Happy 4th of July! - The Fleet's In

Paramount, 1942

Starring William Holden, Dorothy Lamour, Eddie Bracken, and Betty Hutton

Directed by Victor Scherzinger

Music by Victor Scherzinger; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer

Let's celebrate America's 250th anniversary honoring the US Navy with this rare classic from early in the World War II years. Holden was a true golden boy in the early 40's, having become a star in the 1939 film version of Golden Boy and earned an Oscar nomination in 1940 for Our Town. What he wasn't was a musical star - in fact, this would be his only musical - which is likely why he's surrounded by some of Paramount's most popular musical performers of the war years. Lamour had been popular since the mid-30's, but Bracken and Hutton were up-and-coming comedians and would have their biggest hits during and directly after the war years. How do they all come together in this wacky romantic comedy where a sailor tries to kiss a standoffish nightclub singer to win a bet? Let's begin with another singer, movie star Diana Golden (Betty Jane Rhodes), performing the title song in a nightclub populated by sailors, and find out...

The Story: Diana kisses shy sailor Casey Kirby (Holden) as a publicity stunt. His shipmates, including his best friend Barney Waters (Bracken) are now convinced he's a ladies' man. They make a bet that he can't kiss frigid singer the Countess (Lamour) while on leave. Waters has his own problems. He's being pursued by the Countess' noisy roommate Bessie (Hutton), and he made the bet against his friend Spike's (Gil Lamb) watch. If he doesn't win that bet, Spike will thrash him within an inch of his life. Casey does everything he can to woo the Countess...but to his surprise, finds himself falling in love with her for real. She does, too, until Bessie and her friend Cissie (Cass Daley) spill the beans about the bet. Now Casey has three days to convince the Countess his love is on the level, before they get thrown out...or worse, land in jail.

The Song and Dance: Sweetly sincere Holden does tend to come off better than most leading men who appear opposite musical ladies. He's certainly enjoying himself more than most of the non-singing guys at 20th Century Fox did as the gob who finds himself falling for this lovely lady in spite of himself. Lamour has even more fun playing opposite him as the standoffish Countess. Mercer and Schertzinger came up with a terrific score, too. Three of the songs - "I Remember You," "Tangerine," and "Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing In a Hurry" - are now standards. 

The Song and Dance: We open with the title song over the credits before revealing that Diana Golden is singing it at a nightclub. Eddie Bracken reprises it with the sailors on their way back to their ship. Their first trip to the Swingland dance club provides our next numbers. Bob Eberly and Helen O'Connell introduce "Tangerine" with Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra. The Countess steps up next for "When You Hear the Time Signal." Bessie next tears into several sailors while performing "If You Build a Better Mousetrap." (Eberly and O'Connell reprise this later in a version that's less damaging to the sailors.) Barney joins the Countess and Bob Eberly for "Not Mine" in the nightclub. 

The Countess gets the honor of introducing "I Remember You" accompanied by Eberly, O'Connell, and Jimmy Dorsey at the sailors' weenie roast. Dancers Lorraine and Rognan do a spoof ballroom number to an instrumental version later at the club. Bessie blasts "Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing In a Hurry" in her idea of a tap costume, while Cissie finishes with "Tomorrow You Belong to Uncle Sammy" and Spike does his own acrobatic instrumental dance. 

Trivia: This is based on the 1933 non-musical play Sailor Beware. Paramount would remake it under that title as a vehicle for Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in 1952. 

Victor Schertzinger's last film. He died in October 1941, four months before the movie was released. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, the plot is annoying. If the Countess would stop and listen (and if Bessie would close her mouth for five seconds and listen), they'd know that Casey doesn't really want to go through with it, either. They both pretty much say it's distasteful, and it is. A little of Bracken and Hutton can go a long way, especially when Hutton is in bombastic mode. Bracken spends most of the movie whining, and Hutton spends most of it yelling at him and throwing him around. 

The Big Finale: In the end, this is worth checking out as you dodge the heat this 4th of July for the good cast and music alone. 

Home Media: Alas, the only place you can find this online at present is YouTube, but at least the TCM copy there is pretty decent.

YouTube

The Big Broadcast of 1938

Paramount, 1938
Starring Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Shirley Ross, and WC Fields
Directed by Mitchell Leisen
Music by Ralph Rainger and others; Lyrics by Leo Robin and others

This was Paramount's answer to the Broadway Melody semi-revue series at MGM and Warner's Gold Diggers series. They pulled out all the stops for the final movie in the series, with a huge cast, major specialties from the worlds of both opera and popular music, elaborate dance numbers, and a unique setting. It was primarily considered to be a vehicle for WC Fields when it debuted...but Ross and newcomer Hope stole the picture with the touching Oscar-winner "Thanks for the Memory." How does the rest of the film look nowadays? Let's head to Pier 97 in New York as the S.S Gigantic and Colossal are preparing for "The Race of the Ages" and find out...

The Story: We mainly follow the crew and passengers of the S.S Gigantic as the huge, radio electricity-powered ship races the smaller Colossal across the Atlantic from New York to Cherbourg, France. The ships are owned by twin brothers T.F and S.B Bellows (Fields). T.F wants his accident-prone brother to land on the Colossal and wreck havoc, but S.B is late flying in his own home-made contraption from the golf course and lands on the Gigantic instead. Things get even worse when his even more accident-prone daughter Martha (Martha Raye) is rescued from a wrecked yacht. Meanwhile, radio announcer Buzz Fielding (Hope) is dealing with his three ex-wives, including caustic Cleo (Ross), and his girlfriend Dorothy (Lamour) is falling for the ship's first officer and the inventor of the Gigantic's radio power generator Robert Hayes (Leif Erikson).

The Song and Dance: This has one of the most unique settings and unusual casts of any musical. You're not going to see Bob Hope, Martha Raye, Dorothy Lamour, WC Fields, opera diva Kirsten Flagstad, Mexican singer Tito Guizar, and a bunch of animated ripples performing on a racing streamline cruise ship anywhere else. There's some stunning Art Deco sets, including the genuinely nifty ocean liners. I can think of other musicals set on ocean liners, but not ones that are in the middle of a huge race and broadcasting radio shows. WC Fields has some hilarious moments driving his caddies crazy on the golf course, and much later with a wacky billiards game.

Favorite Number: The big one here is the Oscar-winning ballad "Thanks for the Memory." Towards the end of the film, Hope and Ross reminisce about their failed marriage in a way that seems very natural for a musical, and the song is by far the most memorable in the film and became Hope's trademark. Raye gets an acrobatic dance routine with a group of rowdy sailors, "Mama, That Moon Is Here Again," that has them tossing her around the ship like a rag doll. "This Little Ripple Has Rhythm" is a cute blend of animation (directed by Leon Schlesinger of Looney Tunes fame) and a bouncy jazz tune performed by Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra.

Trivia: This was Bob Hope's feature film debut.

The original Big Broadcast debuted in 1932; there were editions in 1936 and 1937 as well. Currently, the 1938 edition is the only one available on home media, probably due to the cast and "Thanks for the Memory."

What I Don't Like: For all the novel setting, the actual story is pretty dull. You care more about Hope and Ross and their renewed feelings for each other than the stiff Lamour and Erikson and their budding romance. Fields barely interacts with the rest of the cast and appears to have wandered in from another movie entirely. The rest of the score pales besides "Thanks for the Memory"; despite constantly reprising it, even Lamour's dulcet tones can't make "You Took the Worlds Right Out of My Heart" interesting. The final number "The Waltz Lives On" has nifty costumes and an interesting "through the years" theme, but it goes on for way, way too long. Everything feels like it was taken from other movies and just sort of tossed together.

The Big Finale: The numbers alone make this worth checking out for fans of Hope, Fields, Raye, Lamour, or the Busby Berkley imitations of the 1930's.

Home Media: Can be found on DVD as a solo release from the made-to-order Universal Vault series or as part of several Bob Hope and WC Fields collections.

DVD
DVD - College Swing/The Big Broadcast of 1938