Ship Ahoy | |
---|---|
Directed by | Edward Buzzell |
Screenplay by | Harry Clork Irving Brecher (uncredited) Harry Kurnitz (uncredited) |
Story by | Matt Brooks Bradford Ropes Bert Kalmar |
Produced by | Jack Cummings |
Starring | Eleanor Powell Red Skelton Bert Lahr Virginia O'Brien |
Cinematography | Robert H. Planck Leonard Smith Clyde De Vinna |
Edited by | Blanche Sewell |
Music by | George Bassman George Stoll |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Loew's Inc. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1,037,000 [1] |
Box office | $2,507,000 [1] |
Ship Ahoy is a 1942 American musical-comedy film directed by Edward Buzzell and starring Eleanor Powell and Red Skelton. It was produced by MGM.
Tallulah Winters is a dancing star who is hired to perform on an ocean liner. Before she leaves, she is recruited by what she believes is a branch of the American government and asked to smuggle a prototype explosive mine out of the country. In fact, she is unknowingly working for Nazi agents who have stolen the mine. Meanwhile, Merton Kibble, a writer of pulp fiction adventure stories suffering from severe writer's block, is on the same ship, and soon he finds himself embroiled in Tallulah's real-life adventure.
The brief finale takes place in front of a Navy recruiting station, surrounded by a chorus of sailors. The guys and their girls—and Dorsey's orchestra —are all in uniform, singing "Last Call for Love".
Ship Ahoy was the first of two films in which Powell and Skelton co-starred. It is considered a lesser effort for both actors. [ citation needed ]
The film is chiefly remembered today[ citation needed ] for an uncredited performance by Frank Sinatra as a singer with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.
The movie includes a number in which Powell's character, communicates with US agent in the audience by tapping out a message in morse code. [2]
The film was to be called I'll Take Manila but was renamed after the Japanese captured the Philippines. The setting was changed to Puerto Rico and the song “I'll Take Manila" became "I'll Take Tallulah". [2]
Skelton and Powell next paired up in 1943's I Dood It . In that film, they appeared with Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy's brother.
In his June 26, 1942 review in The New York Times , Bosley Crowther lightly praised the “moderate and tuneful little cruise…Metro has stretched the whole thing out about half again as long as it should be, with the consequence that it sags and labors rather heavily in spots. But it skips along right merrily when Miss Powell is doing her turns, especially in a lively rhythm number to a tune called "I'll Take Tallulah." “ [3]
According to MGM records the film earned $1,831,000 at the US and Canadian box office and $676,000 elsewhere, making the studio a profit of $1,470,000. [1] [4]
Broadway Melody of 1936 is a musical film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1935. In New York, the film opened at the Capitol Theatre, the site of many prestigious MGM premieres. It was a follow-up of sorts to the successful The Broadway Melody, which had been released in 1929, although, there is no story connection with the earlier film beyond the title and some music.
Anchors Aweigh is a 1945 American musical comedy film starring Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson, and Gene Kelly, with songs by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn. Directed by George Sidney, the film also features José Iturbi, Pamela Britton, and Dean Stockwell.
Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombone playing. His theme song was "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You". His technical skill on the trombone gave him renown among other musicians. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey. After Dorsey broke with his brother in the mid-1930s, he led an extremely successful band from the late 1930s into the 1950s. He is best remembered for standards such as "Opus One", "This Love of Mine" featuring Frank Sinatra on vocals, "Song of India", "Marie", "On Treasure Island", and his biggest hit single, "I'll Never Smile Again".
Eleanor Torrey Powell was an American dancer and actress. Best remembered for her tap dance numbers in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s, she was one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's top dancing stars during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Powell appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and most prominently, in a series of movie musical vehicles tailored especially to showcase her dance talents, including Born to Dance (1936), Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937), Rosalie (1937), and Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940). She retired from films in the mid-1940s but resurfaced for the occasional specialty dance scene in films such as Thousands Cheer. In the 1950s she hosted a Christian children's TV show and eventually headlined a successful nightclub act in Las Vegas. She died from cancer at 69. Powell is known as one of the most versatile and athletic female dancers of the Hollywood studio era.
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That's Entertainment, Part II is a 1976 American compilation film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and a sequel to That's Entertainment! (1974). Like the previous film, That's Entertainment, Part II was a retrospective of famous films released by MGM from the 1930s to the 1950s. Some posters for the film use Part 2 rather than Part II in the title.
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