Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

ksf-2 Smoking hot cast list, they are sadly under-used. LOVE helen broderick. so fun. she got all the good, wisecracker lines in films. Monty Wooley is in it for five seconds, and that's an uncredited role. And of course, our star, a young thirty year old Fred MacMurrary. The script has weird timing. Lots of talking. Has the feel of a film based on a play. The first five minutes is a window washer gag, that doesn't really have anything to do with the story. The script kind of goes all over the place. Some fun, clever lines. Boy (MacMurray) finally meets girl (Madeleine Carroll), and spends the middle part of the film trying to find her again. Drama, intrigue. Directed by Edward Griffith. Griffith's specialty was making films about fun, exotic, far-away lands, which were probably really filmed in California, sometimes the Bahamas. There's a five minute bit where MacMurray plays piano and "sings" in a foreign language; pretty painful. Then Allen Jones sings for a couple minutes, also pretty painful, serious stuff. Should have left the musical numbers out. Such great actors in here... Script needed jazzing up. Fun to watch just for the actors in it. Story ain't no big thang.

Patricia Hammond What an enjoyable piece of fluff. Though I'd say it was a bit more than a piece of fluff, really, as there is subtlety galore, and philosophy, and irreverence and some macabre/screwball humour when the love rival for Fred MacMurray says in an offhand way that she'd attempted suicide but then got married, but then found it hard to be sad when her husband was killed playing polo... That kind of humour would raise eyebrows even today! Alan Jones sings his manly heart out while wearing a pencil moustache, and Madeleine Carroll says some very clever and deep things about the nature of female independence. You can tell that the actress really thought these lines were quite wise and put a lot of feeling into them, even though the film is at pains to prove the opposite view. Likewise subtle is the fact that MacMurray is a bit of a cad, not a straightforward hero. I actually hated him for a good few minutes. The small roles are played with great skill and elan, particularly the fortune teller with her blithe, witty delivery and of course Window-cleaner philosopher Akim Tamiroff, whom I ended up applauding out loud for his sheer verve, and the comedy and character he packs into each gesture. The fly in the ointment, to this cow-poke anyway, is the truly cringeworthy little girl. Ugh! You can just see her pushy mother urging her on to become the next Shirley Temple. Sorry dear, that requires talent, not just a shrill voice and a pudgy face.

bkoganbing Back in the days of the New Deal, America's effort to deal with the Depression, the movies were a way of escaping your problems. Films like Honeymoon in Bali were just what people wanted to see. The women in the audience certainly envied Madeleine Carroll who got to go to Bali in pursuit of Fred MacMurray.A similar film had been done the year before, Joy of Living, with Irene Dunne leaving New York and the theater to sail off to the South Seas with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. A nice group of songs by Jerome Kern were also in the score for Irene to sing.Honeymoon in Bali also had some real nice singing in the person of Allan Jones. He was part of a trade with Universal studios who got the services of Bing Crosby for two of their films. Jones is only in support here, he's a rival of MacMurray for Dunne. He plays a tenor with the Metropolitan Opera and gets to sing O Paradiso from L'Africana by Meyerbeer. He also sings Happy Birthday with singing telegraph boy Bennie Bartlett.This film is typical work for Fred MacMurray, the light leading man in many Paramount comedies. He was more often teamed with Carole Lombard during this period, but Madeleine Carroll was every bit the able substitute for Lombard. I do get the feeling that this film may have originally been written with Lombard in mind. There's also a very droll performance by Akim Tamiroff as the wise and philosophical window washer.Honeymoon in Bali is a very nice escapist type film that still holds up well today. What woman wouldn't want to spend their lives in Bali away from the stress of civilization with Fred MacMurray.

letterpeople74 Wow! I picked this up today from the $4.99 DVD bin at K-Mart. What a pleasant surprise. It's your typical romantic story of boy meets girl, boy looses girl, ect., but there are some very fine moments.The film opens with Madeline Carroll having her fortune told. It's an outrageous fortune, but as the story unfolds we see it coming true to life. Fred MacMurray is great in this film. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't compare to his role in 'The Apartment,' but I was shocked when I realized that this film was made in 1939.The open and candid talk of one of the characters attempted suicides (done in a VERY light-hearted way), makes me wonder if this film was passed by the Production Code.