The film is notable as Weill's only musical written directly for the screen and for its anachronistic blend of history and contemporary (1940s) slang. At the time, the mock-operatic sequence, "The Nina, the Pinta, the Santa Maria," was one of the longest musical sequences ever created for a screen musical.
Plot
Bill Morgan is a young American who is eager to join the military and fight for his country during World War II, but his 4F status prevents him from enlisting. Bill does his bit for the war effort by collecting scrap metal. Among the discarded junk he discovers a mysterious brass bottle which he rubs to clean off the grime.
Suddenly, Ali, a Genie, appears and offers to grant him three wishes. Without thinking, Bill says he wants to be in the US army. In a puff of smoke, Bill finds himself a foot soldier in George Washington's Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. After a run-in with some Hessian soldiers, Bill escapes by wishing himself into the Navy. Once again the Genie transfers him, but this time to the crew of Christopher Columbus's ship on his maiden voyage to the new world. Once on shore, he agrees to buy Manhattan Island from a local native.
Bill next finds himself whisked forward in time to New Amsterdam in the mid-17th century. When he claims that he owns the Island, he is thrown in jail. Ali finally gets it right and Bill finds himself in the right time and place by the end of the film.
Kurt Weill had not been well served by Hollywood. His scores for the Broadway shows Knickerbocker Holiday, Lady in the Dark, and One Touch of Venus had been drastically cut for their film adaptations. Although a few cuts were made in his proposed score for Where Do We Go from Here, most of his work with Ira Gershwin remains, including a lengthy mock-opera bouffé aboard Columbus' ship during which the crew threatens to mutiny.
Co-stars June Haver and Fred MacMurray met while working on this film, and were later married.
Where Do We Go from Here? has to date not been released on any traditional home video format. For years the only release was a recording taken directly from the soundtrack of the film, issued on LP (Ariel KWH 10)[4] and a set of rehearsal recordings performed by Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin is currently available on the CD Tryout[5] (DRG Records) including extended versions of the songs "Nina, the Pinta, the Santa Maria", "Song of the Rhineland", and "Manhattan (Indian Song)."
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