Val Guest has a unique and witty sense of humour, which can be hilarious when used to good effect. Bees in Paradise begins promisingly, as most of his comedies do. The idea is a typical piece of Guestian idiocy - a tropical island is inhabited entirely by women; the only means for the women to reproduce is for them to marry shipwrecked sailors who turn up on the island. After the two month honeymoon period, the men are required by law to commit suicide. It's not the greatest of his ideas, but neither is it a bad one. At any rate, the story is a complete dud. Some men turn up on the island after their plane crashes, they are pursued by the eager women, each of whom wants to find a husband without having to wait for the next boatload (or planeload) of arrivals. The men are taken aback by the predatory nature of the women on the island, but one of them is tricked into getting married. Meanwhile, the pilot of the plane has fallen madly in love with a dissident dame who has begun to see the injustice of the island's anti-male laws, and he wants to take her back to England with him. A boring, vacuous and predictable story which requires some pretty excellent comedy to redeem it. Sadly, there is none. Apart from a few mildly amusing lines, including some cheeky cracks about Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, nothing in this film made me laugh.
To make matters worse, the film is punctuated by frequent and extremely forgettable songs, which don't even have decent dance scenes to accompany them. The songs seem to be nothing more than compensation for the fact that the film isn't funny, as well as a means of filling up time, since there is so little story development.
Furthermore, it's difficult to like the characters because they're hardly developed at all. Instead, the film takes the easy way out by using cliched characters that we've all seen a hundred times before - the short, bespectacled bachelor and the balding, accented middle-aged guy being two examples.
To give credit where it's due, the film is directed well by Val Guest in his usual fun and playful style, but this time the material is far too weak to make the film watchable. Watch his excellent 1944 comedy "Give us the Moon" to see what he's capable of when in his element, but don't waste your time with this.
To make matters worse, the film is punctuated by frequent and extremely forgettable songs, which don't even have decent dance scenes to accompany them. The songs seem to be nothing more than compensation for the fact that the film isn't funny, as well as a means of filling up time, since there is so little story development.
Furthermore, it's difficult to like the characters because they're hardly developed at all. Instead, the film takes the easy way out by using cliched characters that we've all seen a hundred times before - the short, bespectacled bachelor and the balding, accented middle-aged guy being two examples.
To give credit where it's due, the film is directed well by Val Guest in his usual fun and playful style, but this time the material is far too weak to make the film watchable. Watch his excellent 1944 comedy "Give us the Moon" to see what he's capable of when in his element, but don't waste your time with this.