A rather silly film; part spy story, part war story, part exotic island story and part musical. The lead male characters Wally and Jinx played respectively by Robert Lowery and Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams are exasperatingly boring and Margie Hart as Tana O'Shaughnessy is pretty enough but is not a good actor. There are also assorted stereotype Nazis, Japanese and excitable natives as part of the plot. Gale Storm as Maui shines out for me, particularly in her rendition of 'Tahiti Sweetie' which she performs most engagingly. She should have been the main character. Director Jean Yarbrough directed many films but none rose above the level of routine.
6 Reviews
The lure has been lowered.
mark.waltz19 April 2019
Warning: Spoilers
If I have to hear the title song from this Monogram Z-grade musical one more time, I'm going to jump into the lagoon! It's bad enough that the song gets several repeats, but imagining the very all American girls Margie Hart and Gale Storm as native girls just makes this laughably absurd from the beginning. Storm, of course, went on to a respectable career in B movies and TV sitcoms, but Hart is laughably deadpan which makes her an absurd choice to be the romantic leading lady. She reads her lines like she's reading off of large two cards, her eyes even squinting at times. She sets her sights on the disguised FBI agent Robert Lowery simply to get off the island which is suddenly inhabited by Nazi's who have been made to look almost Asian.
The future "Margie" (Gale Storm) is paired with the portly Guinn "Big Boy" Williams and makes an impression in her musical numbers where she comes off like RKOs Marcy McGuire who gave Frank Sinatra his first on-screen kiss. But the script is absurd, the sets ridiculously stagy, villains one dimensional and cliched, and the two leads having no spark. This comes off as a second-rate "Gilligan's Island" meets "Hogan's Heroes" with an assortment of German buffoon bad guys thrown in for topical purposes, but failing miserably.
The future "Margie" (Gale Storm) is paired with the portly Guinn "Big Boy" Williams and makes an impression in her musical numbers where she comes off like RKOs Marcy McGuire who gave Frank Sinatra his first on-screen kiss. But the script is absurd, the sets ridiculously stagy, villains one dimensional and cliched, and the two leads having no spark. This comes off as a second-rate "Gilligan's Island" meets "Hogan's Heroes" with an assortment of German buffoon bad guys thrown in for topical purposes, but failing miserably.
South sea mish mash
bkoganbing30 May 2014
Even for a World War II propaganda film Monogram Studios hit rock bottom with this film about two agents trying to stop a Japanese takeover of an island where the Vichy French government still has control.
Although both Waikiki Wedding from Paramount and Song Of The Islands, films set in the Pacific islands never got beyond the studio lot, both films today create an illusion. That's the difference between major studios and these Poverty Row outfits like Monogram.
And getting into the film itself, our intrepid agents are Robert Lowery and Guinn Williams. You know it's got to be bad when FBI agent Lowery gets as a partner the only sailor in Uncle Sam's Navy who can't swim. He's not much good at anything else. Oh well, the other side has Warren Hymer so it's a pair of Rhodes Scholars up against each other.
A couple of Polynesian girls Margie Hart and Gale Storm have some musical Hawaiian flavored numbers. But Hart is one of the worst actresses going. Good thing she married well into society.
This one's a real Thanksgiving feast, compliments of Monogram Pictures.
Although both Waikiki Wedding from Paramount and Song Of The Islands, films set in the Pacific islands never got beyond the studio lot, both films today create an illusion. That's the difference between major studios and these Poverty Row outfits like Monogram.
And getting into the film itself, our intrepid agents are Robert Lowery and Guinn Williams. You know it's got to be bad when FBI agent Lowery gets as a partner the only sailor in Uncle Sam's Navy who can't swim. He's not much good at anything else. Oh well, the other side has Warren Hymer so it's a pair of Rhodes Scholars up against each other.
A couple of Polynesian girls Margie Hart and Gale Storm have some musical Hawaiian flavored numbers. But Hart is one of the worst actresses going. Good thing she married well into society.
This one's a real Thanksgiving feast, compliments of Monogram Pictures.
Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams AND Warren Hymer in the same film?! Normally, there is only one 'big idiot' role in these old films.
planktonrules11 February 2020
"Lure of the Islands" is supposedly set on some Pacific island. As far as the natives go, most look like they are actually Polynesians...quite unusual for the time when this was made. However, the two female leads look about as Polynesian as a can of Spaghetti-o's! Why? Well, perhaps some of it lazy casting but I think most is that these two women fall for the American heroes (Robert Lowery and Big Boy Williams) and race mixing was something that might not have worked well back in 1942 with some audiences. If this is the reason for the dopey casting, then that's pretty sad....though casting white folks in Asian roles in general was pretty common back in the day. Try to look past this when you see the film and understand it's just a sign of the times in which it was made.
Wally (Lowery) and Jinx (Williams) are sent to investigate a Pacific island because it's suspected there might be Japanese collaborators there. The pair are supposed to be FBI agents, though this doesn't make a lot of sense, as the FBI is used for domestic police work...not things like this. Instead, they should have been described as OSS (a precursor of the CIA) or US Navy operatives. Sloppy writing? Yep.
Once on the island, the first two native women they meet are Tana and Maui (Margie Hart and Gale Storm). They explain that they look and sound the way they do because their father was an American.....but this doesn't explain how they SOUND like they just graduated from charm school!! No local accent whatsoever make this a silly convention.
As for the collaborators, some of the local authorities are Japanese agents....and it's up to the guys to get evidence to that effect as well as get off the island alive. This might be tough, as Jinx is played by Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams, a guy who specialized in playing strong idiots. And, in a first for me, I noticed the film had TWO strong guy idiots....Williams and Warren Hymer ('Albert')...and Hymer, inexplicably, plays some sort of semi-Japanesey/Germany sort of villain!!!
So is it any good? Well, the musical numbers were pretty silly--especially watching Maui (Storm) singing a number that sounded like it should be sung in a nightclub...in the middle of the jungle on this island!! There are a few native dancers and they actually were pretty good and appeared authentic. Why not just stick with these native dancers?? Who knows. The dialog is at times terrible, the acting is just passable (or worse) and the story...well...as you can tell from what I've said above, it's pretty lame. Overall, a very silly film that is watchable...but bad.
Wally (Lowery) and Jinx (Williams) are sent to investigate a Pacific island because it's suspected there might be Japanese collaborators there. The pair are supposed to be FBI agents, though this doesn't make a lot of sense, as the FBI is used for domestic police work...not things like this. Instead, they should have been described as OSS (a precursor of the CIA) or US Navy operatives. Sloppy writing? Yep.
Once on the island, the first two native women they meet are Tana and Maui (Margie Hart and Gale Storm). They explain that they look and sound the way they do because their father was an American.....but this doesn't explain how they SOUND like they just graduated from charm school!! No local accent whatsoever make this a silly convention.
As for the collaborators, some of the local authorities are Japanese agents....and it's up to the guys to get evidence to that effect as well as get off the island alive. This might be tough, as Jinx is played by Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams, a guy who specialized in playing strong idiots. And, in a first for me, I noticed the film had TWO strong guy idiots....Williams and Warren Hymer ('Albert')...and Hymer, inexplicably, plays some sort of semi-Japanesey/Germany sort of villain!!!
So is it any good? Well, the musical numbers were pretty silly--especially watching Maui (Storm) singing a number that sounded like it should be sung in a nightclub...in the middle of the jungle on this island!! There are a few native dancers and they actually were pretty good and appeared authentic. Why not just stick with these native dancers?? Who knows. The dialog is at times terrible, the acting is just passable (or worse) and the story...well...as you can tell from what I've said above, it's pretty lame. Overall, a very silly film that is watchable...but bad.
A 1940's Gilligan's Island
jaguar-49 March 1999
A couple of bozos get in trouble with Nazis on a south sea island. Margie Hart
(an exotic dancer of the day) is ultra campy -- dig those lips and the deadpan delivery! Lots of fun burlesque-style dialogue. Kind of a '40's "Gilligan's Island," but with sexual tension. Gale Storm, adorable... "Hawaiian" music and dancing.
(an exotic dancer of the day) is ultra campy -- dig those lips and the deadpan delivery! Lots of fun burlesque-style dialogue. Kind of a '40's "Gilligan's Island," but with sexual tension. Gale Storm, adorable... "Hawaiian" music and dancing.
Schlock movie..but Margie Hart did well
martex342 February 2000
Margie Hart was Margaret Hart Ferraro, a former burlesque dancer that, according to wire stories, was called "the poor man's Garbo"; went on to become a savvy real estate investor, political wife and society matron, who died Jan 26, 2000 in Los Angeles; age was estimated at 84 years. Not bad!
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