Review of Down to Their Last Yacht

I like to watch old films and this one is included. I liked the short time of just over an hour, it was light entertainment. Absurdist in nature, it starts off as comedically attacking the silver spoon rich who have lost all their wealth in the Great Depression (except for a cruise ship sized yacht!) and then goes into comedy of how white Americans are slaving away while life in the South Pacific is laid back and enjoyable. I was surprised that more then one reviewer was offended by racial stereotyping of South Pacificers as being "lazy." Talk about being thin skinned and looking for something to get offended about. I'm pretty sure you can get offended by any film featuring a minority in film made before 1950 so pointing that out is a given. I actually think it wasn't stereotyping them because when you think about it, they have a white queen and in the end the white people are doing the same things so it wasn't a commentary of them being lazy but about the way of life when you are on a remote island with not much else to do. They weren't lazy either as they show them doing chores so I don't think it depicted them as lazy. My favorite charcter was the Captain, who is really gruffy in a funny way. Pre-code is probably the reason why they showed dark skinned island women in the dance numbers and some of them are very hot even if they are white actresses in makeup. I was kind of surprised at that, this film was probably banned in white theaters in the 1930s South. The one who winks caught my fancy! The film doesn't really deserve my rating of 7 but it was so interesting to watch I gave it higher marks. Looking for something weird from the 1930s? This one will definetly qualify. Shown on TCM.