Hawaii Calls finds young Bobby Breen on a boy's life adventure trip to what would become our 50th state. The film is complete with Japanese spies and everything three years before we got into World War II.
Truth be told orphan Breen hasn't got a whole lot going for him. His parents were killed in a plane crash, but he dreams of being a pilot like his aviator dad. On an impulse Breen and his pal Pua Lani stow away on a cruise ship bound for Honolulu. Would you believe that Ned Sparks takes pity on them and Breen gets to sing for his supper with the Raymond Paige orchestra which is the nightly entertainment on the boat.
But Bobby and Pua jump ship and swim to shore before the law catches him and can send him back to the mainland. And on shore he gets involved with Pua's family and with another pair of tourists Naval commander Warren Hull and wife Gloria Holden. It's here where the nasty Japanese spies come into the story.
No one outrightly says that the foreign power after some top secret documents that Hull is carrying is Japan, but in 1938 the Sino-Japanese War was in full swing with Japanese atrocities in China part of the newsreel footage being shown, no doubt with this film among others. A better picture could not be drawn.
Some traditional Hawaiian songs were given to Bobby to sing and some new stuff written by Hawaiian composer Harry Owens who doubled as conductor of the Orchestra at Honolulu's famous Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Owens was fresh of his Oscar for Sweet Leilani which Bing Crosby introduced the year before in Waikiki Wedding.
All in all a nice film from far more innocent times.
Truth be told orphan Breen hasn't got a whole lot going for him. His parents were killed in a plane crash, but he dreams of being a pilot like his aviator dad. On an impulse Breen and his pal Pua Lani stow away on a cruise ship bound for Honolulu. Would you believe that Ned Sparks takes pity on them and Breen gets to sing for his supper with the Raymond Paige orchestra which is the nightly entertainment on the boat.
But Bobby and Pua jump ship and swim to shore before the law catches him and can send him back to the mainland. And on shore he gets involved with Pua's family and with another pair of tourists Naval commander Warren Hull and wife Gloria Holden. It's here where the nasty Japanese spies come into the story.
No one outrightly says that the foreign power after some top secret documents that Hull is carrying is Japan, but in 1938 the Sino-Japanese War was in full swing with Japanese atrocities in China part of the newsreel footage being shown, no doubt with this film among others. A better picture could not be drawn.
Some traditional Hawaiian songs were given to Bobby to sing and some new stuff written by Hawaiian composer Harry Owens who doubled as conductor of the Orchestra at Honolulu's famous Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Owens was fresh of his Oscar for Sweet Leilani which Bing Crosby introduced the year before in Waikiki Wedding.
All in all a nice film from far more innocent times.