Customer Reviews

Anchors Aweigh : The United States Navy Story [VHS]

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

An incredible film, as is usually the case with Gene Kelly's work. Notable numbers by Frank include "I Fall In Love Too Easily" and his three numbers with Gene: "We Hate To Leave", "I begged Her" and "If You Knew Suzie". However, the inclusion of the annoying Kathryn Grayson does lend for some loss in enjoyment. Her frightfully overly-operatic voice can be immensely spine-chilling and her forced acting leaves much to be desired.

The highlight of Anchors Aweigh would have to be Gene Kelly! Swoon...*thud*. Gorgeous as ever, one cannot help but fall in love with the way Gene converses with Lola on the phone! The famous boxer shorts scene has Gene prancing about for a good minute or two in his boxers, and that is enough to send any female fan of Gene up the ceiling into Gene-heaven! His "the worry song" with animation Jerry the mouse is as thrilling and charming as a number can possibly get. Also, his dance solos which include the "Mexican hat dance" and also the fantasy romance dance, are simply marvellous. A must for any musical fan, and essential for anyone who dares to call herself or himself a Gene Kelly affecionado!

"Anchor's Aweigh" is a fun little film. It is a musical in the old MGM tradition, with just enough plot to stitch together some good song and dance. Very happy and light hearted, with some memorable tunes. Gene Kelly is his usual brand of great, and it's fun to see Frank Sinatra as a shy, skinny little kid who has no luck with "dames." Certainly not the Frank of his later years.

One of the sweetest moments is Frank singing "Brahm's Lullaby." It is very intimate and nice, coming off better than some of his "star moments." The big symphony numbers, lead by José Iturbi, are well done. "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" is outstanding. Gene Kelly dances his way around that Mexican Hat Dance, and, of course, does his famous shuffle with Jerry the Mouse.

The DVD is actually well packed and worth the purchase. There is a little "Making of..." segment regarding the Jerry the Mouse sequence. This is an excerpt from Patrick Stewart's "When the Lion Roared" MGM documentary. There are movie trailers for "On The Town" and "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in addition to the feature attraction.

Altogether a very nice package for a fun film.

So what if it's a little long? If you love Gene Kelly as much as I do, the time passes too quickly. Gene and Frank work well together and they make an adorable pair of saliors trying to get the girls. So cute in their younger years... excuse me while I swoon.

When two sailors, Joe Brady (Gene Kelly) and Clarence Doolittle (Frank Sinatra), get 4 days of leave, Joe decides to woo his girl Lola while Clarence decides to tag along to learn some tips. Instead they are waylaid by a young boy named Donald Martin (Dean Stockwell) who tries to leave home to join the Navy. So Joe and Clarence take him home to meet Donald's gorgeous aunt, Susan Abbott (Kathryn Grayson). But as the two sailors become closer to Susan and Donald, they try to help Susan get a meeting with Jose Iturbi (Himself!). Instead they get trouble as they lie to Susan so Clarence can go out with her. But can Joe keep out his own feelings for Susan from surfacing as he finds himself falling in love with her?

"Anchors Aweigh" is the classic MGM musical starring the two greats together, Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra. Gene Kelly will dance his way into your heart as Frank Sinatra sings into your heart with great dance and song numbers. Kathryn Grayson will also charm you with her amazing soprano voice. And of course Jose Iturbi will astonish you with his piano skills.

Some of my favorite musical numbers are: 1) Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra performing to their fellow mates on board. Very funny! 2) Kelly dancing with Jerry the Mouse. Pretty good mixing real-life and animation. 3) Kelly as the dashing matador. His tap dancing masterpiece for "Anchors Aweigh". 4) Kelly and Sinatra singing "If You Knew Suzie". You'll laugh, laugh, laugh! 5) Kathryn Grayson's audition song. Her voice is amazing! 6) Jose Iturbi playing the piano with all the other pianists of all ages.

The reason for my 4 stars is because though "Anchors Aweigh" is fun and a great musical, in my opinion it's not my absolute favorite since I have many other favorites. If you liked the Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra team-up, I recommend "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and "On the Town". Other terrific musicals are "Cover Girl", "Silk Stockings", "Singin' in the Rain", "Guys and Dolls", "Holiday Inn", and "White Christmas".

This is one of my favorite MGM musicals! I wouldn't give it 5 stars because that's reserved for the top-notch (such as On the Town)... however, Anchors Aweigh features Kelly and Sinatra in what you might call rehearsal for it.

Kathryn Grayson is also charming here. The music is good (perhaps not so integrated with the plot), the story is very funny and captivating... and Kelly and Sinatra are a joy (aren't they always?)

Really, how COULD you go wrong? Nobody diss this movie. It's damned enjoyable.

Anchors Aweigh was one of MGM's biggest musicals of the forties, and saw the first of many successful teamings of Sinatra and Kelly. This first issue on DVD comes with Warner Bros packaging and barely a hint that it is an MGM film. WB are seemingly intent on burying the MGM legend as they now re-issue the MGM golden classics in packaging that implies they are Warner films. It is sad to see the MGM legend disappear as Turner (who bought the MGM library) is now owned by WB. Whilst the DVD copy is cleaner and clearer, be warned it is in Mono, as indicated on the box in miniscule print. All release information indicates it is in digital 2.0 surround. Some of the music tracks have been released on CD by Rhino in clear stereo but these mixes have not been used for this issue, disappointingly.

All the stars have done much better (Singin' in the Rain for Kelly, On the Town for Sinatra, and Kiss Me Kate for Grayson), but Anchors Aweigh is still fun. The story gets kind of old after the first or second time, so I'd just sit through it once, and find where your favourite parts are, then just fast-forward to those when you want to. Big highlights include Sinatra's solos (I Fall in Love Too Easily, Why Does the Sun Set), Gene Kelly's dances, including The Worry Song in which he dances with animated Jerry the Mouse (this was the first time this was accomplished-- Disney was experimenting with it for The Three Caballeros, but Gene Kelly really did it), Grayson's solos (Jealousy, All of a Sudden My Heart Sings), and the numbers with both Gene and Frank, We Hate to Leave and I Begged Her. See it for the stars, songs, and dances, just don't expect too much.

Imagine it's 1945, you're Louie B. Mayer, and you get an idea for a film. For the highbrow crowd, you have Jose Iturbi playing classical music concertos on the piano and operetta songs from Kathryn Grayson. Throw in some inventive dance numbers for Gene Kelly, and take that up-and-comer Sinatra and have him get the teenie boppers to swoon with songs such as "I Fall in Love Too Easily." Amazingly, what happens is you get a nearly two-and-a-half-hour piece of entertainment that keeps on flowing and grabs your attention every bit of the way. The plot involves two sailors on leave, who get mixed up with a Hollywood hopeful after her little nephew (a very young Dean Stockwell) suddenly becomes their responsibility.

It all breezes along, as director George Sidney miraculously keeps your attention moving along, as Kelly and Sinatra keep trying to get Grayson a screen test with Iturbi. Along the way, some of the most memorable scenes in MGM film history will pop across your screen, including the very famous production number where Kelly dances with Jerry of "Tom and Jerry."

This film winds up being a very fulfilling evening of entertainment that's sure to please film buffs both young and old. They don't make them like this anymore, but this movie makes you wish they still did. Watch it, go back to 1945, and enjoy yourself.

The story itself is nothing but a mere little piece of froth, but I loved it anyway. It was really a lot of fun to watch, but you may wish to take that with a grain of salt: I say that about anything with Gene Kelly in it. In this film he plays a bit of a bad boy - a cocky "seawolf" who is stuck with the shy Frank Sinatra on a three day navy pass in L.A. The two of them really did have a good comic chemistry together. This film has all of the fun cheerfulness inherent in Kelly musicals, and as I recall is the first one in which he was allowed free rein to choreograph as he chose. As a result, we're blessed with the famous Jerry Mouse dance and the wonderfully charming Mexican Hat dance where Kelly does his usual wonderful thing by seamlessly integrating the scenery and the objects at hand into his dancing. I am less fond of the fantasy Zorro sequence, but Kelly's dancing is superb anyway. He is always a joy to watch, even when he's not dancing. In fact, his acting in this film was noteworthy enough to earn an Oscar nod; I've not yet seen Ray Milland's performance in The Lost Weekend but I rather wish Kelly had gotten the Oscar for this performance.

Watch him (ooh, ladies, you won't be able to keep from rewinding or pressing the back button on your DVD player) when he's on the phone with Lola. Watch him and Frank with the impossibly cute Dean Stockwell. (Frank does sing some awfully pretty songs and does some neat acting, by the way - I shouldn't give Gene all the credit.) Watch Gene during the "If You Knew Susie" scene; he had me laughing out loud with the calm, cool way he fakes Susie's nerdy date out. Watch how he acts like he's been in the house a thousand times; he knows right where to go for the cigarettes and chocolates and he stretches out on her sofa as though it were his own. The shocked expressions on Bertram's face are priceless, as is the song that brings them on: it might seem hokey but I like rhymes such as "conclusion" and "Susian" or "conclusie" and "Susie."

When you're not watching Gene or Frank you're sort of stuck with Kathryn Grayson. She was sweet at first, but after a while the sweetness got a little cloying. (And nobody should ever wear a dress like that sunflower monstrosity she was wearing - I don't care how great of a figure she had, it was awful.) And call me an uncultured clod if you must, but I just don't like her style of singing.

The DVD itself looks great; it's crisp and clean and the colors are brilliant. There are a few moments where the image doubles or shadows suddenly, but these are short-lived and far and few between. There are special features including a brief discussion of the famous Jerry Mouse dance from Hanna & Barbera as well as a few trailers. It could have done with a few more chapters; one of the best things about the Singin' in the Rain DVD is that they were very liberal with them, which allows for easy maneuvering when you want to jump from one spot to the next. They were less liberal here but at least all of the chapters start at logical places. This one is going on my wish list.

When I took the time to actually think about the plot of Anchors Aweigh, I wondered how anyone ever took the movie seriously. Two sailors on leave hope to find love, or at least a girl, accidentally meet a small orphan being raised by his aunt, both sailors fall in love with the aunt and also act as surrogate fathers for the boy, but never fight over the aunt, and promise to arrange an audition for the aunt with Jose Iturbi, the great Hollywood conductor and arranger. One sailor finds the girl of his dreams, another falls in love with the aunt, and everyone is happy, and of course the very talented aunt is on her way to stardom. This movie should not work, but somehow it does work and works well. Why? Because the two sailors are Frank Sinatra as Clarence Doolittle and Gene Kelley as Joseph Brady and Kathryn Grayson plays the aunt. This very talented trio created magic in the musical numbers, and since Gene Kelley is involved, the dance numbers are naturally amazing.

Though the most famous highlight of the film is Gene Kelley dancing with Jerry of Tom and Jerry fame (mixing animation and live action, quite a fete in 1945), perhaps the best dance scene is when Kelley dances with a small Mexican immigrant girl. As in so many Kelley dance sequences, Kelley compliments those who dance with him and seems to never let his ego get in the way.

This movie is more than a far fetched story with great musical and dance numbers. It also says a great deal about America at the end of World War II. Victory was imminent, but the country was tired and needed hope. Movies such as Anchors Aweigh provided such hope, and for this reason alone it deserves praise. And let's face it, who can resist a corny musical with an implausible story that can capture our hearts and imaginations?

P.S. If you don't want to spend more money, avoid the bonus tracks advertising other great MGM musicals, but if you can't resist, don't say I did not warn you!