "In a Little Hula Heaven" (sung by Crosby and Ross); "Okolehao" (sung by Martha Raye. Take notice how Raye's hair style changes midway through this number); "Sweet Is the Word for You" (sung by Crosby) and "Sweet Is the Word for You" (reprise, sung by Ross). While "Blue Hawaii" and "In a Little Hula Heaven" are the best sounding tunes for this production, it's the slower tempo lullaby of "Sweet Leilani" that became the Academy Award winning song of 1937.

The supporting cast features Grady Sutton as Everett Todhunter; Granville Bates as Uncle Herman; George Regas, Emma Dunn, and Mitchell Lewis, among others.

While "Waikiki Wedding," which runs at about 89 minutes, hasn't aired on any television station for quite some time now, it was distributed on video cassette in 1995 as part of the Bing Crosby collection, along with other titles as RHYTHM ON THE RANGE (1936) with Frances Farmer, and its WAIKIKI WEDDING co-stars, Bob Burns and Martha Raye, and a decade later onto DVD double featured with DOUBLE OR NOTHING (1937) also featuring Martha Raye. Oh, boy!!!! All films mentioned make recommended viewing for Crosby fans. (***)

The story and direction do slacken a tad towards the end and Anthony Quinn does look rather lost in an early role. But Waikiki Wedding is still a fun film that will cheer anybody up after a hard day. It is lovingly photographed and the costumes and sets do look beautiful even by today's standards. The incidental score is whimsical and catchy, and the songs are wonderful with Sweet Leilani, A Little Hula Heaven and especially Blue Hawaii being classics. The choreography is sharp and not too flashy but never simplistic, suiting the film just fine. Waikiki Wedding is smartly and wittily scripted and the story is not too complicated, moves swiftly and has a lot of charm and heart. Bing Crosby looks very relaxed here and gives a likewise charming performance. As ever, his distinctive voice sounds fabulous. The very attractive Shirley Ross has a voice like heaven and lights up the screen, sharing good chemistry with Crosby, she's virtually forgotten now and that's a shame. The performances of Bob Burns and Martha Raye won't be everyone's cup of tea but I found them a lot of fun with Raye particularly enjoying herself. Nice to see George Barbier too. All in all, very entertaining and charming particularly notable for the songs. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Bing Crosby was one of the biggest stars in the world for much of his career and this movie released in 1937 was the third biggest hit of the year. Supporting him are the hilarious duo of Bob burns and Martha Raye, especially who seems to spark every scene she's in with a splash of wine and vinegar. The plot as it is as PR man Bing who works for the Pineapple company located in Hawaii who has a Pr mishap on his hands when the girl brought in as the Pineapple girl goes sour on the island and intends to let everyone know how lousy and unexciting the island is. This for sure will hurt tourism so Bing has to save the day. So what else does a nagging Yenta need but a man who will keep her from leaving the island. The plot is on. Songs are interspersed BTW the action including one which supposedly became a million seller. Anthony Quinn who was years removed from his movie star days plays an Indian with his typical zest and good craftsmanship. The female lead who never amounted to much stardom of her own is pretty and really can sing. I do like the way the movie ends. It is slightly unconventionally but slightly forced in performance. But it works. It could be a good movie for some enterprising producer to remake.

In 1937 Bing Crosby made a celebrated trip to the Hawaiian Islands and stayed about a month. Of course being the mega star he was at the time, the trip was accompanied with the usual fanfare and publicity and when he got back Paramount took full advantage of the publicity with Waikiki Wedding.

It would have been nice if in fact they'd sent him back to Hawaii and did some beautiful color location photography, but I assume that Adolph Zukor felt that for the studios own homegrown South Sea island gal, Dorothy Lamour never got off Paramount's backlot, they wouldn't do more for Bing.

However they did give Crosby a good, amusing plot and some nice songs to sing. Crosby plays a publicist for a Pineapple company who has had the idea to sponsor a Miss Pineapple contest with the winner getting an all expenses paid trip to Hawaii and to send back articles about the great time she's having and hawk the virtues of Hawaiian Pineapples. But the winner, Shirley Ross, ain't havin' such a good time, she's bored. So Bing concocts this elaborately staged adventure involving a stolen idol, a volcano, some natives and Shirley loves it and him.

It all resolves itself in the end. George Barbier who's a favorite character actor of mine from the 30s plays Bing's boss at his choleric best. Crosby gets good support from Martha Raye and Bob Burns. Martha Raye was doing the second of three films she did with Bing. Bob Burns, who is forgotten today was a regular on Bing's Kraft Music Hall radio show. He played a hillbilly type character with a touch of Will Rogers without the topical humor. He did two films with Bing and retired from show business in 1941.

Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin did the score which includes the classic Blue Hawaii, reprised later by Elvis Presley. However the number one song in the movie at the time was Sweet Leilani, word and music by Hawaiian composer Harry Owens. Bing heard the song while in Hawaii and insisted it be included in the picture. It won an Oscar that year for best song and Crosby had a big hit record of it.

Nice Entertaining movie in the Crosby manner.

The more I see Bing Crosby's undervalued Paramount musicals, the more he is becoming one of my favorite musical stars of all time. Except for the tedious 1933 musical "Going Hollywood", I was impressed by all of Bing's works and his sweet, aching crooning.

"Waikiki Wedding", sumptuously set in Hawaii, is one of Bing's best efforts, featuring such remarkable and beguiling tunes as "Blue Hawaii", "Sweet Leilani", "Sweet Is the Word for You", and "Nani Ona Pua".

Although I enjoyed "Blue Hawaii" as the best sounding song in the movie, the Oscar-winning "Sweet Leilani" is really my favorite after repeated viewings.

Bing plays a publicity agent Tony Marvin working for a pineapple company taking part in a native wedding feast and becomes involved in a scheme to escort a beauty contest winner, played by Shirley Ross. Ms. Ross has a nice, appealing presence and does a very good job playing Bing's love interest and the "Miss Pineapple Queen" winner on her trip to Hawaii.

I also enjoyed George Barbier, Martha Raye, Bob Burns, and an interesting early appearance by Anthony Quinn as one of the Hawaiian natives.

Frank Tuttle's direction gets a little slack in the second half, but the music and Bing's timeless singing are all you need to enjoy "Waikiki Wedding".