Product Details

• Actors: Betty Grable, Victor Mature, Jack Oakie, Thomas Mitchell, George Barbier
• Format: NTSC
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000NDI4OS
• For more information about "Song of the Islands" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Trouble in paradise when Cheesecake meets Beefcake, August 11, 1999

By 

Tom McGee (Glasgow, Scotland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Song of the Islands [VHS] (VHS Tape)

It's Techicolor gone haywire in this romantic comedy musical when Betty Grable returns to her South Seas island home and meets up with a rancher's playboy son Victor Mature (who died this week) and falls in and out of love - several times. Catchy tunes, lush locations (on the Fox backlot!) and Grable - in a grass skirt - does a mean hula-hula number backed up by a bevy of Hawaiian beauties. Timeless comedy from Jack Oakie, Hilo Hattie, Thomas Mitchell and Billy Gilbert - as a cannibal. The only question the critics asked was why did it take four scriptwriters to put this confection together! Never mind, it helped us take our minds off World War Two. And Grable made her best ever entrance in a movie when she sails into a lagoon singing the title song. Fine escapist fare.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Zowie!, October 4, 2002

By 

"gryphonisle" (SAN FRANCISCO!) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Song of the Islands [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Oh Spare Me! No this is not high cinematic art. Nor is it high camp (All About Eve, Sunset Boulevard)this is just great Old Hollywood. Too good for the folks that thrive on cinematic trash for the trash element (The Blob, Pink Flamingoes)and not campy enough for the Crawford/Davis gang. This is High Hollywood Formula (Check out Weekend in Havana, similar story, almost the same castbut WOW!)
Here's the basics: A stud (Victor Mature) and his lackey drift onto a pacific isle. They meet a "native" (Betty Grable) and off they go on a love chase. Except there's a land use issue, some capitalist thorns, and (Victor's) old man flies in from Chicago. No, we can't have this. Or can we? Turns out that Grable's old man has some philosophies of his own. Intertwined with all of this are some first rate musical numbers, especially the jitterbug/hula fandango at the end.
Bezerkley types will certainly be offended by the cannibal stereotype that sullies this otherwise well aged film. But then, as we often say on this side of the bay (when OUR views are not being challenged) Get Over IT!
The final number is a hot '40s dance theme that will keep all but the most determined cynics and clones whistling for days.
One interesting aspect for those of a historical bent, is the file footage of cattle being loaded onto a boat from the water, a classic Hawaiian ranching scene that used to be commonplace.
Another interesting historical note is that the film is registered 1942, but there are no war references, so this is obviously one of the last of the pre-december 7th productions in the pipeline before the war took over Hollywood.
So it ain't high art. Relax. You're not drinking good enough wine. Try something else, and WATCH THIS FILM!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Pin-Up Girl and the Pineapple Guy say Aloha, April 19, 2008

By 

Lon + (Mpls / Maui) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Song of the Islands (DVD)

Betty Grable is all peaches and cream and spectacular curves as she hulas her way to Hawaii. Song of the Islands also stars one of her favorite leading men, Victor Mature, one of her favorite supporting stars, Jack Oakie, and one of her favorite directors, Walter Lang. Put them all together in glorious Technicolor with plenty of songs, dances and comedy for one of Betty's biggest box office hits. Nothing serious here, folks, but musical-comedy fluff from Fox's backlot at its best. And the number one movie star of the 1940s---Betty Grable!