Song of the Islands

Nice light-hearted musical set in beautiful Hawaii with Betty Grable playing Eileen O'Brien, the daughter of an Irishman played by Thomas Mitchell and Victor Mature playing her love interest. The film is full of enjoyable songs although sadly one of them, "Blue shadows and white gardenias", sang by Mature (dubbed byBen Gage) to Grable was cut from the movie (probably from the scene both share on a boat at night). Also cut -but slightly watchable in the trailer- is Betty Grable being transported on a throne chair as the queen of the luau party. From the bright start with all the natives preparing a lunch while Harry Owens's version of Hawaiian war chant Kaua i ka Huahua'i (Ta-Hu-Wa-Hu-Wai) plays as background music the film is pure escapist delight. Miss Grable delightfully sings Sing me a song of the islands when arriving to the island on a boat and then the luau party, with Hilo Hattie and Betty Grable singing funny Down on Ami Ami Oni Oni Isle -each one in her own style. Then the movie tends to go down a bit -too much Jack Oakie routines although still has its moments, specially in the grand finale with Hillo Hattie singing Cockeyed Mayor of Kaunakakai and Betty Grable singing and dancing O'Brien Has Gone Hawaiian (a Hawaiian-Irish-tap dance mix-mach) although I have much preferred miss Grable doing a Hawaiian style routine with Hawaiian music and dancing only. Hermes Pan, usually a brilliant choreographer, is not at his top here, mixing too many styles in one dance. The combination of Hawaiian style with Irish and tap dance is a bit too much of a mélange. Although could have been improved with some minor changes (i.e, there is a sequence at the beginning of the film where miss Grable brings a bathtub to the island that could have been used with her having a bath while singing a song like Deanna Durbin did in Can't help singing) it is still a beautiful, entertaining and recommended movie to watch.

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.

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.

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.

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!