Back in the days of the New Deal, America's effort to deal with the Depression, the movies were a way of escaping your problems. Films like Honeymoon in Bali were just what people wanted to see. The women in the audience certainly envied Madeleine Carroll who got to go to Bali in pursuit of Fred MacMurray.
A similar film had been done the year before, Joy of Living, with Irene Dunne leaving New York and the theater to sail off to the South Seas with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. A nice group of songs by Jerome Kern were also in the score for Irene to sing.
Honeymoon in Bali also had some real nice singing in the person of Allan Jones. He was part of a trade with Universal studios who got the services of Bing Crosby for two of their films. Jones is only in support here, he's a rival of MacMurray for Dunne. He plays a tenor with the Metropolitan Opera and gets to sing O Paradiso from L'Africana by Meyerbeer. He also sings Happy Birthday with singing telegraph boy Bennie Bartlett.
This film is typical work for Fred MacMurray, the light leading man in many Paramount comedies. He was more often teamed with Carole Lombard during this period, but Madeleine Carroll was every bit the able substitute for Lombard. I do get the feeling that this film may have originally been written with Lombard in mind. There's also a very droll performance by Akim Tamiroff as the wise and philosophical window washer.
Honeymoon in Bali is a very nice escapist type film that still holds up well today. What woman wouldn't want to spend their lives in Bali away from the stress of civilization with Fred MacMurray.
