Anchors Aweigh (1945)

A First-Rate Showcase

Yes, Anchors Aweigh is long. Very, very long (2 hours and 20 minutes) and best absorbed in two sittings, if possible.

However ... I, personally, have the attention span of a goldfish and this movie never left me bored. The plot is rather basic: two sailors (Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra) go on four-day leave and fall in with (and fall in love with) a beautiful young singer (Kathryn Grayson) and her little nephew (Dean Stockwell). What this movie is, more than anything, is a showcase for the incredible talent that MGM had to offer.

Vocally, Sinatra and Grayson are top of the class, with Sinatra crooning "Brahm's Lullaby" (to spectacularly soothing effect on Stockwell, Kelly, and the audience), "I Fall in Love Too Easily," and, my personal favorite, "What Makes The Sunset." Grayson shows off a beautiful coloratura in songs like "Jealousy," and a softer, musical-theatre-ingenuous side in "My Heart Sings."

Gene Kelly sings ably, but, of course, his bold and athletic dance techniques take centerstage in his "showcase" scenes (most famously, "The Worry Song" with Jerry Mouse). Sinatra also proves himself a capable dancer in "She Begged Me." Jose Iturbi, of course, is one big showcase himself, and the MGM directors give him several scenes in which to use his piano skills.

In conclusion, I guess, if you're looking for fast-paced, plot-heavy entertainment, don't watch Anchors Aweigh. However, if taking a few hours to watch a display of some of the greatest artistic talents of the 20th century sounds like your kind of leisure, I think you'll enjoy it as much as I did. August 30, 2008

Fantastic Movie

I think everyone should watch this movie and all other old movies!! I truly enjoy this movie, it is such a treat to watch, especially Gene Kelly dancing with Jerry the Mouse!!!!! Fantastic!!!! August 24, 2008

Enjoyable Kelly/Sinatra musical and the last full film directed by Busby Berkeley

The film opens on the deck of a destroyer where Clarence Doolittle (Frank Sinatra) and Joseph Brady (Gene Kelly) receive commendations for staying at their posts during a brutal battle. Many of the men on the ship get leave while off the shore of Los Angeles allowing Clarence and Joe to hit the shore and have fun. Joe, Clarence and their friends decide they are going to hit Hollywood. Joe a well known womanizer finds the shy Clarence dogging his steps so he can learn how to be a lady's man. Joe reluctantly agrees to help Clarence "get a dame" in a particularly funny sequence where Joe plays the dame and Joe tries to pick "her" up. The two get taken downtown to help the police talk a little boy into returning home and not "joining" the Navy. They get wrangled into taking the boy home where the pair meet the little boy's young aunt Susan (Kathryn Grayson) who is his guardian. Ultimately Joe finds himself falling for Susan while trying to help Clarence woo her.

The first pairing of Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra "Anchors Aweigh" is most famous for Gene Kelly's dance with Jerry--you know the little mouse from the Tom and Jerry Cartoons. While that's certainly notable, what's more important here is that "Anchors Aweigh" is a terrific musical with two of the top stars of the era at the top of their game. While Sinatra really isn't asked to stretch as an actor here, he does perform a number of terrific songs penned especially for the film. Unlike "On the Town", "Anchors Aweigh" was a studio original. Gene Kelly is in charge of choreographing the marvelous dance numbers here. While "Anchors Aweigh" isn't on a par with "Singing in the Rain" or "An American in Paris", it's still an enjoyable bit of entertainment.

The film looks gorgeous with sharp set designs. Although there are scratches and dirt that crop up from time to time, the film looks extremely good. It's unfortunate that Warner hasn't cleaned this up a bit for re-release. Unlike the later "On the Town", "Anchors Aweigh" was shot totally on the backlot at MGM. Interestingly, the opening sequence set on the deck of the destroyed that the two men are stationed on looks incredibly fake. The matte painting used looks as much like a cartoon as Jerry the Mouse does which is surprising given the fine eye for detail that producer Arthur Freed and Busby Berkeley had. The visual effects are credited to Warren Newcombe who also worked on "Forbidden Planet". While that film's matte paintings and use of animation are, again, not totally realistic, they look better than the visuals in "Anchors Aweigh". While they were probably as good as could be done at the time, they still stand out like a sore thumb.

A beautiful transfer, the film is marred only by a bit of dirt and scratches. It's a pity that Warner didn't upgrade the film for this re-release"Anchors Aweigh" looks sharp and has the rich robust colors typical of a three strip Technicolor film from the era. Skin tones look great and the blacks are rock solid. Detail is remarkably crisp and the audio sounds extremely good presented in its original mono format.


We get a snippet pulled from the documentary "When the Lion Roars" about the making of the "Worry Song" featuring Jerry the mouse on how directors Joseph Hanna and William Barbera created the sequence. Originally the plan was that Mickey Mouse and Gene Kelly would perform together. MGM made an appointment for Kelly to meet with Disney. Disney told Kelly that "Mickey Mouse will never do an MGM movie". This is ironic given that later Disney animators WOULD work on an MGM film--"Forbidden Planet"--although it was a far cry from putting Mickey Mouse into an MGM film. It's clear that Disney was OK with another creature appearing in an MGM film as long as it wasn't Mickey Mouse. MGM had largely dismantled their animation division by 1956 (when "Forbidden Planet" was made) and didn't have the resources to do the animated sequence any longer. Disney animator Joshua Meador was loaned out that for film to MGM. Meador already had some experience with visual effects animation in live action films working on "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and "Song of the South" in addition to his work on such Disney classics as "Cinderella", "Alice in Wonderland" and "Fantasia".

Hanna and Barbera discussed the technical aspects of creating the sequence. While this wasn't the first pairing of live action and animation but with Kelly's brilliant dancing and the carefully executed animation the sequence was a sensation. Ironically the sequence had to be animated TWICE (this isn't mentioned in the brief excerpt which runs all of 5 minutes with narration by Patrick Stewart) because during the screen of the finished product it was noticed that Gene was reflected on the floor and Jerry wasn't. To make the sequence more realistic the animators had to go back and redo the sequence with Jerry realistically reflected on the surface of the floor as well.

It would have been nice to see Warner create a new featurette on the visual effects and on Busby Berkeley's legacy as a director but we don't get anything new just the special features from the 2000 issue of this film.

We also get theatrical trailers for this film, "On the Town" and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" which also featured Kelly, Sinatra and their "On the Town" co-star Jules Munshin. Made during a time when Sinatra's films only did well when he was paired with Kelly, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" was also Busby Berkeley's last full length film.

"Anchor's Aweigh" remains an enjoyable musical with some stunning set pieces notably Gene Kelly's dance with Jerry the Mouse. This re-release (it was previously released in a snapcase on DVD in 2000 at the same time as "Take Me Out to the Ballgame") looks marvelous although It doesn't appear to me that the transfer is new.




May 19, 2008

For one great moment, worth the price of admission

Rather generic Sinatra and generic Kelly, both of whom must have made pretty much the same musical a dozen times for MGM. Not all that great a movie, really, but better than most Hollywood musicals, and it has does have its moments. The classical numbers from Jose Iturbi are better than Kelly's usual material, which Kelly repeated in one form or another for some fifteen years. Young Kathryn Grayson is irresistibly cute. The DVD color is gorgeous, a tribute to the 1940's golden age of Technicolor. I've always considered this a decent 3-star film overall. But if you're a Sinatra fan, consider this a Sinatra Essential: in the latter part of the film Frank sings a short song credited to C. Jackson and G. E. Stoll, "I Fall In Love Too Easily." -- probably one of Sinatra's most memorable moments in his long and varied musical career. It lasts only 90 seconds, but it's one of the best songs Blue Eyes ever crooned. Those are Axel Stordahl's strings in the background, which accompanied most of Sinatra's hits on Columbia in the forties and would later back up up the likes of Perry Como and others in the fifties. I love this on DVD, because it was getting to be a pain fast-forwading VHS tape to find this dandy little number. If one and a half minutes of magic is worth it to you, add this DVD to your collection. It's in mine. January 31, 2008

No anchor - sky-high enjoyment

Of the Kelly-Sinatra musicals, runs a close second to On the Town. Humorous, great songs and singing and dancing. A good family film in the best sense of the term. Only those whose souls are dead could fail to enjoy this. January 7, 2008

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