Product Details

• Actors: Jack Carson, Janis Paige, Doris Day, Don DeFore, Oscar Levant
• Directors: Michael Curtiz
• Writers: Carlos A. Olivari, I.A.L. Diamond, Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Sixto Pondal Ríos
• Producers: Alex Gottlieb, George Amy
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
• Run Time: 99 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302120608
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #193,464 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

For a crystal-clear lesson in how an unknown vaults into immediate stardom, look no further than Romance on the High Seas, the silly 1948 musical that launched the movie career of Doris Day. A band singer, Day was plucked from the ranks when Warner Bros. and director Michael Curtiz needed to find a replacement for a role intended first for Judy Garland and then for Betty Hutton. She's fourth-billed, but there's no question Doris Day owns the picture; in retrospect, the part seems tailor-made to break a new star. The plot is a howler: society wife Janis Paige is suspicious when husband Don DeFore (hubby to TV's Hazel) claims he must stay in New York on business instead of going on a cruise to South America. So Paige gives the cruise ticket to lounge singer Doris, on the condition that she pretend to be Paige, while wifey hangs back in New York. Make sense? Meanwhile, a suspicious DeFore hires a detective (Jack Carson) to spy on his wife during the cruise, except of course it isn't really his wife, it's... well, you get the picture. Day is somewhat sassier than her later well-scrubbed image would allow; she actually seems like an up-from-the-streets, well-traveled barnstormer. The saucy script has a handsome pedigree; it was penned by Casablanca boys Julius and Philip Epstein and polished by future Billy Wilder partner I.A.L. Diamond. However, it must be stated that Curtiz is nobody's idea of a buoyant comedy director, even if the lounge-singing sequences are sharply made. The cast is stocked with screwball stalwarts such as S.Z. Sakall, Eric Blore, and Franklin Pangborn. As Day's accompanist and suitor, the celebrated musican-wit Oscar Levant has one of his better screen roles--and his experience here was likely the source of his later quip, "I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin." If you see her cheeky performance here, you might agree with him. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars DAY'S FILM DEBUT IS "MAGIC", January 25, 2002

By 

Paul Brogan (Concord, NH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Romance on the High Seas [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Doris Day began her long and phenomenally successfully screen career when she arrived on the Warner Brothers lot in 1947 to begin filming "Romance on the High Seas".
The project had been kicking around the lot for a while and there had been, at various times, talks about borrowing Judy Garland from MGM or Betty Hutton from Paramount to star in it.
At the time Doris Day was a recognized singer with a very successful six year career as a top big band and solo vocalist to her credit, including a couple of Gold Records. She had no interest in pursuing a film career but was heard singing at a Hollywood party, was screen tested, and the rest is cinema history.
"Romance on the High Seas" is a glossy, bon-bon of a film, decked out in lush settings, with a lot of nice-looking people, pleasant tunes, and wrapped up in some breathtaking technicolor. It's irresistable.
The plot involves a married couple who don't trust one another. The husband hires a private eye to follow the wife on a cruise she is taking to find out if she is being faithful. In the meantime, the wife hires someone to take her place on the cruise so she can remain in New York City to check up on the husband. The private eye falls in love with the woman who is purporting to be the wife and by the closing minutes of the film all of the confusion has been settled to everyones' satisfaction, especially the audiences.
Thanks to the skill of Director Michael Curtiz, who keeps the proceedings moving along smoothly and the attractive cast making the improbabilities rather believable, it works much better than it sounds.
The husband and wife are played by Don DeFore and Janis Paige. It's clearly evident why Defore's movie career was never stellar. On television's "Hazel" he was more at home.
Miss Paige handles her limited screen time with grace and charm. She wears a stylish wardrobe attractively but displays not one iota of chemistry with DeFore.
Jack Carson, as the detective, tends to overact in a number of scenes but in his scenes with Doris Day there is genuine warmth and, at times, subtlety. This was the first of three films they made together and it is clear that their personal friendship contributed to their on-screen playing.
Although billed fourth in the credits, Doris Day stole the picture and received the lion's share of acclaim from critics and moviegoers.
She is a natural, and it's difficult to believe that this is her first film. She has a natural affinity with the camera and it has a love affair with her. In color, she is a radiant dream, genuine, sincere, unaffected, and heartfelt. There are already traces of the comic timing and skill that would serve her so well in her later box-office blockbusters in the 1950's and 60's.
As a "dreamer" who hangs around a travel agency wanting to go someplace, there are traces of Betty Hutton in her style, but once she gets her chance to masquerade as Paige's wife, she develops her own unique personality that has the audience clearly on her side.
S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall is his usual self and Oscar Levant, the famed author, wit, and musician, is wry and sarcastic as Day's longtime boyfriend. Year's later he boasted that he knew Day "...before she was a virgin...", a remark that has followed her to this day.
Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne put together a pleasing group of songs for this film including "I'm in Love", "It's You or No One", "Put em in a Box...." and the film's mega-hit, "It's Magic". Doris Day's recording of this Oscar nominated song, topped the charts for months, becoming a Gold Record hit and a tune forever identified with her. When she initially sings it during a lovely scene with Carson at an outdoor cafe, a star was indeed born.
If you're looking for an entertaining film that won't place any demands upon you but will leave you feeling warm, fuzzy, and uplifted by the time the end credits roll, then set sail for some "Romance on the High Seas".

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nobody outshines Doris!, September 7, 2000

By 

[e-mail] (Oneonta, Al United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Romance on the High Seas [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I own most all of Doris Day's movies, but this is truly my favorite. Doris really shines in this movie with Jack Carson. The pair have that special spark between them that makes the movie work. Jack Carson is a detective who is trying to catch a wife (Elvira Kent) cheating on her husband. Doris is the lounge singer who has always dreamed of traveling ... anywhere. She is approached by Mrs. Elvira Kent to travel under her name on the trip so she can stay home and catch her husband cheating. With all of the twists and turns of this movie your eyes will be glued to the screen. I would never give away the ending, but it sounds interesting doesn't it? So very "hip", "with it", "cool" and "modern". As usual, Doris is beautiful, and she plays the part perfectly. I wish there were more movies like this being made today. This movie proves that you don't need nudity, violence, and bad language to be perfect entertainment!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From the People Who Brought You "Casablanca"!, November 14, 2007

By 

F. S. L'hoir (Irvine, CA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Romance on the High Seas (DVD)

"Casablanca" has "As Time Goes By," and "Romance on the High Seas" has "It's Magic!"

And it truly is! This Michael Curtiz comedy, starring a young starry-eyed Doris Day playing opposite a delightfully funny Jack Carson has everything that used to make you want to go to the movies: Excellent music, excellent comedy, and excellent dancing (Busby Berkeley numbers, yet!). The story, which is perfectly ridiculous and ridiculously perfect, is too complicated to go into here, and totally irrelevant. It is merely the framework for ninety-nine minutes of sheer entertainment.

Catch the scene at the bar in Trinidad between Jack Carson and Oscar Levant and an anonymous pie-eyed patron! High Farce at its best. And guess what? The movie has extra features that are actually worth seeing: i.e., a Loony Tunes "I Taw a Putty Tat!" cartoon with Sylvester the Cat and Tweety Bird, and a specially-made trailer with Doris Day and Janis Paige that actually makes you want to watch the film again.

This DVD brings back memories of a gentler time when going to the movies was fun!