# Let's Go Native > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Let's_Go_Native > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Let's_Go_Native.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let's_Go_Native > Source revision: 1355570047 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|1930 film}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}} {{use American English|date=June 2020}} {{Infobox film | name = Let's Go Native | image = Let's Go Native lobby card.jpg | alt = | caption = Lobby card | director = [Leo McCarey](/source/Leo_McCarey) | producer = [Leo McCarey](/source/Leo_McCarey) | writer = {{unbulleted list|[Percy Heath](/source/Percy_Heath_(screenwriter))|[George Marion Jr.](/source/George_Marion_Jr.)}} | starring = {{unbulleted list|[Jack Oakie](/source/Jack_Oakie)|[Jeanette MacDonald](/source/Jeanette_MacDonald)|[Richard "Skeets" Gallagher](/source/Richard_%22Skeets%22_Gallagher)|[James Hall](/source/James_Hall_(actor))}} | music = {{unbulleted list|[George Marion Jr.](/source/George_Marion_Jr.)|[Richard A. Whiting](/source/Richard_A._Whiting)}} | cinematography = [Victor Milner](/source/Victor_Milner) | editing = | studio = | distributor = [Paramount Pictures](/source/Paramount_Pictures) | released = {{Film date|1930|8|16}} | runtime = 77 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = | gross = }} '''''Let's Go Native''''' is a 1930 American [pre-Code](/source/Pre-Code_Hollywood) black-and-white [musical](/source/musical_film) [comedy film](/source/comedy_film), directed by [Leo McCarey](/source/Leo_McCarey) and released by ''[Paramount Pictures](/source/Paramount_Pictures)''.Hooper and Poague, 1980 p. 305: Filmography The well-received picture anticipated McCarey's success in future comedies, among these ''[Part Time Wife](/source/Part_Time_Wife_(1930_film))'' (1930), ''[The Kid from Spain](/source/The_Kid_from_Spain)'' (1932) and the [screwball](/source/Screwball_comedy) classic ''[The Awful Truth](/source/The_Awful_Truth)'' (1937).Gehring, 2005 p. 76 == Plot == {{More plot|date=May 2024}} The story is set in the immediate aftermath of the [Panic of 1929](/source/Panic_of_1929). Joan, an unemployed costume designer and her boyfriend Voltaire, a disinherited scion of a wealthy family, embark together on a Caribbean cruise. Voltaire discovers that his childhood sweetheart, Constance, is a passenger on the ship: romantic complications develop. The ''menage-a-trois'' find themselves shipwrecked on a tropical island. They discover that the paradise is populated by women, with only one male inhabitant, Jerry. Dubbed King of the Island, he quips “"It was one of the [Virgin Islands](/source/Virgin_Islands), but it drifted." Further romantic complications ensue. When these are finally resolved, Voltaire's grandfather arrives on a yacht and rescues the castaways. As they depart, the island sinks into the ocean.Hooper and Poague, 1980 in Leo McCarey Filmography section, p. 305: Plot summaryGehring, 2005 p. 74: Plot summary ==Cast== *[Jack Oakie](/source/Jack_Oakie) – Voltaire McGinnis *[Jeanette MacDonald](/source/Jeanette_MacDonald) – Joan Wood *[Richard "Skeets" Gallagher](/source/Richard_%22Skeets%22_Gallagher) – Jerry, King of the Island *[James Hall](/source/James_Hall_(actor)) – Wally Wendell *[William Austin](/source/William_Austin_(actor)) – Basil Pistol *[Kay Francis](/source/Kay_Francis) – Constance Cook *[David Newell](/source/David_Newell_(actor%2C_born_1905)) – Chief Officer Williams *[Charles Sellon](/source/Charles_Sellon) – Wallace Wendell Sr. *[Eugene Pallette](/source/Eugene_Pallette) – Deputy Sheriff 'Careful' Cuthbert *[Iris Adrian](/source/Iris_Adrian) – Chorus Girl *[Virginia Bruce](/source/Virginia_Bruce) – Chorus Girl == Release == Paramount initially delayed release of Let's Go Native, concerned that the theme was too bizarre for audiences and “had not expected it to be quite so free-spirited.”Gehring, 2005, p. 72-73, p. 74: “...free-spirited…” ''Let’s Go Native'' opened simultaneously with the [Marx Brothers](/source/Marx_Brothers)’ [Animal Crackers](/source/Animal_Crackers_(1930_film)) (1930) and was “favorably compared by period critics with this pioneering zany team classic” directed by [Victor Heerman](/source/Victor_Heerman).Gehring, 2005 p. 74, p. 91: Quoted The film was released on 16 August 1930 but a preview screening had taken place in April or May the same year.{{Cite web |title=AFI{{!}}Catalog |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/10245-LETS-GO-NATIVE?cxt=filmography |access-date=2023-05-09 |website=catalog.afi.com}} ==Retrospective appraisal== Film historian Wes D. Gehring identifies ''Let’s Go Native'' as a precursor to McCarey's subsequent [screwball comedy](/source/screwball_comedy) classic ''[The Awful Truth](/source/The_Awful_Truth)'' (1937). Let's Go Native not only catapulted the careers of Jack Oakie, Jeanette MacDonald and Kay Fransis, but “helped established McCarey as a viable feature film director.” The [Marx Brothers](/source/Marx_Brothers)-like elements of the film earned McCarey the honor of directing ''[Duck Soup](/source/Duck_Soup_(1933_film))'' (1933).Gehring, 2005, p. 73, p. 75-76: See here re: McDonald’s career and “screwball” films. Film historian Richard Barrios in his A Song in the Dark: The Birth of the Musical Film writes: “''Let’s Go Native'' was sheer [joyful] malarkey, played with bounce and directed by McCarey with some of the affinity toward musical anarchy he later brought to ''Duck Soup''.”Barrios, 1995 p. 255 ==Soundtrack== * '''"It Seems To Be Spring"''' :Lyrics by George Marion Jr. :Music by Richard A. Whiting :Copyright 1930 by Famous Music Corp. * '''"Let's Go Native"''' :Lyrics by George Marion Jr. :Music by Richard A. Whiting :Copyright 1930 by Famous Music Corp. * '''"My Mad Moment"''' :Lyrics by George Marion Jr. :Music by Richard A. Whiting :Copyright 1930 by Famous Music Corp. * '''"I've Gotta Yen For You"''' :Lyrics by George Marion Jr. :Music by Richard A. Whiting :Copyright 1930 by Famous Music Corp. :Sung by Jack Oakie * '''"Joe Jazz"''' :Lyrics by George Marion Jr. :Music by Richard A. Whiting :Copyright 1930 by Famous Music Corp. :Sung by Jack Oakie * '''"Pampa Rose"''' :Lyrics by George Marion Jr. :Music by Richard A. Whiting :Copyright 1930 by Famous Music Corp. * '''"Don't I Do?"''' :Lyrics by George Marion Jr. :Music by Richard A. Whiting :Copyright 1930 by Famous Music Corp. == Footnotes == {{reflist}} == Sources == *Barrios, Richard. 1995. ''A Song in the Dark: The Birth of the Musical Film.'' [Oxford University Press](/source/Oxford_University_Press), New York. {{ISBN| 978-0195377347 }} *Gehring, Wes D. 2005. ''Leo McCarey: From Marx to McCarthy.'' ''[The Scarecrow Press](/source/The_Scarecrow_Press)'', Lantham, Maryland, Toronto, Oxford. {{ISBN|0-8108-5263-2}} *Hooper, Gary and Poague, Leland. 1980. Leo McCarey Filmography in ''The Hollywood Professionals: Wilder and McCarey'', Volume 7. The Tanvity Press, A. S. Barnes and Company, Inc, San Diego, California. pp. 295–314. {{ISBN|0498-02181-5}} ==External links== * {{IMDb title|0021061|Let's Go Native}} * {{TCMDb title|81267|Let's Go Native}} * {{YouTube|i2ow3EqqJ_Q|''Let's Go Native'' film clip}} *''[https://web.archive.org/web/20110211215554/http://www.jeanetteandnelson.net/films/jeanette/jm-native.htm Let's Go Native]'' at the Jeannette and Nelson website *''[https://web.archive.org/web/20110715031318/http://www.ovguide.com/movies_tv/let_s_go_native.htm Let's Go Native]'' at OV Guide *''[http://www.nndb.com/films/379/000134974/ Let's Go Native]'' at the NNDB database *''[https://web.archive.org/web/20121022142219/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/99431/Let-s-Go-Native/overview Let's Go Native]'' at NYTimes *''[http://www.answers.com/topic/let-s-go-native Let's Go Native]'' at Answers.com *''[https://books.google.com/books?id=U9WTUIpR0dIC&dq=Let%27s+Go+Native+1930&pg=PA73 Let's Go Native]'' at Google Books {{Leo McCarey}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Let's Go Native}} Category:1930 films Category:1930 musical comedy films Category:American musical comedy films Category:Paramount Pictures films Category:Films directed by Leo McCarey Category:American black-and-white films Category:1930 American films Category:1930 English-language films Category:English-language musical comedy films --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Let's Go Native](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let's_Go_Native) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let's_Go_Native?action=history)). 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