Honolulu (1939)

Director:

Edward Buzzell

Writers:

Herbert Fields (screenplay) and
Frank Partos (screenplay)

Release Date:

3 February 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

Hundreds of lovely hula girls . . . scores of lilting songs . . . spectacle to make you marvel !

Plot:

Movie star Brooks Mason tries to avoid his fans and spend some weeks on vacation. When Hawaiian plantage-owner...

Plot Keywords:

Hawaii | Dancer | Vacation | Actor | Jail

Cast

Eleanor Powell	...	Miss Dorothy 'Dot' March
Robert Young	...	Brooks Mason&George Smith&David in the movie
George Burns	...	Joe Duffy
Gracie Allen	...	Millicent 'Millie' De Grasse
Rita Johnson	...	Cecelia Grayson
Clarence Kolb	...	Mr. Horace Grayson
Jo Ann Sayers	...	Nurse
Ann Morriss	...	Gale Brewster
Willie Fung	...	Wong, Mason's Hawaiian Servant
Cliff Clark	...	First Detective
Edward Gargan	...	Second Detective
Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson	...	Washington, Mason's Hollywood Servant (as Eddie Anderson)
Sig Ruman	...	Professor Timmer, Psychiatrist (as Sig Rumann)
Ruth Hussey	...	Eve, David's wife in the Movie
Kealohu Holt	...	Native Dancing Girl (as Kealoha Holt)

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #4999)

Company:

Loew's

Trivia:

The entire "Hola E Pae" number of the Hawaiian Medley was inserted into the movie I Dood It (1943).

Quotes:

[Millie has just spotted movie star Brooks Mason on the deck of a cruise ship]
Millicent 'Millie' De Grasse: My dream man! I'm gonna meet him in person. And I'm warning you, if he makes one false move, I'm his!
Miss Dorothy 'Dot' March: I suppose you think it'll do you a lot of good to throw yourself at him.
Millicent 'Millie' De Grasse: Throw myself at him? If I thought it would do any good, I'd have myself shot at him out of a cannon!

Movie Connections:

Featured in 100 Years of Comedy (1997) (V)

Soundtrack:

The Leader Doesn't Like Music

An enigma if there ever was one.

(Spoilers, sort of) Why do I use the word enigma? Because MGM never seemed to know exactly what to do with the great Eleanor Powell. Not unlike the swimming Esther Williams, Powell's films were a kind of specialized musical entertainment where the most uncanny situations had to be dreamed up to show off her tap-dancing skills. And while she was a premier tap dancer- and a better dancer than an actress, she usually danced alone- unlike her male counterparts (Astaire, Kelly, et al) who were usually given dancing partners who doubled as their love interests. In this film, Powell's co-star is the non-dancing Robert Young, who's given a rather foolish subplot in a dual role as a movie star and his double who create havoc when they switch identities. And that's all there is to it. George Burns and Gracie Allen, billed as the second leads, play more apart than they do together. Powell's dance numbers, of course, are sensational: A stair-step routine paying homage to Bill Robinson (while the blackface makeup is startling, the dancing itself is terrific); a shipboard dance with a skipping rope as a prop; and the piece-de-resistance: an all-out grass skirt hula done in two parts: first as a barefoot native dance, then as an ultra-smooth tap sequence done with silver tap shoes. Powell may have been the only woman dancer to dance with her whole body: lots of arm movements, knee bends, splits, high kicks, and puree-speed turns. It's a fun film to watch just for this incredible number.