Travel planner For a good history of filmmaking on the Islands, try Made in Paradise: Hollywood's Films of Hawai'i and the South Seas, by Luis I. Reyes (Mutual Publishing, Honolulu, 1995; $45; 877/828-4852). Brand-new is Reyes' Pearl Harbor Movies (Mutual Publishing, Honolulu, 2001; $12.95). Robert C. Schmitt's Hawaii in the Movies: 1898–1959 (Hawaiian Historical Society, Honolulu, 1988) is out of print; check used bookstores for a copy. Hawaii International Film Festival. The 21st annual event runs November 2 through 11 at venues on Oahu with screenings and seminars focused on filmmaking in the United States, the Pacific, and Asia. (808) 528-3456 or www.hiff.org. Hawaii in the Movies. Twice-monthly program at the Sheraton Moana Surfrider Resort features showings of historic Hawaiian movies from the collection of Hawaii Pacific University film historian Steven Fredrick, who also delivers lectures. $5 suggested donation. 2365 Kalakaua Ave., Honolulu; 922-3111. Hawaii Movie Tours. Five-hour minibus tours focused on Kauai's movie and television history, with stops at sites used in Donovan's Reef, South Pacific, and Blue Hawaii, as well as the pilot episode of Gilligan's Island. The van is equipped with a VCR that plays scenes from the movies. $95, including lunch; deluxe tours from $265. 822-1192, (800) 628-8432, or www.hawaiimovietour.com. Maui Film Festival at Wailea. The event includes outdoor screenings at the Wailea Resort and at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center's Castle Theater. Music, dance, and storytelling are also featured. June 13–17; from $10; packages from $50. 572-3456 or www.mauifilmfestival.com.

 

 

Countless Hawaiian vacations were inspired by the 1961 film Gidget Goes Hawaiian.

Some enchanted evening, you may have seen a strange and exotic place of volcanoes, jungles, native dancers, and the occasional American serviceman who just couldn't believe his blind luck ending up with a tour of duty in paradise.

For many of us, our introduction to Hawaii came through the classic and sometimes not-so-classic movies filmed on the Islands. (Countless Hawaiian vacations were inspired by the 1961 film Gidget Goes Hawaiian, featuring the eponymous surfer chick and her boyfriend, Moondoggie.) Hawaii's film legacy includes some of Hollywood's biggest actors and directors – who, despite their renown, often ended up playing second banana to Hawaii itself.

There are increasing numbers of ways visitors to the Islands can get in on the film fun. The second annual Maui Film Festival at Wailea runs next month. The Hawaii International Film Festival is slated for November. Film tours and programs help visitors link filmmaking to Hawaii's indigenous culture.

Filmmaking in Hawaii began even before the Islands were part of the United States. According to Robert C. Schmitt in Hawaii in the Movies: 1898–1959, the first Hawaiian film dates from 1898, when a crew shot footage during an 18-hour layover in Honolulu. Thereafter, most early Hawaiian films were simple, silent travelogues showing local life, as reflected by their no-frills, low-hype titles: Honolulu Street Scene, Wharf Scene Honolulu, and the two-part epic, Kanakas Diving for Money.

Despite the difficulty of travel to the Islands, many silent films were made here, including Hawaiian Love and The Shark God in 1913. The coming of talkies actually slowed down filmmaking on the Islands because of problems transporting additional equipment. Still, some notable films were shot in the 1930s, including Waikiki Wedding (1937), which starred Bing Crosby and Anthony Quinn.

Authenticity wasn't Wedding's strong suit: Crosby played the improbable role of a singing press agent for a pineapple cannery. In the end, the movie was most notable for its music, as "Sweet Leilani" won the Oscar for best song and earned Crosby his first gold record.

World War II brought filming to a halt in Hawaii but ultimately created the Islands' most enduring genre, the war movie, a tradition that continues with the release this month of Michael Bay's $135-million Pearl Harbor. Hawaii's most honored film, From Here to Eternity (1953), was also set in the days before the Pearl Harbor attack and extensively used location shooting – most famously Halona Cove, for the beach-and-surf kiss between Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr. In South Pacific (1958), Army nurse Mitzi Gaynor washed Rossano Brazzi out of her hair on Kauai.

The 1950s were one of the busiest decades for Hawaiian movies, though not all pictures rose to Academy Award standards. In 1958, B-movie king Roger Corman shot two movies in four weeks. One of them, She Gods of Shark Reef, was the story of two brothers marooned on an island populated by young female pearl divers. Its poster captures the film's high ambitions: "Beautiful maidens in a LUSH TROPICAL PARADISE ruled by a HIDEOUS STONE GOD."

Corman was nothing if not thrifty. He cut a deal for rooms at the Coco Palms Hotel by giving the Kauai resort an onscreen credit. But the Coco Palms is actually more famous as a location for one of the definitive Island films, Presley's Blue Hawaii (1961), wherein the King played a GI turned beachcomber. Although the hotel remains closed due to damage from Hurricane Iniki in 1992, its chapel is available for weddings and is one of the more memorable stops on a guided tour of Kauai's movie sites. These half-day excursions, conducted by Hawaii Movie Tours, take a look at the island's shooting history, from landmarks like John Ford's Donovan's Reef (1963) to more recent films like Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1992).

Moviemaking continues to thrive here. Last year, the Hawaii Film Office estimated that production companies spent $125 million in the Islands. Along with this month's Pearl Harbor, coming attractions include Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes, shot on the Big Island.

Burton was honored last year at the Maui Film Festival at Wailea. The event included an outdoor screening with live musical accompaniment of silent shorts by Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, shown on a golf course at the Wailea Resort.

The screenings were preceded by traditional hula dancing and slack-key guitar music. With the breezes blowing and the stars glistening, it was truly an enchanted evening.

Copyright 2001 Sunset Publishing Corporation