JohnHowardReid This is a movie in which movement is very much confined – although Leo McCarey's extremely skillful direction manages to disguise the fact that it was all filmed in front of an absolutely stationary camera enclosed in a sound-proof booth. But what the ingenious McCarey could not disguise was the washed-out quality of the filmed-under-glass photography. Never mind, if you like the players – and who could resist Jeanette MacDonald, teamed with Kay Francis? – you probably won't notice the consistently dull, murky texture of the toneless photography at all. Mind you, I'm not a Jack Oakie fan. A little of Jack goes a long way with me, and here he is allowed to really hog that stationary camera – especially bad of him when we would have all liked to have seen and heard a lot more of the movie's number one star, Jeanette MacDonald. Nevertheless, the screenplay does boast a few witty lines here and there. And what with Jeanette and Kay, it's not by any means a total loss!

bbmtwist This film has one redeeming grace- Jeanette MacDonald - whose grace, charm and star quality shine through every scene she is in - she takes this seriously, a sign of a great star!There are few films as awful as this one: execrable acting, direction, script, cinematography, sound,editing,special effects - this is the PITS!!!!!!Jeanette is a trouper, tried and true. Like Liz Taylor in Butterfield 8, - "when you know you're in a turkey, give it the best you got, you might be recognized" Even Kay Francis is AWFUL - Oakie is embarrassing. There are 5 songs/musical numbers. Oakie has 3 and Jeanette has 2 - one a duet. All are forgettable. Available prints are washed out and blurry- maybe there is a God after all. For MacDonald fans only - she only made 28 - to think Paramount actually released this debacle - if there was ever a case for shelving, this is it!

bkoganbing I imagine that the average film fan would tell you their leg was being pulled if you told them that Jeanette MacDonald, Jack Oakie, and Kay Francis were the leads in the same film. At the time that Let's Go Native was being made all three were newly signed to Paramount, new because all three of them had their careers made by sound.Let's Go Native has Jeanette in the role of a dress designer with a cash flow problem. She's just designed a bunch of costumes for a review, but she's sunk all her money into it and the creditors and remember this is the Depression, are at her door. The only way she can get paid is go to Buenos Aires and get her money there.Also on the cruise are a taxi driver who's taking it on the lam in order to avoid being sued for an accident and that would be Jack Oakie. And there's society girl Kay Francis and young millionaire James Hall whose father has been contriving to get those two married.A well staged shipwreck given the primitive early sound equipment strands our passengers on a deserted Virgin Island, presided over by Skeets Gallagher and a troop of native women. Everybody then settles down and plays house.Leo McCarey directed Let's Go Native who later directed some comedy classics like Duck Soup, The Awful Truth, and Ruggles Of Red Gap. Let's Go Native is hardly in their class though it has its moments.The score by Richard Whiting and George Marion is serviceable, but not memorable. Nothing here got in Jeanette MacDonald's concert repertoire. Jack Oakie has a couple of numbers he delivers with usual bumptious fashion.Had there been such an Oscar category for special effects, the shipwreck and later earthquake might have gotten Let's Go Native an award. I believe some of the footage is later used in the Bing Crosby-Carole Lombard film, We're Not Dressing.Let's Go Native is an amusing trifle, dated though and not up to what Leo McCarey later gave us.

sobaok One would expect a great sophisticated farce with magical musical moments with a cast like Kay Francis, Jeanette MacDonald and Jack Oakie. However, things just chug along and most all transitional moments rely on tired slapstick. Jeanette sings a catchy tune at the beginning before leaving onboard for Buenos Aires, but that's it for her, except for a brief dance number. Kay Francis vamps on board ship and gets to duet with Jack Oakie "I've Gotta Yen For You". Oakie is full of his usual pep -- really, they're all in their prime here, it's just a miserable script and poorly directed, by of all people, Leo McCarey. who did BELLE OF THE NINETIES,DUCK SOUP, RUGGLES OF REDGAP,THE AWFUL TRUTH(!) and AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER. What, I wonder, happened here? Only for diehard Francis and MacDonald fans.