Bees in Paradise (1944) User Reviews

Amusing

[boblipton · 6/10 · 12 April 2022]

Arthur Askey and company ditch their RAF plane on a deserted island. Of course, it turns out to be inhabited by beautiful women who wear short skirts and break out in production numbers at odd moments.

Like SOME LIKE IT HOT, it's a burlesque sketch stretched into a movie, if nowhere near as adept. It does have a bit of "Road to..." zany charm, mostly because it never pretends to be any more than it is. It's a funny B movie, full of contemporary references, set quip and ridiculously huge sets.

It probably relieved some wartime worry when it came out

[SimonJack · 4/10 · 8 January 2020]

"Bees in Paradise" might have been a good comic diversion for the Brits during WW II. But these decades later, it's mostly a silly film with no more than a couple of laughs. The hidden island isn't filled with Amazon women of mythology, but a tribe that seems to be up to snuff on the world around it.

This version of a woman's world without men welcomes the occasional wayfarers who happen upon the place. But that's just for one purpose -- you-know-what (come now, people didn't talk about sex way back then, although love-making was okay if a little nebulous). After that, the men had a choice of how to dispose of themselves.

The title fits the setting where the head honcho female is the queen bee, and the rest are all worker bees. It doesn't really play out the biological way of bees because the drones (lost males who come ashore or land from the sky) are for any woman who can first snare one. The queen has to snare a man herself if she wants one.

The funniest thing in the film may be the variety of things around the island shaped like bee hives. The cast are okay but nothing special. It's clearly a film made with Arthur Askey in mind for the comic lead.

I can't imagine anyone other than a fellow die-hard old-time movie fan enjoying this film much, or even sitting through the whole thing. In its day and time, "Bees in Paradise" may have been a crowd pleaser; but it's definitely without much luster or humor well into the 21st century.

I did enjoy a couple of lines - but even these don't conjure up more than a mild chuckle.

Askey's Arthur Tucker says, "I can't go seven days without food. What do you think I am, a musician?"

Max Adler, played by Max Bacon, says to Tucker, "Remember what the skipper says about using your discretion." Tucker replies, "Oh, discretion's a thing that comes to a man too late to do him any good."

Cheery larks in "Paradise" with Arthur & his wartime pals

[Bubblecar · 10 May 2004]

"Bees in Paradise" was one of Arthur Askey's excellent wartime morale-raisers, & what a buzzy little film it is. A cosily camp atmosphere, appealingly "innocent" gender politics, some cheerful songs, lots of topical gags & more than a little pre-Python surrealism, combined with many charmingly "sexy" English girls of the time, make this a delightful little romp from beginning to end. There are very few dull patches - & some quite unexpectedly strange moments.

A WW2 bomber crashes on an island that turns out to be inhabited by an all-female society, whose mating rituals entail the death of the male. The bomber crew (little Arthur Askey & co) try to avoid betrothal, while convincing the girls to update their traditions. Not much of a plot, but this film is more concerned with rapid-fire humour, uplifting songs & cosy atmosphere.

Highly recommended as an example of the genuinely "lighter side" of wartime entertainment - goes beautifully with half a bottle of gin. And tonic.

Doesn't It Make You Want To Spit.

[malcolmgsw · 1/10 · 9 July 2013]

This was Askeys television catchphrase on TV in the 1950s.Maybe that's what he should have said when he read the script.If He had then just maybe he wouldn't have appeared in this pile of junk.No wonder that after this film he was absent from the screen for 11 years'It is also surprising that Val Guest and Marriott Edgar,who had been involved in the Will Hay films should have been primarily responsible.There is not one line or scene that is funny.Whoever thought that Askey and Ronnie Shiner would make a good team clearly had little idea as to how to cast a film.The musical numbers are painful to the ear.Askey can either be very funny or very unfunny.In this film he is the later.

Gentlemen: Paradise Found.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 11 March 2012]

Bees in Paradise is directed by Val Guest who also co-writes the screenplay with Marriott Edgar. It stars Arthur Askey, Anne Shelton, Peter Graves, Ronald Shiner and Jean Kent. Music is by Louis Levy and cinematography by Phil Grindrod. Plot finds Askey as one of four airmen who crash on a mysterious island known as Paradise. The island is ruled by women and men are regarded as disposable commodities.

Lightweight in all the right areas, Val Guest's musical comedy is ultimately what it was meant to be, a mood lifter during the war. The gender politics are played nicely for laughs, the majority of the songs are foot tapping delights (notably "I'm a Wolf on My Mother's Side") and Askey turns in one of his better comedic performances. There's of course the usual quota of malarkey, which if the picture was longer than the 72 minutes would stretch the enjoyment, while one elongated section featuring Askey in drag doesn't hit the right notes. But otherwise this is a fun and frothy way to spend just over an hour and ten minutes. 7/10

More fun than its current rating would seem to indicate.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 13 April 2011]

In many ways, this film seems a lot like a British version of an Abbott & Costello or Bob Hope comedy. The structure, plot and irreverent references to Hollywood and the current world are much like a Hope film and the plot is a lot like "Abbott & Costello Go To Mars" (which came out in the 1950s). But, even more than the American versions, this one is chock full of music--something that does get in the way of the plot now and then. But, the main plot idea is so original that I had to admire the film.

A British Air Force plane is shot down and the crew (including goofy Arthur Askey) end up bailing out onto an island of luscious Amazons. What has happened to all the island's men? Well, after marrying, men are only allowed to live and 'do their duty' for two months--then they are required to kill themselves! The newbies don't know this and love all the attention from the pretty girls (who, oddly, have VERY current hairstyles on this otherwise rather primitive island). And, when they do learn the truth, it appears to be too late for at least one of them.

I liked the film when it made fun of itself and Hollywood. It poked gentle fun at itself quite often--and this tended to make up for the lulls and singing. Well worth seeing--and not a film that deserved the current score of 4.2.

Ridiculous, but wonderfully entertaining

[calvertfan · 10/10 · 14 April 2002]

The team from Miss London Ltd are back - Arthur Askey as the "four foot nothing" hero, Anne Shelton as the saucy seductress, Peter Graves as the token handsome guy, and Jean Kent as the sweet little thing, with Max Bacon and Ronald Shiner bringing up the rear.

Jean, Anne, and about 2000 other girls are the residents of "Paradise Island", a place which seems to worship bees, to the point of acting like them - women are queens, men are drones. And after marriage, the man is sacrificed two months after the honeymoon, as their tradition goes, either by jumping off a cliff, or sailing off into the ice. So when four pilots parachute out of their dying plane and land on this island, they're immediately in for it. Askey is immediately nabbed by Shelton - for the rest of the film her entourage follows him around with his own special rickshaw. But he's after Kent, who is herself after Graves. The men find out about the death tradition, and are anxious to flee the island, until Shelton marries Askey before he realises it (drinking wine together signifies the betrothal) and suddenly it's a matter of life or death that he escapes!

Movie starts off somewhat dodgy, leaving you thinking "what on EARTH is going on??" but stay with it, it's hilarious, and well worth seeing! There's plenty of songs, and more Bob Hope/Bing Crosby/Dorothy Lamour 'road' references than you can poke a stick at.

Dull Song-and-Dance Farce

[heebie_jeebies · 24 October 2003]

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.

Wacky bee-havior...

[MikeMagi · 8/10 · 8 September 2014]

"Bees in Paradise" is silly, goofy, inane and...oh yes...surprisingly entertaining. Its setting is Paradise Island, an all-female domain somewhere in the south Atlantic where the social structure is based on a bee hive. Males who turn up are tapped as husbands, enjoy a few months of bee-trothed pleasure, then (like drones) are bee-capitated. When pint-sized British comic Arthur Askey and his mates crash-land their aircraft on the isle, they're too bee-guiled by scores of bee-witching young girls to realize the dire fate that awaits them. With some catchy songs thrown in and an endless parade of pulchritude, bee-lieve it or not, it's a pleasure to bee-hold.

Sets, songs and slapstick!

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 2 March 2018]

A bright breezy, highly inventive, fluidly directed musical comedy, marred only by a somewhat abrupt and unresolved conclusion. The players are in fine form, particularly Arthur Askey and Anne Shelton. Askey has the lion's share of the comedy - Ronald Shiner, after an elaborate introduction and strong support to Askey in earlier scenes, all but disappears from the middle and climactic action - whilst Miss Shelton vivaciously and vibrantly dominates the musical numbers.

This in fact is a musical comedy where both elements occupy equal time. The songs are especially tuneful (with the exception of the lachrymose "When You Grow Up, My Child" which seems to have been inserted mainly to give a singing opportunity to a chubby kid), and are presented in grand style, often with acres of super-attractive girls.

Although taking advantage of some marvelous sets and even costumes, the comedy tends to be more intimately focused with Askey pulling out all stops on screen - including slapstick tumbles, verbal repartee, topical allusions and even a female impersonation - whilst two off-camera narrators send up James A. Fitzpatrick. Of course Bacon does manage to insert some of his typical fractured English into the dialogue ("anecdotes" for "antidotes", etc), whilst Graves provides the love interest for Miss Kent, but both roles are comparatively small.

Luckily for us males, it's the girls who are the almost constant center of attention. Just about all are way-out-attractive. It's good to see Jean Kent, looking so fresh and vibrant in a major role, so devoid of the dramatic mannerisms she was later to affect that many at our preview screening failed to recognize her until the movie was well under way.

Have some fun

[arfdawg-1 · 9/10 · 16 May 2014]

Crazy over the top musical comedy.

An uncharted island of "bee" women who rule over men just to mate with them.

After a 3 month honeymoon, hey are murdered.

In comes a few Afrikaners who crash land.

The women woo them since the men on the island are on strike,

They don't like the murder thing.

Interspersed are poppy musical numbers and scantily clad hot babes.

It's a trifle. Not meant to be taken seriously. A good chunk of the humor has roots in vaudeville.

Lots of legs and fun for all.

Definitely worth the watch.

Very Enjoyable Musical Comedy

[hogwrassler · 10/10 · 18 March 2024]

Bees in Paradise concerns a female society on an uncharted island in the Atlantic Ocean. The Queen (Antoinette Cellier), Rouana (Anne Shelton), and Jani (Jean Kent) run things. Men are scarce because after they marry, the bride and groom have a 60 day honeymoon, and then the man has to fling himself off a cliff and commit suicide).

The women are delighted when a British plane crashes and the four men on board look like sure matrimonial partners. The crewmen are Arthur Tucker (Arthur Askey), Peter Lovell (Peter Graves), Ronald Wild (Ronald Shiner), and Max Adler (Max Bacon). The men like the all female society, but aren't fans of the male's bee-like death after the honeymoon.

This film is a lot of fun with Arthur Askey at his best. The funniest sequence is when he tries to referee a rugby game between two rugged female teams. It's laughing out loud funny. The singing and dancing are well done and are highly entertaining.

Although not listed in her credits, 19-year old Patricia Owens appears in Bees in Paradise. She is one of the guards who carries Arthur around in his chair. She is also the one who selects Max as hers, telling the other girls, "I don't want any arguments. He's mine!" Later, Patricia is one the four girls playing pool. She even sinks a ball in the side pocket. Watch for her if you see this movie.

Bees in Paradise is a very pleasant way to spend 72 minutes. Arthur Askey was always funny and this one will leave you smiling.