For all intents and purposes, this is the last "true" Ma and Pa Kettle film -- because it's the last to feature Percy Kilbride as Pa. As a last hurrah for Kilbride and Marjorie Main together, it's good fun and contains all the gags and charm that made the series so easy to like. Main is back to her rough and feisty self again as Ma, after acting a bit more refined in lesser recent offerings like AT THE FAIR and ON VACATION. There were a couple more Kettle movies to come (without Kilbride) but this one is a perfect way to end on a high note. Also features Lori Nelson (REVENGE OF THE CREATURE) as the Kettles' daughter. *** out of ****
9 Reviews
No Hawaiian Volcano can out-do the Kettle explosion.
mark.waltz18 May 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Ma Kettle was a volcano enough in the sticks; Imagine her in Hawaii! Here, Ma and Pa go to Honolulu to "aide" Pa's cousin (Loring Smith), a tired businessman much in need of a rest. He thinks that "P.A. Kettle" is savvy enough to run the business while he takes a long summer nap. Pa does, accidentally of course, encountering the typical string of villains that they did every time they left their modern model home. Daughter Lori Nelson tags along and finds romance with Pa's cousin's assistant, the handsome Byron Palmer.
Mildly amusing, this starts with typical Kettle shenanigans where the uppity Birdy Hicks (Esther Dale) and prickly spinster Dorothy Neumann get the brunt of the Kettle kid's pranksterish ways when they get caught in their sprinkler system. If Ma and Pa think the heat is on at home, just wait until they arrive in the land of pineapples and pure cane sugar where they encounter an amusing couple who are the Hawaiian version of themselves. Hawaiian born legend Hilo Hattie (so delightful in "Song of the Islands") is "Mama Lotus", who hasn't quite reached Ma's record of fifteen kids, but has run out of months to name any future ones. Charles Lung is "Papa Lotus", the retiring, rather lazy husband who shows Pa a few tricks or two about getting things done while napping. It's too bad that the Kettle kids weren't there to aide the Lotus kids while Ma and the Lotus parents set out to rescue Pa from some crooks who have kidnapped him. Hilo Hattie gets an adorable musical number, while "Ma" herself gets into hula gear in a luau finale.
Just like "Gilligan's Island's" Jim Backus had several years before, "G.I." veteran Russell Johnson is one of the villains, while "Bewitched's" Mabel Albertson "has one of her headaches" as the snooty wife of a bank president who hosts a cocktail party that Ma makes a shambles out of. It's all harmless fun, but sad to say, this was the last entry that Percy Kilbride would appear in. Marjorie Main went on alone for the next two films, rather shabbily I must say. Without Kilbride, the series was a pale imitation of itself, even if the formula had already started to run out of steam.
Mildly amusing, this starts with typical Kettle shenanigans where the uppity Birdy Hicks (Esther Dale) and prickly spinster Dorothy Neumann get the brunt of the Kettle kid's pranksterish ways when they get caught in their sprinkler system. If Ma and Pa think the heat is on at home, just wait until they arrive in the land of pineapples and pure cane sugar where they encounter an amusing couple who are the Hawaiian version of themselves. Hawaiian born legend Hilo Hattie (so delightful in "Song of the Islands") is "Mama Lotus", who hasn't quite reached Ma's record of fifteen kids, but has run out of months to name any future ones. Charles Lung is "Papa Lotus", the retiring, rather lazy husband who shows Pa a few tricks or two about getting things done while napping. It's too bad that the Kettle kids weren't there to aide the Lotus kids while Ma and the Lotus parents set out to rescue Pa from some crooks who have kidnapped him. Hilo Hattie gets an adorable musical number, while "Ma" herself gets into hula gear in a luau finale.
Just like "Gilligan's Island's" Jim Backus had several years before, "G.I." veteran Russell Johnson is one of the villains, while "Bewitched's" Mabel Albertson "has one of her headaches" as the snooty wife of a bank president who hosts a cocktail party that Ma makes a shambles out of. It's all harmless fun, but sad to say, this was the last entry that Percy Kilbride would appear in. Marjorie Main went on alone for the next two films, rather shabbily I must say. Without Kilbride, the series was a pale imitation of itself, even if the formula had already started to run out of steam.
The Best in the Series
Sargebri19 October 2003
This happens to be my personal favorite in the entire "Ma and Pa Kettle" series. I especially loved how the Kettle's met the Lotuses, a Hawaiian family, which is almost a mirror image of their own (the only differences are there are only twelve Lotus children as opposed to the fifteen Kettle kids and they aren't as rowdy as Ma and Pa's brood). Unfortunately, this is also the last appearance of Percy Kilbride in the role of Pa Kettle. His gentle humor was one of the ingredients that helped make this series what it was and after he left the series went downhill from there. At least he went out on a high note with this film.
Stretching the franchise pretty thin...
planktonrules12 September 2016
"Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki" is the last of the films in this series that starred Percy Kilbride as the title character, Pa Kettle. Considering the decline in quality, his choice to retire from films was not a bad one. Some fans of the series might really enjoy this one but others will probably just find it bizarre and ill-conceived.
When the film begins, you learn that over the years Pa Kettle has been corresponding with a cousin who now lives in Hawaii. The cousin is very successful and used to court Ma before she married...so Pa is trying to impress him with letters filled with all sorts of lies which make him sound like a business tycoon. The cousin surprisingly believes this and when his business and health are tottering on the edge, he calls for Pa to come to Hawaii to help him turn the company's fortunes for the better.
I actually did enjoy many of the Ma and Pa Kettle films but this one is ample evidence that the series had jumped the shark. Why are these country bumpkins in Hawaii, after all? And, the ending involving a Kettle-like Hawaiian family and organized crime is just slopping and stupid. Overall, a major disappointment and perhaps the reason Kilbride decided to call it a day. Also, the film sat for two years before being released...evidence that the studio also knew this one was a turkey.
When the film begins, you learn that over the years Pa Kettle has been corresponding with a cousin who now lives in Hawaii. The cousin is very successful and used to court Ma before she married...so Pa is trying to impress him with letters filled with all sorts of lies which make him sound like a business tycoon. The cousin surprisingly believes this and when his business and health are tottering on the edge, he calls for Pa to come to Hawaii to help him turn the company's fortunes for the better.
I actually did enjoy many of the Ma and Pa Kettle films but this one is ample evidence that the series had jumped the shark. Why are these country bumpkins in Hawaii, after all? And, the ending involving a Kettle-like Hawaiian family and organized crime is just slopping and stupid. Overall, a major disappointment and perhaps the reason Kilbride decided to call it a day. Also, the film sat for two years before being released...evidence that the studio also knew this one was a turkey.
This is a funny movie
minerals17 December 2005
Although this was the last movie that Pa Kettle was in it was a funny one. When Pa Kettle gets kidnapped and Ma starts looking for him it is so funny how after a while she is pulling the two wheeled cart that the local boy was once pulling her in. Then it gets really funny when both Ma and Pa meet that native lady and her husband who have 12 children. I think that native man and his wife are Hawaian versions of Ma and Pa because the Husband is as lazy as Pa Kettle and the Wife is as hard working as Ma Kettle. Plus the Children of the two native people match up to the 12 younger Kettle children because both sets of children have weapons to fight with. The Kettle Children have the Sling Shots to shoot with and the Hawaian children have things to trow coconuts with. This is one funny movie that should be watched over and over.
Be warned! I am not a Kettle fan!
JohnHowardReid27 May 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Copyright 1955 by Universal-International. U.S. release: April 1955. No New York showcase. Australian release: 10 December 1954 (sic). 79 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: In this entry, Pa has been bragging to his cousin in Honolulu about his great business abilities. When the cousin is taken ill, Pa is asked to supervise the pineapple plant. Ma and daughter Lori Nelson tag along. Pa causes pandemonium at the plant, by accidentally speeding up the production assembly line, causing a huge explosion. Meanwhile, Ma is invited into the island's top social circles where her rustic ways are not appreciated. To get Pa out of the way, a competitor of the cousin tricks Pa into traipsing off to another island, on the pretext that hidden treasure is buried there. Pa encounters a Hawaiian family which is a direct counterpart to the Kettles (i.e. lazy father, hard-working mother, a big brood of kids). Pa feels right at home.
NOTES: Number 8 in the 10-picture series. Percy Kilbride's last screen appearance. Kilbride, age 66, by now had had more than enough of the stereotyped Kettle assignment and refused to extend his Universal contract for the Kettle series. He also turned down a five-year $1 million contract to appear in a television version of the Kettles, with or without Marjorie Main. He then went into retirement, living as quietly as always. On 11 December 1964, at age 76, he died while undergoing brain surgery, as the result of being hit by a car while crossing the street near his home.
Due to the popularity of the Kettle films in Oz, Australian newspapers, even the conservative broadsheets, all made Kilbride's retirement front-page news. Universal wisely decided to capitalize on the publicity by releasing Waikiki for the peak Christmas season of 1954. Needless to say, the movie did terrific business everywhere in Oz, both in big cities and rural areas.
COMMENT: This latest entry in the Kettle saga is if anything even more blatantly vulgar than their previous adventures and we can certainly understand why, after this effort, Percy Kilbride decided to call it a day. The initial plot situation would seem to have some promise but it is ineptly developed along well-worn slapstick lines.
Lee Sholem's direction is just as dull and uninteresting as was Charles Lamont's. It is mostly filmed in long, static takes, while the characters talk and talk. Yet for all this talk there is hardly a single amusing line in the entire script. The film's only redeeming feature is the presence of some Universal starlets, notably blonde Claudette Thornton as Rodney's secretary.
Some use is made of stock footage, but production values are otherwise generally adequate.
NOTES: Number 8 in the 10-picture series. Percy Kilbride's last screen appearance. Kilbride, age 66, by now had had more than enough of the stereotyped Kettle assignment and refused to extend his Universal contract for the Kettle series. He also turned down a five-year $1 million contract to appear in a television version of the Kettles, with or without Marjorie Main. He then went into retirement, living as quietly as always. On 11 December 1964, at age 76, he died while undergoing brain surgery, as the result of being hit by a car while crossing the street near his home.
Due to the popularity of the Kettle films in Oz, Australian newspapers, even the conservative broadsheets, all made Kilbride's retirement front-page news. Universal wisely decided to capitalize on the publicity by releasing Waikiki for the peak Christmas season of 1954. Needless to say, the movie did terrific business everywhere in Oz, both in big cities and rural areas.
COMMENT: This latest entry in the Kettle saga is if anything even more blatantly vulgar than their previous adventures and we can certainly understand why, after this effort, Percy Kilbride decided to call it a day. The initial plot situation would seem to have some promise but it is ineptly developed along well-worn slapstick lines.
Lee Sholem's direction is just as dull and uninteresting as was Charles Lamont's. It is mostly filmed in long, static takes, while the characters talk and talk. Yet for all this talk there is hardly a single amusing line in the entire script. The film's only redeeming feature is the presence of some Universal starlets, notably blonde Claudette Thornton as Rodney's secretary.
Some use is made of stock footage, but production values are otherwise generally adequate.
love all the Ma and Pa movies
shaddowkape12 September 2010
Like the others, these movies are of a caliber that we do not have nowadays. In the mainstream of today's Hollywood we have lost the true concept of humor, as is expressed in the movies of old. Ma and Pa Kettle are right up there with Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Buster Keaton, etc. Very few of today's comic movie (and comedians) come close to the slapstick and antics of old. This movie was the last one with Percy Kilbride, too bad, for Ma and Pa could of went on for quite some time in my opinion. Overall, I think everyone ought to watch all of their movies, but this one was kinda unique in that it was (officially) their last together for Main and Kilbride. The latter ones just were not quite the same. I do have a question that maybe another person can answer, out of sheer curiosity does anyone know the lady in the swimsuit that walks by the pool on board the ship? Hell she's a knockout and she is not listed in the cast credits.
Trailer Trash
tedg10 July 2005
I wonder why there is such a persistent tradition in movies to depict low class folks comically.
Its usually done with apparent sympathy to the honest or simple values of our rubes, and the only people treated harshly are the rich (and bankers). "Beverly Hillbillies" was the extreme, I guess.
But the root of the thing is a sort of white minstrel mentality. While we chuckle over the dumbness (and in this case laziness) of these trailer park dummies (who seem to do nothing but rut and make more), isn't the point that we are superior?
Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.
Its usually done with apparent sympathy to the honest or simple values of our rubes, and the only people treated harshly are the rich (and bankers). "Beverly Hillbillies" was the extreme, I guess.
But the root of the thing is a sort of white minstrel mentality. While we chuckle over the dumbness (and in this case laziness) of these trailer park dummies (who seem to do nothing but rut and make more), isn't the point that we are superior?
Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.
A lot of fun
pmtelefon1 September 2020
"Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki" is a fun movie. It's a solid entry in the series. There are quite a few laughs and a ton of goodwill. As usual, Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride deliver the goods. The both get a lot of laughs. The supporting cast is good too. At 79 minutes "Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki" doesn't come close to wearing out its welcome. I enjoyed this installment and I plan on watching it again real soon.
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