Two years before disguising himself as a sailor in the movie version of Cole Porter's "Anything Goes", Bing Crosby played a sailor employed by Carole Lombard on her yacht who yearns to tame the shrew as much as she yearns to be tamed by him. The original "Anything Goes" script intended a shipwreck but the Morotania disaster kibashed that plan. Ethel Merman may not have ended up on a deserted island as Reno Sweeney, but she does here, stealing the musical sequences with a comical dance number called "It's an Old Spanish Custom", sung to her dipsomaniac fiancée, the much older Leon Errol.
The best gags come from Burns and Allen as a scientist and his dimwit wife exploring the island for flora and fauna. Allen is a riot showing Burns her animal trap and mistaking George's description of her as "daffy" as his promise of giving her a box of "taffy". You won't be surprised to learn that she is really looking forward to meeting both Flora and Fauna, who like Godot, never arrive.
A young Ray Milland is one of two broke European princes looking for a wealthy American socialite, having their eyes set on Lombard who really shows her talent for screwball comedy. Bing is a bit more rugged and relaxed here, getting to wrestle with a tame, roller-skating bear (a sight that has to be seen to be believed) and isn't afraid of standing up to the imperious Lombard.
The connections to "The Admiral Crichton" are documented here with a reference to the play, something one of the film's writers (George F. Marion) had forgotten to do a few years earlier with the the less memorable "Let's Go Native!". It is a major shame that la Merm's big production number, "It's the Animal in Me", was cut, although a brief reprise was heard at the end, and the cut footage ended up in the next "Big Broadcast" film.
The best gags come from Burns and Allen as a scientist and his dimwit wife exploring the island for flora and fauna. Allen is a riot showing Burns her animal trap and mistaking George's description of her as "daffy" as his promise of giving her a box of "taffy". You won't be surprised to learn that she is really looking forward to meeting both Flora and Fauna, who like Godot, never arrive.
A young Ray Milland is one of two broke European princes looking for a wealthy American socialite, having their eyes set on Lombard who really shows her talent for screwball comedy. Bing is a bit more rugged and relaxed here, getting to wrestle with a tame, roller-skating bear (a sight that has to be seen to be believed) and isn't afraid of standing up to the imperious Lombard.
The connections to "The Admiral Crichton" are documented here with a reference to the play, something one of the film's writers (George F. Marion) had forgotten to do a few years earlier with the the less memorable "Let's Go Native!". It is a major shame that la Merm's big production number, "It's the Animal in Me", was cut, although a brief reprise was heard at the end, and the cut footage ended up in the next "Big Broadcast" film.