Song of the Islands

Not so much a comedy as an opportunity to show off Betty Grable's million-dollar gams, this stinker is rendered unwatchable largely upon the arrival of two idiots (played by Victor Mature and Jack Oakie) to a fictional Hawaiian island inhabited by rival white guys and a tribe of good-hearted natives. For some unfathomable reason Oakie is pursued by a native woman and her cannibalistic cohort, both of whom are man hungry, so to speak. The absurdity of Grable as having grown up on the island and thereby mastering the hula outweighs the genuinely Hawaiian musical interludes, and although it was filmed in color, most of the sea scenes are obviously movie sets.

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.

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!

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.

I'm not sure but that Song of the Islands was had been done before December 7, 1941 and definitely before US servicemen started bleeding and dying in the South Seas. There certainly is no mention of World War II at all in this escapist Betty Grable film where she's poaching on Dorothy Lamour's south sea territory.

I'm sure that Darryl Zanuck must have saw the kind of money that Paramount was raking in with those Dorothy Lamour sarong pictures. So why not put the woman who had risen to be their top musical star in the tropics. They gave Betty a hula grass skirt instead of a sarong, the better to show her legs with.

Zanuck was also smart enough not to pass the blond Grable as a native Hawaiian. She's come home to teach school on the island where her father, Thomas Mitchell, has a small place, but also where George Barbier is the absentee owner of a cattle ranch.

Barbier's place is run by Hal Spencer, but Victor Mature and Jack Oakie sail over from America to see if they can buy out Mitchell. Mature is Barbier's son and of course when he and Grable meet, the inevitable sparks do fly.

Zanuck also put an official Hawaiian imprimatur on Song of the Islands by using Harry Owens to write the music with Mack Gordon's lyrics. Owens was the musical interpreter of Hawaii to the world, his most famous song being Sweet Leilani. And a Hawaiian national treasure named Hilo Hattie also appears in the film, singing in her inimitable style and setting her marriage cap for Jack Oakie.

It's all light and pleasant escapist entertainment and Song of the Islands is a good indication of why Betty Grable was the number one pin-up of GIs all over the globe. Except for Rita Hayworth.