Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

MikeMagi How many clichés can you pack into one movie? Paramount answered the question with "Waikiki Wedding." You've got lithe dancing natives (a few of whom actually look like they're from the islands,) miles of leis, a mysterious black pearl, a volcano that's about to blow, a contest to name Miss Pineapple and even Anthony Quinn (yep, that Anthony Quinn) as a local roustabout. All that's missing are the nuptials of the title. Bing Crosby saunters through the stereotypes as an idea man for a fruit company who spends most of his time lolling on his sailboat, dreaming up promotion stunts and singing island refrains. Toss in a pair of walking clichés -- Martha Raye and Bob Burns -- and appreciate that this was what Crosby had to go through before the studio recognized his potential.

weezeralfalfa The film credits omitted one of the main players: Wolford: Arkansas bumpkin Bob Burn's pet mini pig, who accompanies him everywhere and is frequently seen throughout. Zany Martha Raye even claimed he won first prize in a dog show, to pay for Bob's jail bail. This was the second and last film pairing of Martha and Bob, again cast as an impromptu pair of slow-witted clowns. Unlike their first pairing, Bob doesn't get to play his unique 'bazooka' musical instrument, thus Wolford serves as his unusual 'prop'. When the stolen sacred necklace the gang is trying to return to the natives is dropped by butterfingers Georgia Smith(Shirley Ross), it lands around Wolford's neck, below. Startled, he runs off into the forest. Bob gives a sampling of his 'championship' hog calling talent, resulting in the appearance of a mob of pigs, along with Wolford. When Martha tries to imitate Bob, it sounds like Johnny Weismuller's Tarzan call, and the pigs all scatter.As in her first Paramount film, Martha gets to do one of her zany vaudeville-styled songs, entitled "Okolehau", which is the name of the native alcoholic drink, usually made from tubers of the Ti shrub, which was also very important in providing leaves for their roofs and skirts. Martha had a good swing of this liquor before her performance, as part of the celebration surrounding the return of the stolen black pearl necklace. It was hoped this would placate the angry spirit causing Pelee volcano to rumble. but Pelee blew her top anyway, causing the native priest to declare the necklace a fake. Incidentally, the infamous Pelee , which 'blew its top' in 1902, killing many thousands, is in the eastern Caribbean, not Hawaii, where the volcanoes spew non-explosive magma, having little dissolved gases, which are the cause of explosive eruptions.Judging by their names,probably few of the 'natives' were genuine, or at least were not full-blooded. This includes a young Anthony Quinn. Nonetheless, most do come across as genuine, and we are treated to a number of festivals, with much singing and dancing. The actors never got to Hawaii, the film being shot mostly in the LA Arboretum or studio. However, periodically, clearly we do have shots of the real Hawaii in the background.The screen play often makes little sense. Why did Bing, as publicity manager of a Pineapple firm, have to reach to Birch Falls,Iowa, to find a 'Pineapple Princess', flown in for a 3 week publicity campaign, promised a romantic time, as well??. It's never explained why Martha apparently accompanied her, as her roommate? Soon after arriving, Georgia inexplicably complains she is bored and is thinking of soon leaving, bad publicity for Hawaii's tourism image! So, Bing is hauled off his fishing yacht, and told to do something to prevent Georgia from leaving. He organizes an evening serenade with some native men, and himself as the chief singer of "Blue Hawaii". Yes, long before Elvis claimed it as his own, this classic was composed for this film and was sung twice, as well as during the opening credits. Eventually ,Martha, not Georgia, emerges from the bungalow, enthralled that she has been serenaded, and jumps into Bob's arms. Bing is not impressed, and leaves to work on his yacht, near the ticket booth for the ocean liner China Clipper. I'm not aware of any actual ocean liner by that name, but Glenn Martin famously inaugurated trans-Pacific air service just the year before this film was made, with its three China Clippers! In fact, when Georgia's suspicious boyfriend, back in Iowa, rushes to find out what Georgia is up to, he presumably arrives via a China Clipper, seen overhead in one shot! Anyway, Bing meets Georgia while working on his boat, and they have a humorous, if inauspicious, introduction, in which he discovers that she is the real Pineapple Princess. By inadvertently getting mixed up in the stolen black pearl necklace affair, Georgia misses the ship home. Bing proceeds to make her stay memorable, beginning with a repeat of his "Blue Hawaii". Of course, when it's time to go home, she has to choose between Bing and her old stuffy boyfriend : a close call, with Bing requiring an accomplice.Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin did a commendable job with the scores, which included all but the academy award-winning "Sweet Leilani", composed a few years earlier by Hawaii-based Harry Owens, in honor of his new daughter. Bing insisted that it be included, over the vehement objections of producer Hornblow. Although memorable, I'm surprised "Blue Hawaii" didn't win the award instead! Shirely Ross(as Georgia) was also a good singer, if lacking much charisma. Besides accompanying Bing with "Blue Hawaii", she does ""In a Little Hula Heaven" on her own, and reprises "Sweet is the Word for You", after Bing initiates it, as their romance heats up. Bing also sings one song, presumably Nani Ona Pua, in the native language.I can see why some people might be put off by Martha Raye's or Bob Burn's brands of humor, as dated. It's difficult to imagine Shirley as a woman Bing would get too excited about. Plenty of the native women were better looking and more pleasant, and Martha was way more charismatic. I would have preferred Betty Grable, who was with Paramount then, grossly under-appreciated, and would be paired with Martha as sisters the following year. Despite the often nonsensical screenplay, it's mostly a fast-moving fun time.

JohnHowardReid A mixed blessing. Bing, as usual is in fine form, and the songs are not only worth listening to because of Bing's mastery, but the Rainger-Robin numbers are reasonably attractive in their own right. Of course the stand-out is "Sweer Leilani" by Harry Owens. The story, however, is another matter. True, it starts most promisingly and for a while there it looks as if George Barbier and Grady Sutton are going to enjoy some stellar moments. But this promising sub-plot is soon all but junked in favor of a ridiculous lot of drivel about a stolen black pearl which the script writers themselves undermine when they turn it into a Clayton's affair. (For those unacquainted with liquor, the non-alcoholic Clayton's is extensively advertised as "the drink you have when you're not having a drink." Therefore a Clayton's plot is the plot you have when you're not having a plot). Poor old Anthony Quinn is cast in this segment and looks as puzzled by the script's casual turnabout as we do. Of course, if you decide midway through your movie to junk your plot, you've got to produce a substitute. This the writers promptly do. In fact, they produce two substitutes. The first is a series of strained slapstick scenes involving Martha Raye and Bob Burns, and the second a slightly more bearable but nonetheless ridiculous lot of twaddle involving Bob Burns and Leif Erickson. But the writers do have a nice trick up their sleeve for the Crosby-Ross fade-out. Unfortunately, they forgot to tell director Frank Tuttle to make sure the actress involved, Emma Dunn, played her scene tongue-in-cheek. Maybe they did tell him and Tuttle refused. Or maybe they simply assumed that Tuttle would cotton on. Anyway, as the movie now ends, thanks to Tuttle's incompetence, it leaves a sour taste in the mouth. No audience likes to feel that it's being taken for a ride and critics don't like it either. If a scene is tongue-in-cheek is supposed to be played that way. In fact, the whole movie is a tongue-in-cheek affair. Quinn is obviously aware of this. Understandably, he looks rather puzzled and plays at half steam – which is certainly a good decision, especially if you're not receiving any advice from a seemingly unaware director. Crosby, of course, just breezes trough the movie in his usual fine, casual style. And photographically, my hat's off to Robert C. Bruce who has enlivened his location material with some really captivating yachts-at-dusk footage.

lugonian 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. (***)