Down to Their Last Yacht

Plot

After the Stock Market Crash of 1929, the Colt-Stratton family are forced to rent out their yacht to the nouveau riche at the behest of Nella Fitzgerald (Polly Moran), including gambler Barry Forbes (Sidney Blackmer) and his sidekick Freddy Finn (Sterling Holloway). When Freddy rigs the yacht's roulette wheel to respond to his saxophone, in order to raise money for Linda Colt-Stratton (Sidney Fox), who has caught the eye of the gambler, he is caught, but moments later Captain "Sunny Jim" Roberts (Ned Sparks) runs the yacht aground on the South Sea Island of Malakamokolu, run by Queen Malakamokalu (Mary Boland), a white woman, who takes the passengers as forced labor. Tiring of them, she offers to release them if Barry stays to marry her. However, once she hears Freddy play his saxophone, she falls in love with him and plans to blow up the yacht with a bomb. Barry manages to rescue the passengers, but not the boat, and they accept their new home in the tropics.

Cast

Production

To speed up the production, two separate units were used, one directed by producer Lou Brock and the other by director Paul Sloane. Sam White was hired to direct retakes, supervised by Brock, which involved re-shooting a quarter of the film. Brock was given carte blanche on the film, which went considerably over budget; it turned out to be his last production for RKO.

Reception

The New York Times review of film called it "is a sorry melange of Hollywood native dancing, theme-song singing and preposterous comedy."

The film was a box office disappointment for RKO.