HONOLULU
US, 1938, 83 minutes, Black and white.
Robert Young, Eleanor Powell, Rita Johnson, Ruth Hussey, Eddie Anderson, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Clarence Kolb, Sig Ruman.
Directed by Edward Buzzell.
Honolulu is an amusing piece of 1938 M.G.M. fluff. It is an opportunity for Eleanor Powell to dance - which she does expertly. It is also an opportunity for Robert Young to exercise his charm - in a double role. There is enjoyable support from Gracie Allen, especially, and George Burns. Rita Johnson is the other woman.
The plot is slight, offering an opportunity for jokes about mistaken identities. There are some amusing interludes - especially a shipboard party where various passengers dress up and act as the stars, especially Mae West, song and dance routine with Gracie Allen as West with make-believe Marx Brothers and Eleanor Powell imitating Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson. Direction is by Edward Buzzell, who directed many MGM musicals and comedies.
1. Entertaining piece of '30s fluff? Musical, comedy?
2. MGM production values, black and white photography, editing and pace, techniques for Eleanor Powell’s dancing?
3. The musical score, songs, dance routines?
4. Brooks Mason as the glamorous star, his wanting to escape, changing places with George Smith, on ship and encountering Dorothy, the romance, at a loss in Honolulu, with Cecilia and her father, the complications about marriage, trying to contact George, the encounters with Joe, the complications of being arrested, the split timing for the marriage, happy ending? George Smith experiencing the hazards of being a famous star?
5. Dorothy and Eleanor Powell's style, heroine, dancer, mistaken identities? Millie and her friendship, complications, Gracie Allen's tangles with the English language? Song and dance routines? Send-up?
6. Cecilia and her love for George, sending him off, clashes with her father? Comedy routines? The wedding?
7. Joe and George Burns' comic style? The agent?
8. M.G.M's studio version of Hollywood, New York, shipboard and Honolulu?
