Anchors Aweigh (1945)

Director:  George Sidney
Cast:  Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson, Gene Kelly

Hey everybody!  Whether you're in the cold Northeast (like me!) or the tropics of Florida or (probably) California, Happy belated Holidays!  And a Happy New Year to you as well!  Today we're reviewing another Gene Kelly classic.

THE PLOT:  Joe Brady (Gene Kelly) and Clarence Doolittle (Frank Sinatra) are sailors in the Navy who get a three day leave.  They wind up in Hollywood, where all Joe wants to do is find his girlfriend Lola (who we never see, much to my disappointment) and all Clarence wants to do is find a girl.  The boys end up caring for a little boy named Donald, who has his heart set on joining the Navy.  Clarence falls for Donald's Aunt Susan (Kathryn Grayson) and the pair find many hilarious ways to get Clarence a date with her.  Eventually, they get him out with her, but it's useless because Clarence ends up falling for a girl from Brooklyn (Pamela Britton) and Joe falls for Susan.

THE REVIEW:  Okay, two things we need to get out of the way first:

1. Gene's bandit tango dance scene:  HOT SEX.
2. I never knew Frank Sinatra could dance!

Anyways, this film was definitely fun and I loved Gene's interactions with the children.  It was great to see him in a shy role.  And as for Frank, he was just plain ADORABLE in this!!!!  5 out of 5 stars.

Trailer:

      

Ziegfeld Follies (1945)

Directors:  Lemuel Ayers, Roy Del Ruth, Robert Lewis, Vincente Minnelli, Merrill Pye, George Sidney, Charles Walters
Cast:  Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, Lucille Bremer, Fanny Brice, Judy Garland, Kathryn Grayson, Lena Horne, Gene Kelly, James Melton, Victor Moore, Red Skelton, Esther Williams, William Powell, Edward Arnold, Marion Bell, Cyd Charisse, Hume Cronyn, William Frawley, Robert Lewis, Virginia O'Brien, Keenan Wynn


This might be the film with the biggest cast and most directors ever made...

THE PLOT:  There really isn't a plot, besides the deceased Florence Ziegfeld (William Powell) looking down from heaven and designing his next big show.  The rest of the film is live action except for a sequence at the beginning, where a sequence is shown that consists entirely of puppets.

THE REVIEW:  I went into this film solely for the purpose of seeing a young Gene Kelly, but I was completely taken aback by the acting skill, especially the terrific comic acting by Red Skelton and Keenan Wynn.  I was laughing my ass off at Skelton's comedy.  And this is the first time I saw Keenan Wynn.  I didn't peg him as a comedian, but boy, was he funny!  And of course, Gene was terrific in his bit with Fred Astaire in "The Babbit and the Bromide."  I think this movie should get a 4 out of 5 stars, minus 1 because of Kathryn Grayson's strange performance at the end.  I just didn't like it.     

Singin' in the Rain (1952)

Directors:  Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen
Cast:  Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell

Finally reviewing my favorite movie of all time!  My friend was kind enough to burn me a copy, so here we go!

THE PLOT:  Everyone thinks the musical is about rain.  Well, that's not entirely true.  "Singin' in the Rain" is the title song and the ending movie, but those are only two scenes in which rain appears.

Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) is a huge Hollywood star in 1927.  His co-star, Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), is loud, annoying and has a voice like metal on a chalkboard.  Don and Lina play an on-screen romantic couple..  In real life, their studio, Monumental Pictures, has linked them romantically, but in reality, Don hates Lina and Lina loves Don.  They're working on a new picture, The Dueling Cavalier, which turns out to be a total flop.  So, Don, his girlfriend Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) and his best friend Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor) decide to make The Dueling Cavalier into a musical called The Dancing Cavalier.  Completely original, I agree.  But here's the thing:  Lina can't sing or dance for brains ("She can't act, she can't sing and she can't dance.  A triple threat"), so Don and Cosmo, who spend the entire movie acting like a couple of frat boys, decide to dub Lina's voice with Kathy's.

Well, we all know from any stoner movie that any plan by two male characters who are best friends fails, or at least turns sour.  Such is the case here.  Lina threatens studio boss R.F. Simpson (Millard Mitchell) and tells him that Kathy must dub her voice all the time.  R.F., Don and Cosmo move forward under the guise that they are going along with what Lina wants (Kathy gets mad at Don because she doesn't know that they're doing this), and then at the end, everything gets solved and then Don and Kathy share a kiss.

THE REVIEW:  I absolutely LOVE this movie because A. it's a musical. B. it's Gene Kelly. C. it's Donald O'Connor.  I was disappointed that Donald's lines in the film seemed to decrease from many to little to almost none, but his iconic "Make 'em Laugh" is amazing.  Donald was smoking 4 packs of cigarettes a day at the time, and he pulled off his iconic wall jump somersault with ease.  Gene Kelly performed the fantastic "Singin' in the Rain" number with a 103-degree fever.  And Debbie Reynolds, despite having been chastised by Gene (always known as a bit of a dictator on set) for her poor dancing and singing (her voice was actually Jean Hagen's voice singing, and Jean Hagen's talking voice was not her real voice), does an awesome job on "You Were Meant for Me" dancing with Gene.  Everyone did such a great job despite their shortcomings, and for that heart and determination, I give this film a 5 out of 5.  It truly deserves to be my favorite film.