Waikiki Wedding

Waikiki Wedding delivers a bit more than you would expect from one of Bing Crosby's musical trifles of the 1930's. A couple of hit songs, some dynamic dance numbers, and a lot of genuinely funny, if somewhat broad, gags from rustic Arkansas comedian Bob Burns and big-mouth comedienne Martha Raye. Burns and Rae get riotous support in their department from a certain pal of theirs we'll get to later.

This very likable, laid-back musical comedy is set in romantic, tuneful Hawaii, never mind the cast never actually got any closer to said Pacific isles than the Los Angeles Arboretum and Botanic Garden. If the lavishly constructed sets looked like Hawaii, who cares. The huge cast of Hawaiian natives were all natives, all right. Well, at least two or three were genuine Hawaiians, but the others were all natives -- of Mexico, Latin America, and well...Chicago, maybe. Who cares, it was such great fun! Great music, great singing by Bing and minor leading lady but major singer Shirley Ross, and the "Hawaiian" chorus. Accademy Award nominated dance direction with a terrific foot-stomping number on tom-toms by a well-constructed, Latino-looking babe. The aforementioned broad humor by Burns, Raye, and a platoon of wacky character actors led by George Barbier and a bespectacled Leif Erickson, demonstrating that he had more than a serious side.

This little movie coughed up two hit songs: Accademy Award-winning Sweet Leilani, written by Harry Owens and sung by Bing and chorus, and Blue Hawaii, written by Ralf Raigner and Leo Robin and sung several times by Crosby, Ross, and chorus. While Sweet Leilani got the honors in 1937, Blue Hawaii has proved the more durable, going through several revivals the next three decades, and remaining popular even today. Miss Ross only got one solo song, A Little Hula Heaven, in which to really show what a good voice she had.

Bob Burns' folksy, humorous philosophizing and Martha Raye's mugging slapstick will not be appreciated by all, especially those too sophisticated to have a good belly laugh. I liked Burns, but then I'm a hick, too. I tried not to like Martha, but I found myself laughing at her anyway. But the funniest and most charismatic character in this enjoyable picture was, without doubt, Burns' pet pig Wolford! Yours truly usually hates cutesy animals in movies (see my review of We're Not Dressing), but with two exceptions: pigs and chickens, both of which are funny no matter what they are doing. This little Wolford guy was a riot all the way! Surely that porker must have been the great-great-great-great-grandfather of Arnold Ziffel. As you listen to Bob Burns and watch the antics of Wolford, you may start feeling like you have gone to Green Acres.

But never mind, there is a lot for everyone in this entertaining, well turned out Crosby musical comedy Waikiki Wedding.

Bing Crosby apparently spent a week in Hawaii on vacation or vacation and business and then Paramount made this film in its Hollywood studios and a California botanical garden. A second unit did go to Hawaii to film some of the scenic shots that were used in this film. This film was made nearly five years before the Japanese would bomb Pearl Harbor and lead the U. S. into WW II. People in the 21st century may not realize that Hawaii then - from the early to well past the mid-20th century, had an exotic allure, especially to Americans. While there had been an American presence on the islands for several decades, and considerable military and naval bases, it would be 22 years after this film before Hawaii became the 50th state of the U. S. A.

That bit of historical background might help modern audiences to understand the somewhat strangeness of the plot for this film. The film is a musical and comedy, and it won an Oscar for best original song< "Sweet Leilani," which became a Bing Crosby favorite over time. "Blue Hawaii" was another memorable song, but none of the rest of the music was memorable. The comedy was so-so, probably better to audiences of that time than it would seem to most people today.

The strangeness in the film are the scenes relative to returning a supposed special large black pearl to a specific location to appease the god that was threatening a volcanic eruption. And, much of the native dances in these scenes is Hollywood creation. The idea for the plot is okay, surrounding a pineapple queen; but the story just doesn't gel very well. The lead opposite Crosby's Ton Marvin was played by Shirley Ross as Georgia Smith. She had a fine voice and made some movies but never became a big star in cinema, She had some good recordings but after 1945 retired from filmdom and settled down to raise her family

Oh, yes, and as some others have noted, there's a young Anthony Quinn in this film. He has a moderately good supporting role as Kimo. Quinn would go on to have high success in cinema, including winning two Oscars.

Even those who enjoy musicals may find this film rather slow going, and with little memorable music.

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

"Waikiki Wedding" is a very lightweight film starring Bing Crosby. While it is quite watchable, sometimes the humor is very, very broad and the story a bit predictable.

When the film begins, the big boss at a pineapple company is upset because Miss Pineapple is upset. It seems that the lady who won this beauty contest and who has been brought to Hawaii is NOT enjoying her stay and things that all the talk about romance in the islands is a sham. And, if she goes home and talks about her experiences, it can't help but hurt sales. So, the company's #1 brain, Marvin (Crosby) concocts a long and complicated scheme to give her some excitement and romance. The only trouble is after a while, Marvin has really fallen for her and he feels like a rat.

So why do I give this light romance only a 5? Well, to put it very succinctly--Martha Raye. The comedienne has never been one of my favorites but here she is just awful--very, very broad and annoying. I think without the humor, the film would have actually worked better as I liked the romance. Still, it's a decent little time-passer if you can get past Raye's annoying antics--and the presence of a wild chimp living in the jungles of Hawaii!