Honolulu (1939 film)

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Honolulu is an American musical film that was released by MGM in 1939. The film stars dancer Eleanor Powell and Robert Young.

Inspired by stories about dopplegangers and identical twins such as The Prince and the Pauper, Honolulu features Young in a dual role as Brooks Mason—a top movie star—and as Hawaiʻi-based businessman George Smith. Mason is tired of being in the public eye, so when he discovers that Smith is close enough to be his twin, he arranges to switch places with Smith temporarily. When Mason steps into Smith's life, he finds himself in a tug-of-war between Smith's fiancée, and a dancer named Dorothy March (Powell), with whom he has fallen in love. Meanwhile, Smith discovers that being a famous movie star is not all that it is made out to be.

Also appearing in the film are George Burns, Gracie Allen, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, and Rita Johnson.

Eleanor Powell's dance routines, here given a mostly Hawaiian flavor, are the highlights of this film. One of her routines is performed in black face in tribute to Powell's idol, Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson. The comedy of Burns & Allen is also featured, although the two actors work separately for much of the movie. The film is also notable for offering a somewhat rare cinematic look at pre-World War II Honolulu.

Footage of one of Powell's dance routines (done in a hula skirt to a tiki drum orchestra) would be reused in the later comedy, I Dood It, while another dance performance that was cut from the film appeared seven years later in the "hodge-podge" production The Great Morgan.

Eleanor Powell ... Miss Dorothy 'Dot' March
Robert Young ... Brooks Mason&George Smith&David in the movie
George Burns ... Joe Duffy
Gracie Allen ... Millicent 'Millie' De Grasse
Rita Johnson ... Cecelia Grayson
Clarence Kolb ... Mr. Horace Grayson
Jo Ann Sayers ... Nurse
Ann Morriss ... Gale Brewster
Willie Fung ... Wong, Mason's Hawaiian Servant
Cliff Clark ... First Detective
Edward Gargan ... Second Detective
Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson ... Washington, Mason's Hollywood Servant (billed as Eddie Anderson)
Sig Ruman ... Professor Timmer, Psychiatrist (billed as Sig Rumann)
Ruth Hussey ... Eve, David's wife in the Movie
Kealohu Holt ... Native Dancing Girl (billed as Kealoha Holt)

The films of Eleanor Powell
Feature films
Queen High (1930) | George White's 1935 Scandals (1935) | Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935) | Born to Dance (1936) | Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937) | Rosalie (1937) | Honolulu (1939) | Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940) | Lady Be Good (1941) | Ship Ahoy (1942) | I Dood It (1943) | Thousands Cheer - cameo (1943) | Sensations of 1945 (1944) | The Great Morgan - cameo (1946) | Duchess of Idaho -cameo (1950)
Short films
No Contest! (1934) | Screen Snapshots Series 16, No. 12 (1936) | Screen Snapshots: Famous Hollywood Mothers (1947) | Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Holiday (1948) | Have Faith in Our Children (1955)
Television series
The Faith of Our Children (1953-1955)
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