Anchors Aweigh (film)

Anchors Aweigh
original poster
Directed by	George Sidney
Produced by	Joe Pasternak
Written by	Natalie Marcin (story) Isobel Lennart
Starring	Frank Sinatra Kathryn Grayson Gene Kelly
Music by	Georgie Stoll (musical direction) Axel Stordahl (orchestrations) Calvin Jackson (incidental music)
Cinematography	Charles P. Boyle
Editing by	Adrienne Fazan
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Turner Entertainment (current)
Release date(s)	July 14, 1945 (1945-07-14)
Running time	143 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$4.5 million (US/ Canada rentals)

Anchors Aweigh is a 1945 American Technicolor musical comedy film directed by George Sidney and starring Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson, and Gene Kelly, in which two sailors go on a four-day shore leave in Hollywood, accompanied by music and song, meet an aspiring young singer and try to help her get an audition at MGM. In addition to a live-action Kelly dancing with Jerry the cartoon mouse, the movie also features José Iturbi, Pamela Britton, Dean Stockwell, and Sharon McManus.

Plot

Joe Brady and Clarence Doolittle are Navy sailors who have a four-day leave in Hollywood. Joe has his heart set on spending time with his girl, the unseen Lola. Clarence wants to just meet a girl. They find a little boy named Donald who ran away from home and wants to join the navy. Taking him home, the two sailors meet his young beautiful singer-wannabe Aunt Susan who is not as old as Donald made her sound. Clarence develops a crush on her, so he asks Joe to help him get Susan to like him. While trying to get Clarence a date with Susan, Joe boasts to her that he personally knows a big-time music producer who can audition her. The only problem is, Joe doesn't know the music producer and he's starting to fall in love with Susan himself. Joe also tells the boy, Donald, a story about a sailor and a mouse that turns out to be Jerry Mouse. Clarence eventually meets and befriends a girl from his hometown of Brooklyn.

Cast

• Frank Sinatra – Seaman First Class Clarence "Brooklyn" Doolittle
• Kathryn Grayson – Susan Abbott
• Gene Kelly – Gunner's Mate Second Class Joseph "Joe" Brady
• José Iturbi – Himself
• Dean Stockwell – Donald Martin
• Pamela Britton – The Girl From Brooklyn
• Leon Ames – Admiral's aide reads citation for medals
• Sharon McManus – Little Mexican Girl
• Sara Berner – Jerry Mouse (in Tom and Jerry cartoon)

Songs

• "Main Title" – MGM Studio and Orchestra
• "Anchors Aweigh" – MGM Studio and Orchestra and Jose Iturbi
• "We Hate to Leave" – Gene Kelly & Frank Sinatra
• "Brahms's Lullaby" – Frank Sinatra (Sang to Donald to come back again with Joe)
• "I Begged Her" – Gene Kelly & Frank Sinatra
• "If You Knew Susie" – Frank Sinatra & Gene Kelly
• "Jealousy – Kathryn Grayson
• "What Makes the Sunset" – Frank Sinatra
• "(All of a Sudden) My Heart Sings" – Kathryn Grayson
• "The Donkey Serenade" – Jose Iturbi
• "The King Who Couldn't Sing and Dance" – Gene Kelly
• "The Worry Song" – Gene Kelly & Sara Berner (as Jerry Mouse from the cartoons "Tom and Jerry")
• "The Charm of You" – Frank Sinatra (featuring a rare appearance of Guitarist Benito Mayorga with the orchestra)
• "The Mexican Hat Dance" – Gene Kelly & Sharon McManus
• "Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" – Jose Iturbi
• "I Fall in Love Too Easily" – Frank Sinatra
• "La cumparsita" – Gene Kelly (Music by Francisco Mayorga and "The Guadalajara Trio")
• "Waltz Serenade" – Kathryn Grayson - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
• "Anchors Aweigh (Reprise)" – Dean Stockwell
• "Anchors Aweigh (Reprise 2)" – MGM Studio and Orchestra Chorus (THE END)

Background

The movie was written by Natalie Marcin and Isobel Lennart and directed by George Sidney. It was the first in a series of buddy pictures teaming the cocky dancing Kelly with the (against type) shy singing Sinatra, which culminated in 1949 with On the Town. The production tried to mix some of the more successful story elements and set-pieces from earlier MGM musical hits, such as Meet Me in St. Louis.

It won the Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture, which was received by the musical director Georgie Stoll. In 2001, Kevin Spacey purchased this Oscar statuette at a Butterfield & Butterfield estate auction and returned it to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Anchors Aweigh was also nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Gene Kelly), Best Cinematography, Color (Robert Planck, Charles P. Boyle), Best Music, Song (for Jule Styne (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for "I Fall in Love Too Easily") and Best Picture.

Gene Kelly and Jerry Mouse (MGM)

The movie is famous for a musical number where Gene Kelly dances seamlessly with the animated Jerry Mouse (voiced by Sara Berner). Tom Cat appears briefly as a butler in the sequence supervised by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. The animation was entirely done by veterans Kenneth Muse, Ray Patterson and Ed Barge. Originally, the producers wanted to use Mickey Mouse for this segment. Some sources claim Walt Disney initially agreed to loan out Mickey, but Roy Disney rejected the deal. According to Bob Thomas's book on Roy Disney, the studio was in debt after World War II and they were focusing on trying to get their own films out on time. According to Roy, they had no business making cartoons for other people.

The film offers rare color glimpses of the wartime MGM studio, including the Thalberg Building, the frontgate, the backlot, the commissary, and one of the scoring stages, as well as an on-screen performance by real members of the MGM studio orchestra. There is also a memorable scene at the Hollywood Bowl, where Sinatra sings "I Fall in Love Too Easily", after Iturbi and a group of young pianists have performed an arrangement of Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. In the audition scene with Iturbi, Grayson sings a special arrangement by Earl Brent for coloratura soprano and orchestra of the waltz from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings. And Iturbi conducts the United States Navy Band for a patriotic rendition of the title tune. Many of the memorable scenes in this film were later featured in the That's Entertainment! tributes to MGM.

Awards and nominations

• Winner: Academy Award, Original Music Score, Georgie Stoll (although the contributions of one of the first black composers and pianists in the MGM music department, Calvin Jackson, went uncredited, this was not uncommon even for white studio musicians)
• Nominated: Academy Award, Best Picture
• Nominated: Academy Award, Best Actor, Gene Kelly
• Nominated: Academy Award, Best Cinematography (Color)
• Nominated: Best Song, "I Fall In Love Too Easily" (Words and Music by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, Sung by Frank Sinatra)

Trivia

On an aircraft carrier entering San Diego Harbor, Admiral Hammond, in the name of the Secretary of the Navy, awards Petty Officer Second Class Joseph Brady (Gene Kelly) and Seaman Clarence Doolittle (Frank Sinatra) Silver Stars for actions on the USS Knoxville. When Doolittle is blown overboard, Brady dives in the water and saves his life.

The real USS Knoxville (PF-64) served in the European Theatre of Operations, but never in the Pacific.

In popular culture

• Paula Abdul was inspired by the scene of Kelly dancing with Jerry to create the video for her song "Opposites Attract", where she dances with an animated cat.
• Several Tom & Jerry shorts have bits from The Worry Song scene played in their score. Mainly when its Jerry's moment.
• Family Guy episode "Road to Rupert" reworked the Jerry Mouse dancing scene replacing Jerry with Stewie Griffin, though Jerry's reflection on the floor is still visible.

Further Reading

• Monder, Eric (1994). George Sidney:a Bio-Bibliography. Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313284571. 

External links

• Anchors Aweigh at the Internet Movie Database
• Anchors Aweigh at the TCM Movie Database
• Anchors Aweigh at AllRovi