Waikiki Wedding

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.

Aside from setting the story amidst the palm trees and hula skirts of Hawaii, this hasn't anything akin to an original bone in it's body and is really only a vehicle for a distinctly mediocre Bing Crosby. He's the sort of PR man who could turn a sow's ear into a silk purse, and when his client moves their pineapple business to his fair shores, he decides what better way to promote the whole enterprise than to stage a competition. The winner gets an all expenses paid trip, provided they write a diary extolling the virtues of the islands. What could go wrong? Well the prize is won by "Georgia" (Shirley Ross) but she can't really stand the place and no sooner has she arrived than she wants to go home! "Tony" (Bing) can't have that so with the help of his fishing buddy "Shad" (Bob Burns) embarks on a convoluted scheme to keep there and - well from now on you can guess the rest. Now there is quite a fun tomato-throwing game played later in the film and there are also a few lively traditional dance routines peppered with a little traditional and enthusiastic mythology to keep us going too. On the crooning front, Crosby delivers the film's Oscar winning, but entirely forgettable, "Sweet Leilani" and a song called "Blue Hawaii" too - but the whole film just never takes off. It's flat, predictable and all the faux who-will-marry-whom stuff is all old hat. I'm afraid that I did struggle to make it through to the end and I doubt I will bother again.

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

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.

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.