davidjanuzbrown I watched this movie just to see Sidney Fox ( Sidney which was her REAL first name ( Lifer was the last), is one of the WORST first names for a woman in Motion Picture History ( Charlie Murphy might be the only name as bad)) in her final film is the only reason to watch this movie. Any scene without Fox is bad. Mary Boland as Queen of this Island and Sterling Holloway ( who has such a " Deer In The Headlights" look throughout the movie looks totally stoned) are particularly awful. I wonder if the creators of Gilligans Island saw this movie as an idea? Wealthy and average people ending up on an Island together? Even Gilligan who was pretty stupid in the Series is The Professor compared to the morons in this movie which was EVERYONE except ( Linda Colt-Stratton ( Fox) and Barry Forbes ( Sidney Blackmer) who spoilers ahead: Ends up with Linda). I can only hope that Charlie Murphy has a better career and fate then Sidney Fox who committed suicide at age 34. Needless to say that I despised this movie and give it zero stars. The best thing is Fox and the WORST thing is Fox? Why? She is the only one decent but without her I never would have watched this movie which belongs in the Top Ten All-Time WORST film list.

ptb-8 This 70 minute film made at huge expense at RK0 was their entry into the scatterbrain comedies of the early 30s like DUCK SOUP and MILLION DOLLAR LEGS. Madcap social anarchy mixed with silly kingdoms and sprinkled with songs. KING KELLY OF THE USA and HIPS HIPS HOORAY also fall into this format of two separate halves of a film making up the 60-70 minute running time. In this catastrophe comedy the first 30 minutes aboard the yacht of the title are quite terrific with two truly divine songs set in art deco splendor akin to an Astaire Rogers film: 'Funny little World' especially is worth listening (and watching) over and over. 'The little finger on your hand' is a lilting wistful song and equally memorable and well staged. However..... it all runs aground on some dirt puddle island and complete 'wackiness' takes over. The second half is simply terrible with the shipwrecked socialites living and working like natives while the Polynesians wear silks and top hats and get ordered around by a deranged 'queen' Mary Boland. The film completely falls apart, as if two completely different films were made and wedged together. However the production values are spectacular. I truly love the first half on the yacht. I truly gasp in sheer embarrassment at the second half. as one friend said to me after we lurched thru it: "you sure have shown me some silly films, but that was the silliest"............And not fun either. Apparently it cost half a million dollars in 1934... an epic disaster financially for such a support film.

zpzjones This may be a programmer from RKO but I saw ambition especially in the production values. And some of the music and songs are by Max Steiner. But I'm a Mary Boland fan. She's wonderful in any thing she appears in usually as Charlie Ruggles wife henpecking him. Well poor Charlie is not in this. Mary is the Queen of her own island visited by some down on their luck socialites from the mainland. These people played by Sidney Blackmer, Sidney Fox and her mother played by Marjorie Gateson decide to lease their yacht for a cruise. On board are the zany likes of Polly Moran, Irene Franklin and Sterling Holloway. Captain of the yacht on this cruise is Ned Sparks who, it seems, 'deliberately' runs the yacht aground on Mary's island. Hmmm! it almost turns out that goofy Sparks was working for Mary as Mary's plan was to find herself a husband from the mainland. Spoiler! She ends up with one of them but I won't say. When the castaways find out that they were purposely trapped on the island they try to get away only to be prevented by Mary's islander posse.But apart from the societal hijinks the movie comes and goes and doesn't overstay it's welcome. It was a wise diversion to add musical numbers in this. They are excellently sung by singers who are native Pacific islanders. And it elevates the movie from being a typical programmer or time waster. Comically the socialites who came in on the yacht join in the chorus at the close of the movie and you know what? They're not half bad. Some will recognize Sterling Holloway in an early performance having trouble playing his Saxophone in the yacht's orchestra.

mark.waltz A family of blue-bloods made destitute by the depression are scammed into leasing out their yacht and posing as crew to tacky "new money", one of whom is their former cook. The scam turns out to be a plot by the gruff captain (Ned Sparks, the Walter Matthau of his day) to shipwreck them on a desert island run by a madcap queen (Mary Boland) and escape with their money. Of course, things go afoul has the queen as plans of her own.Such is the basic plot of this pre-code comedy with a few musical numbers thrown in for good measure. It was the era of Astaire and Rogers at RKO, and in their other musicals, RKO attempted to give them the gloss of the popular dance team. This relatively short film (just over an hour) was a major disaster in its day according to "The Hollywood Musical", but seen today, it is fairly fun, campy, and a passable time-filler. There is nothing remarkable in the songs or numbers (except one production number, "South Sea Bolero"), and the romantic leads (Sidney Fox and Sidney Blackmer) are uninteresting. The character parts, however, add humor, especially Spark's grumpy ship's captain, Boland's dizzy queen, and Polly Moran's butch cruise director. Throw in Sterling Holloway (the voice of Winnie the Pooh), and you have enough humor to make this an adequate second feature.The comic moments (most notably Holloway's rigging of a roulette table) are enjoyable, but there is a somewhat disturbing portrayal of South Sea Islanders as lazy folks who do nothing but make love all day. There was plenty of eye-raising and "I can't believe they said that!" among my friends whom I watched this with, but just another example of what Hollywood "used" to be like. I view it as an interesting idea with tacky elements thrown in that make this film a product of its times.