Anchors Aweigh

source: Anchors Aweigh

Joseph Brady and Clarence Doolittle are two sailors, who have a four-day shore leave in Hollywood.Joe knows everything about girls and can't wait to see Lola, while Clarence is shyer and needs some advice from his buddy on how to meet girls.They then run into a little boy, Donald Martin, who has ran away in order to join the navy.They take him home and meet his beautiful aunt Susan, who wants to be a singer.Clarence wants Susie to be his girl, but his shyness gets in the way.But he doesn't feel shy with a waitress, who comes from Brooklyn, like he does.Soon Joe notices he's in love with Susie.The boys are in a fix when they lie to Susie on meeting with a big time music producer they don't even know.As they are in a fix with their feelings.George Sidney's Anchors Aweigh (1945) is a great musical comedy.Gene Kelly is top-notch, once again, in his singing and dancing routines.Frank Sinatra is terrific as the shy guy from Brooklyn.Shy isn't the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Frank Sinatra, but he plays his part well.Kathryn Grayson is fantastic as Susan Abbott.We sadly lost this gifted actress and operatic soprano singer last month at the age of 88.The 9-year old Dean Stockwell does amazing job as the little fellow wanting to become a sailor.Jose Iturbi does great job performing himself.It's magic what he does with the piano.Edgar Kennedy plays Chief of police station.Sara Berner is the voice of Jerry Mouse.There's a lot of great stuff in this movie and some fantastic singing and dancing numbers.Just look at Kelly and Sinatra performing "We Hate to Leave".It's so energetic."If You Knew Susie (Like I Know Susie)" is quite funny.It's a nice moment when Frank sings Brahms' Lullaby to little Dean Stockwell.It's lovely to listen to Grayson singing the tango "Jealousy" .The most memorable sequence is the one that takes into the animated fantasy world, and there Gene sings and dances with Jerry Mouse.Also Tom Cat is seen there as the butler.They originally asked Mickey Mouse but he refused.The movie was nominated for five Oscars but Georgie Stoll got one for Original Music Score.Anchors Aweigh is some high class entertainment.

Gene Kelly's dance with the mouse is one of the great moments in the history of musical cinema, but the rest of the movie wastes the talents of Sinatra, as well as Grayson. The music and lyrics are sophomoric. It would appear that Jule Styne and Georgie Stoll just mailed this one in. Not Styne at his best.

Usually musicals in the 1940's were of a set formula - and if you studied films you know what I'm talking about - a certain running lenghth, very "showy" performances that were great on the surface but never got into the real personalities of the characters etc. THIS ONE IS DIFFERENT - and light years better and well worth it's nomination for best picture of the year - 1945 (although had no chance of beating the eventual winner - Lost Weekend). Gene Kelly was probably in the best form of his career - yes I know about "American in Paris" and "Singing in the Rain". This one is different. He really gets into his character of a "sea wolf" thinking (at first) that "picking up any girl while on leave" is nothing more than a lark. And if you had to make up a "story" to get her - so be it - until. Sort of like the Music Man when he gets "his foot caught in the door". The eventual hilarity of the film stems mostly from his and his new pal (Sinatra)'s attempt to make the "story" good in order to "get the girl" that he REALLY and unexpectedly falls in love with. You are going to have to see the movie to see what I mean. Besides that there are so many other elements of great film in this one, it's a classic buddy story, nostalgia to a time when WWII was almost over (the war ended about a month after the films release), a realization that a guy that always laughed at life can find out that he really is a great human being, great songs and probably a few other elements of classic film making that I can't think of right now. Why not a 10? Near the end - at nearly 2 1/2 hours starts to feel a bit long. There is a small ballet number that Gene Kelly does that must have been a sensation in 1945 but seems dated and feels like it just adds minutes now. But overall, this ones a definite winner on every level.

Anchors Aweigh is not a favourite of mine by all means, but I do enjoy it. It is overlong, the story is somewhat slight and the dialogue is unexceptional. Despite its failings, it is enjoyable. The production values are pleasing to the eye, while the score and songs are very pleasant and the choreography sprightly. The direction is good enough, while the pace while slightly mannered I had little problem with, as there are certain delights that stop the film from being dull. The cast, dancing and singing are excellent. Gene Kelly is always likable and here is no exception, while Frank Sinatra delights with his beautiful voice and and Kathryn Grayson is graceful and beautiful. The real delight though is the film's most famous sequence and no surprise really, the sequence when Kelly dances with Jerry of Tom and Jerry fame is as clever as it is memorable. So overall, not exceptional by all means, but there is much to enjoy still. 7/10 Bethany Cox

I like those old MGM musicals - Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, and the gang - but this was not one of them. At a bloated 2 hours and 23 minutes, it goes on long after it should have ended. It seemed like every three minutes, there was some excuse for a musical number. People would just up and sing. Jose Iturbi is a fantastic pianist, but there are so many times that the plot takes a back seat for him to play the piano. Interminable dance routines. All of this gets distracting. Kathryn Grayson is extremely tolerant of these strange sailors who barge in and out of her house, lie to her, and interfere in her private affairs. The only parts that are worth tuning in for is the wonderful cartoon sequence with Tom & Jerry, as well as Iturbi's performance at the Hollywood Bowl accompanied by a group of teenage virtuosos.

After seeing the wonderful Jerry/Gene Kelly dance sequence in THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT, I decided to check out ANCHORS AWEIGH. I was a little bit disappointed. Except for the title song and "We Hate to Leave," none of the songs are very memorable. Frank Sinatra isn't used very well. Whoever thought he should play a nerd who's shy around "dames" really miscalculated. As for Gene Kelly, the Jerry sequence and the sequence where he jumps on the beds stand out, but not much else is going on here. The story and characters are dumb and that's not good for a movie that's 2 hours and 20 minutes. For a really nice, sweet, and funny movie with some good music, I recommend TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME which also stars Kelly and Sinatra together. At Sinatra's Friar's Club Roast, Kelly called TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME the best picture they worked on together and I think he was right. Also, if you're a Gene Kelly fan, I would recommend THE PIRATE where he co-stars with Judy Garland and, of course, SINGIN' IN THE RAIN. My rating for ANCHORS AWEIGH: 5 out of 10

At a bloated 143 minutes, there's no way this ambitious musical from MGM can hold together. Gorgeous color photography only shows up the cheap sets and rear projection used for this sound stage-bound film. Frank Sinatra (playing the dope again) and Gene Kelly (he can't act) play two sailors on leave who get saddled with a runaway kid (Dean Stockwell) and his Aunt Susie (Kathryn Grayson in a cloying performance). They get suckered into trying to get her an audition with Jose Iturbi at MGM. Along the way Kelly falls for Grayson and Sinatra gets stuck with a stiff from Brooklyn (Pamela Britton is a lousy performance). Maybe an OK story for the time, but the film is way too long and wanders all over the place, including several dance solos for Kelly and the famous cartoon sequence. Sinatra sings a few songs, Grayson squeals a few more, and Iturbi play piano. Co-stars in small roles include Billy Gilbert, Henry O'Neill, Henry Armetta, Edgar Kennedy, Rags Ragland, Renie Riano, Sharon McManus, and the always annoying Grady Sutton. The boys are such jerks, it's hard to warm up to them, and Grayson is all sugar and light to the point of nausea, and then she sings and sings and sings. Iturbi probably comes off best, and his Hollywood Bowl sequence is indeed excellent. Most annoying of all is Pamela Britton with her hideous attempt at a Brooklyn accent. MGM couldn't find an actress who could do the accent? Moider! At one point, Grayson is sitting in a theater next to 2 old ladies. In the next cut the second old lady (who looks like Mae Marsh) is a completely different woman. This one ridiculously won Oscar nominations for best film and for Gene Kelly as best actors. Moider!

Since I first saw Anchors Aweigh in 1945, viewing it on videotape holds a lot of nostalgia for me. At age 15, it was easy for me to be drawn into the first of the great MGM Technicolor musicals. Now I am perhaps most interested in thinking about the future careers of the leading players. Though Sinatra had done a couple of negligible films soon after his emergence after his Dorsey days, as a solo singer, this was his first major film appearance. As another viewer noted, this seems almost to be a warm-up for On the Town. Sinatra may have had to work hard at it, but his dance with Kelly is credible, and he would do better in their next pairings. However, observing his physique, it's easy to see why he was caricatured as a string bean. Who would have imagined that within a decade he would win an academy award for acting, and go on to play many roles as a tough detective or leader in combat. Though Gene Kelly's personality and dancing dominated this film, his winsome performance did not suggest that he would become a major creative force, almost the iconic figure, for MGM musicals, where he developed a style of dance complementary to that of Fred Astaire. Finally, it was strange to see the fresh-faced Dean Stockwell and remember that he would later play a "thrill" killer in Compulsion, based on the Leopold-Loeb murder from the 1920s. An additional note: One reviewer praised the performance of Betty Garrett as Sinatra's love interest. She later played opposite him in On the Town, but Pamela Britton was featured in this film.

Overall this is a delightful, light-hearted, romantic, musical comedy. I suppose a small case could be made for the movie being to long. But I'm not sure what you would cut out. The singing that Kelly and Sinatra do? No. The fabulous dancing that Kelly does? No. The time the movie takes to develop the story line and develop the relationships of the characters? No (that seems to be a common complaint many times that more recent movies don't develop the characters). Some comment that Iturbi didn't bring much to the movie but this gives us a chance to see and hear a great talent from the 1040s. So what if he wasn't an actor? He was an important part of the movie as the basic plot was to get Grayson an audition with him. Originally Katherine Grayson wanted to be an opera star. Louis B. Mayer brought her to MGM for a screen test that included an aria. During her audition in the movie there is a shot of the MGM brass nodding and smiling. You can just imagine it was like that when she had made her real screen test years before. This movie is so full of life it is hard to hit all of the highlights. Great use was made of color and lighting throughout the movie. You can see why Frank Sinatra became the star he did. A nice counter-point in the movie is how Sinatra (a ladies man even then) played the role of wanting to just find a date while on leave. You'll feel good after seeing this movie. 7/10