Thoughts From The Music(al) Man (2018) on… Waikiki Wedding (1937)

And we’re off to Hawaii, for the 1937 movie Waikiki Wedding, with Bing Crosby, Bob Burns, Martha Raye and Shirley Ross.

Bing plays Tony Marvin, who works to help promote a pineapple company from Hawaii.  He first thinks of a contest, where the winner receives a trip to Hawaii, and is supposed to write some articles on their trip.  However, the winner, Georgia Smith (Shirley Ross), has no plans to write any positive articles, as she doesn’t enjoy the trip.  So Tony, along with his friend Shad Buggle, must now find a way to help her find what she was looking for.

This is a movie I enjoy.  Maybe not the best, but definitely worth some fun.  Songs in this movie include “Blue Hawaii,” the Oscar winning “Sweet Leilani,” “Sweet Is The Word For You” and “In A Little Hula Heaven.”  “Sweet Leilani” and “Blue Hawaii” are the songs most worth mentioning.  Obviously, everybody knows the song “Blue Hawaii” from when Elvis sang it, but it was actually written for Bing with this movie.  Apparently, they thought it would be the hit song for this movie, but instead “Sweet Leilani” ended up being the hit.  Admittedly, the Oscar win for “Sweet Leilani” is debatable, as the song itself is now forgotten, especially compared to another song nominated that year, “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” from the Astaire-Rogers movie Shall We Dance.

As I said, I do enjoy this movie.  It is fun to see a movie about Hawaii before it became a state.  Personally, I enjoy the 1939 movie Honolulu better, but this one is still worth watching.

The movie is available on DVD from Universal, either alone or as part of several sets.