King of the Islands (1936)
** (out of 4)
Technicolor short from MGM has a shipwrecked sailor (Warren Hymer) washing on shore of an island where the locals believe they have to give their Princess (Wini Shaw) to the volcano. The street-talking, NYC native decides he loves the Princess so he tries to win her heart. This film is like so-many early Technicolor films in that it's great to watch for the colors but everything else is pretty much lacking. The actual story is rather lame and it's doubtful anyone will fall for the love story going on. I think it's fair to say that everyone knew the important thing was the color so the story, direction and musical numbers were mailed in. We get two or three musical numbers but not a single second of any of them are entertaining or worth viewing. At twenty-minutes the film goes on way too long without anything interesting happening. Shaw and her rather provocative top are nice to look at but Hymer's mugging of the screen isn't all that charming. As many bad things that are here I must still recommend the movie for those who are interested in the early color films. The entire "look" of the film is marvelous and we get some really beautiful looking scenes including the colors at the top of the coconut tree. You'll certainly notice the scene when it happens because the colors are simply amazing.
** (out of 4)
Technicolor short from MGM has a shipwrecked sailor (Warren Hymer) washing on shore of an island where the locals believe they have to give their Princess (Wini Shaw) to the volcano. The street-talking, NYC native decides he loves the Princess so he tries to win her heart. This film is like so-many early Technicolor films in that it's great to watch for the colors but everything else is pretty much lacking. The actual story is rather lame and it's doubtful anyone will fall for the love story going on. I think it's fair to say that everyone knew the important thing was the color so the story, direction and musical numbers were mailed in. We get two or three musical numbers but not a single second of any of them are entertaining or worth viewing. At twenty-minutes the film goes on way too long without anything interesting happening. Shaw and her rather provocative top are nice to look at but Hymer's mugging of the screen isn't all that charming. As many bad things that are here I must still recommend the movie for those who are interested in the early color films. The entire "look" of the film is marvelous and we get some really beautiful looking scenes including the colors at the top of the coconut tree. You'll certainly notice the scene when it happens because the colors are simply amazing.