Copyright 1955 by Universal-International. U.S. release: April 1955. No New York showcase. Australian release: 10 December 1954 (sic). 79 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: In this entry, Pa has been bragging to his cousin in Honolulu about his great business abilities. When the cousin is taken ill, Pa is asked to supervise the pineapple plant. Ma and daughter Lori Nelson tag along. Pa causes pandemonium at the plant, by accidentally speeding up the production assembly line, causing a huge explosion. Meanwhile, Ma is invited into the island's top social circles where her rustic ways are not appreciated. To get Pa out of the way, a competitor of the cousin tricks Pa into traipsing off to another island, on the pretext that hidden treasure is buried there. Pa encounters a Hawaiian family which is a direct counterpart to the Kettles (i.e. lazy father, hard-working mother, a big brood of kids). Pa feels right at home.
NOTES: Number 8 in the 10-picture series. Percy Kilbride's last screen appearance. Kilbride, age 66, by now had had more than enough of the stereotyped Kettle assignment and refused to extend his Universal contract for the Kettle series. He also turned down a five-year $1 million contract to appear in a television version of the Kettles, with or without Marjorie Main. He then went into retirement, living as quietly as always. On 11 December 1964, at age 76, he died while undergoing brain surgery, as the result of being hit by a car while crossing the street near his home.
Due to the popularity of the Kettle films in Oz, Australian newspapers, even the conservative broadsheets, all made Kilbride's retirement front-page news. Universal wisely decided to capitalize on the publicity by releasing Waikiki for the peak Christmas season of 1954. Needless to say, the movie did terrific business everywhere in Oz, both in big cities and rural areas.
COMMENT: This latest entry in the Kettle saga is if anything even more blatantly vulgar than their previous adventures and we can certainly understand why, after this effort, Percy Kilbride decided to call it a day. The initial plot situation would seem to have some promise but it is ineptly developed along well-worn slapstick lines.
Lee Sholem's direction is just as dull and uninteresting as was Charles Lamont's. It is mostly filmed in long, static takes, while the characters talk and talk. Yet for all this talk there is hardly a single amusing line in the entire script.
The film's only redeeming feature is the presence of some Universal starlets, notably blonde Claudette Thornton as Rodney's secretary.
Some use is made of stock footage, but production values are otherwise generally adequate.
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