I never quite understood why Robert Young appeared mostly in B movies. Long one of my favorites, "The Enchanted Cottage" certainly showed off his serious side. This film is far lighter, and Young does an admirable job in it.

Eleanor Powell has to be the finest female tap dancer in history, and this film is no exception.

Gracie Allen was a delight in this film and stole many scenes. I never understood the attraction of George Burns, and apparently after this film neither did Hollywood -- it was his last film for 37 years. He was pretty much irrelevant in this motion picture.

The plot is nothing fantastic, but it is pleasant enough...once you get past the first 10 or so minutes where Robert Young's character as a heart-throb actor meets Robert Young's character as an everyday Joe. That segment of the film is clumsy, at best. But after that you'll find a rather pleasant "B" level MGM musical.

This certainly is a diverse cast: dancer Eleanor Powell, dramatic actors Robert Young and Rita Johnson and comedians George Burns and Gracie Allen.

The storyline is anything but diverse: the standard "someone-pretending to be someone else-and then getting trouble because it" baloney. Man, you would think Hollywood would tire of that kind of story but those type of plots have running forever, it seems, and I guess they always will.

Usually, I get tired of that sort of thing quickly but this film made it tolerable because all the characters in this film were non-offensive people. Powell was also likable and her tap dancing was always great. She does three numbers in here. Young played two roles: an actor named "Brooks Mason" and a Honolulu pineapple grower "George Smith."

Most of the comedy is provided by Gracie Allen, who played her normal ditsy self with her husband as the straight man. All in all, a slightly better-than-average film for the sappy story but one look was enough.

Burns&Allen's last film as a team was Honolulu where they supported Robert Young and Eleanor Powell. Gracie did two more guest star appearances in film while George would wait over 30 years to go back in The Sunshine Boys which netted him an Oscar. Oddly enough their characters do not have any scenes together until the very end of the movie, almost as if they were trying their separate wings.

Honolulu was the start of a winding down of a vogue for south seas movies that started over at Paramount with Dorothy Lamour and her sarong and with Bing Crosby's Waikiki Wedding celebrating a trip to Hawaii Bing took in real life. MGM wasn't going to let Paramount get all the tropical box office.

Robert Young plays a dual role as both a movie star and a visiting planter from Hawaii. Young trying to escape the constant demands of his adoring public offers to switch places with his lookalike. But he gets into all kinds of complications on the ship to Hawaii when he meets Eleanor Powell on board. He falls for her, but the planter, now miserably cooped up in his hotel room because he can't get out in public is engaged to Rita Johnson, daughter of another planter Clarence Kolb back on Oahu.

Let's just say that with two Robert Youngs there was enough to go around by the time Honolulu was over with a few bumps along the way.

No memorable songs came out of Honolulu, but Eleanor Powell had some great numbers including a hula tap dance. She seems to have invented her own dance genre because I've never seen anything like it before or since. The production values are also a little skimpy for an MGM musical.

But with Eleanor dancing and George and Gracie doing their thing Honolulu holds up very nicely for over 70 years.