Follow the Fleet
Directed by Mark Sandrich
Written by Dwight Taylor and Allan Scott based on the play “Shore Leave” by Hubert Osborne
1936/USA
Radio Pictures
Repeat viewing

[box] There may be trouble ahead/But while there’s moonlight and music/And love and romance/Let’s face the music and dance. — “Let’s Face the Music and Dance”, lyrics by Irving Berlin[/box]

Another in the unbeatable series of Astaire/Rogers movies of the 1930’s

‘Bake’ Baker (Fred Astaire) joined the navy and went to sea after his dance partner Sherry Martin (Ginger Rogers) refused his proposal. On shore leave in San Francisco, Bake finds Sherry at a dance palace.  In the meantime, his friend ‘Bilge’ Smith (Randolph Scott) doesn’t look twice when Sherry’s Plain Jane sister Connie (Harriet Hilliard) comes on to him.  After Sherry fixes Connie up and puts her in one of her dresses, ‘Bilge” is overcome by her charms … but not so as to dissuade him from falling for a pass by a sexy divorcee. The rest of the movie follows the couples as Connie’s heart is broken and Bake messes up Sherry’s career repeatedly.  See if you can spot Lucille Ball as a chorus girl.

This has wonderful routines to some classic Irving Berlin songs:  “Let Yourself Go”; “I’m Putting All My Eggs in One Basket”; and “Let’s Face the Music and Dance.” “Putting All My Eggs” is a great comedy number with Fred and Ginger pretending they are making it up as they go along and tripping each other up.  And both the song and the dance “Let’s Face the Music” sum up the Great Depression with its anxiety and romance.  It is simply beautiful.

The only thing that prevents this film from being in the first tier of Astaire/Rogers film is the amount of screen time devoted to the Scott/Hilliard romance.  I might feel differently if Randolph Scott appealed to me in the slightest.  As it is, for a handsome guy he has remarkably little sex appeal.  Harriet Hilliard, who went on to become TV’s Harriet Nelson, is an odd selection of actress for someone who has to carry two solo songs.

Clip – “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” – this gives me the chills at the end