Product Details

• Actors: Jane Powell, Tony Martin, Debbie Reynolds, Walter Pidgeon, Vic Damone
• Directors: Roy Rowland
• Writers: Herbert Fields, Hubert Osborne, Sonya Levien, William Ludwig
• Producers: Joe Pasternak
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• VHS Release Date: February 24, 1995
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301969642
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #168,128 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Hit the lights! An all-star cast and plenty of big numbers make this classic 1955 musical a blast. Russ Tamblyn, Vic Damone, and Tony Martin are three wacky sailors on leave. Debbie Reynolds, Jane Powell, and the immortal Ann Miller are three girls ready for romance. High jinks ensue. Miller's character, Ginger, is a nightclub singer, allowing for maximum dance numbers and costume changes. Yes, it's a big, silly MGM musical with plenty of songs, jokes, and splashy colors, and it's quite a bit of fun. Fred Astaire choreographer Hermes Pan provided the at-times hilariously elaborate dance numbers, and "Hallelujah," the big finale, is presented in all its original widescreen glory so you won't miss a cannon. It's enough to make you want to enlist. --Ali Davis

From the Back Cover

Forty-eight hours shore leave isn't much time for three sailors (Tony Martin, Vic Damone, Russ Tamblyn) who've gone from patrolling straits to prowling for curves (Jane Powell, Debbie Reynolds, Ann Miller) in San Francisco. But it's plenty of time for great songs, exuberant dancing-and lots of goofy trouble when a brawl with a meddling playboy sets the Shore Patrol (headed by comic Alan King) on the swabbies' trail.
Hit the Deck's jubilant legs stretch way back. It's based on the 1927 Broadway smash that's the granddaddy of all sailors-on-leave musicals. Another legend, choreographer Hermes Pan, provides the musical staging that includes a gag-filled funhouse routine, plus a bouncy shipside finale set to Vincent Youman's "Hallelujah" (shown here in letter-box format so you can enjoy all of that sequence's razzle-dazzle). If On the Town and Anchors Aweigh hoisted your spirits, you'll want to Hit the Deck when the Navy once again takes a city by storm and hearts by song!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great numbers, amusing picture, lousy video quality, October 5, 1999

By 

JOHN GAYFORD "vintage music radio presenter" (FORMELLO, (Roma) Italy) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hit the Deck [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is a pleasant musical of its period with excellently staged numbers, good songs and a talented cast. I've been looking forward to seeing it ever since I glimpsed that fabulous clip from it in "That's Entertainment" back in the 80s in which the cast did "Halleluja" (the finale). And who could fail to enjoy a movie with Ann Miller and Tony Martin in it? But, I have to say that one's enjoyment of it is badly impaired by the terrible quality of the video. It is appallingly framed from the Cinemascope original, cutting out characters and ruining the dance design - someone forgot to turn up the color, so that it's so pale it looks almost like black and white - and worst of all (for a musical in particular), it was obviously recorded on a dirty magnetic sound head, making the soundtrack hopelessly muffled and grating, like an old worn-out phonograph record. Subtle sounds are totally lost and only the loudest noises break through the fuzz. This is quite unacceptable and deeply disappointing to a collector. Whoever produces MGM home videos should be ashamed of doing such a disservice to one of the greatest archives in Cinema history (not to mention the customers). It seems as if the videos were copied without any monitor-control and packaged without being checked. Disgraceful. And it's not the only one! I'm still waiting for a decent copy of "An Ameriucan in Paris".

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hit The Deck, August 15, 2001

By 

Sandra Thomas (Haven, KS United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hit the Deck [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Hit The Deck, is my favorite musical, with Jane Powell. The music is fantastic, and she was my favorite singer and actress in musicals. The movie is about sailors & girls and a musical production. All the actors are great, and the singing and dancing wonderful. I would reccomend this for everyone who likes musicals. It is well worth viewing. I hadn't seen this movie since it came out in 1955, as it never was on TV, that I could see. Thanks, Amazon, for making it available. It is a spectacular film.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Shore-Leave Musical, March 16, 2000

By 

Byron (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hit the Deck [VHS] (VHS Tape)

You must not confuse this film with ON THE TOWN or ANCHORS AWEIGH.This film is based on the 1920's Broadway show and was in fact the first ever Sailors-on-leave musical. The dancing is phenomenal with Ann Miller kicking up a storm as the nasal-voiced Ginger,and the rest of the steller cast including such MGM Musical regulars Debbie Reynolds,Jane Powell,Russ Tamblyn,Vic Damone and Tony Martin.The wonderful Kay Arnem also puts in a great performance. It was produced by Joe Pasternak,the producer of most all films with Jane Powell.