Meant as partly entertainment and partly a promotion for enlistment in the WAVES, during the latter part of WWII. Bing Crosby is the male lead, with New England blue blood Sonny Tufts as his more or less constant and not always welcomed companion. Paramount's new female sensation: Betty Hutton, is her popular scatter-brained frantic persona as Susie and her calm sane persona as twin Rosemary Allison. Susie is mad for bobby-soxer idol Johnny Cabot(Bing), while Rosemary is not impressed, favoring his incognito pal Windy (Sonny Tufts). Problem is Johnny also much favors Rosemary, as much more compatible with his laid back persona. That's the basic plot, with the foursome mostly at odds with each other over their romantic relationships and desired assignments in the Navy throughout, with only a cursory resolution at the end. Harold Arden and Johnny Mercer composed all the tunes, most new for this film. Would have been much nicer in color for some of the stage numbers.
At age 41, Bing hardly makes a convincing Sinatra-like bobby-soxer heart throb, any more than did Robert Young in the pre-Sinatra craze "Honolulu". Don O'Connor, for instance, could have made a much more convincing Sinatra stand-in. The screaming girls and WACS inexplicably disappear part way through the film, as the romantic intrigues between the foursome take over the melodrama.The first stage production involving Bing starts out promising , with exotically costumed female dancers and a fiery caldron in the background. But Bing delivers the flatest, slowest, version of "That Old Black Magic" imaginable. His singing style just wasn't suited to this song. Presumably, he was parodying Sinatra's typical slow romantic ballads of the time This Judy Garland-inspired song was definitely meant to be done vigorously in a moderate to fast tempo, as was later done by any number of male and female singers. Sinatra later recorded a decent-sounding mellow version, while Bobby Rydell did a fast tempo rock and roll-styled version.
Bing later sings the romantic ballad "Let's Take the Long Way Home" off stage to sister Rosemary. Again, this rendition is way too slow for my liking. On stage, near the end, he croons the romantic ballad "I Promise You" to Rosemary, who chimes in for the latter part. Between, Bing and Sonny don blackface for their elaborately staged "Ac-Cen-Tchu-Ate the Positive" number, accompanied by WAVES and sailor dancers. They finally got the tempo right for this one! Sony gets to sing a bit here. Actually, he trained in opera at Yale, but seldom got to sing in films and failed to catch on as a major star. I thought this blackface routine was done in good taste, as was Bing's blackface routine in "Holiday Inn". By '44, blackface was very rare in Hollywood films, except perhaps in historical period films.
Betty had a girlish clown-like face which she could easily use to create a big smile or frown, and wasn't afraid to express her emotions with her face or whole body. Audiences took to this novel personality right away(although clearly not all reviewers of her films did). The Hollywood actresses of this era who probably came the closest to her typical stage persona were Martha Raye, who left Paramount about when Betty arrived, and Universal's Peggy Ryan, who mostly was cast in Don O'Connor as a teenager. Martha was cast in several films with Bing or Bob Hope before they were cast together in their 'road series'.
Betty gets to do 3 stage numbers, including part of the somber romantic "I Promise You" duet with Bing near the end, in her Rosemary persona. She was much more distinctive doing her trademark manic song and dance numbers: "Join the Navy" , near the beginning, and the long elaborately-staged "There's a Fellow Waiting in Poukeepsie". Bing recorded a single of the latter with the Andrew Sisters, but Betty's version with worth seeing. "Join the Navy" involved Betty singing and dancing around the stage in both her Susie and Rosemary personas. I don't know how this and all the other many scenes in which the twin sisters are shown talking and moving around face forward were shot. Amazing! Many other films with an actor playing 2 roles never show the 2 characters together face forward. Another web site claims Vera Marshe doubled for Betty in some scenes, but I haven't found this claim at other sites.
The final stage production involves a large contingent of women dressed as WAVES marching around and singing "Here Come the WAVES", with film clips of various on-the-job WAVES interspersed. This is reminiscent of the contemporary morale-boosting Warner production "This is the Army", the finale of Fox's "Pin Up Girl", in which Betty Grable serves as drill sergeant for women dressed as WACS, and the finale of Universal's "When Johnny Comes Marching Home".
I much prefer Bing's performances in several other films of this era, such as several of his 'road series' with Bob Hope, "If I Had My Way", with Gloria Jean; and "Holiday Inn", with Fred Astaire and Marjorie Reynolds"
At age 41, Bing hardly makes a convincing Sinatra-like bobby-soxer heart throb, any more than did Robert Young in the pre-Sinatra craze "Honolulu". Don O'Connor, for instance, could have made a much more convincing Sinatra stand-in. The screaming girls and WACS inexplicably disappear part way through the film, as the romantic intrigues between the foursome take over the melodrama.The first stage production involving Bing starts out promising , with exotically costumed female dancers and a fiery caldron in the background. But Bing delivers the flatest, slowest, version of "That Old Black Magic" imaginable. His singing style just wasn't suited to this song. Presumably, he was parodying Sinatra's typical slow romantic ballads of the time This Judy Garland-inspired song was definitely meant to be done vigorously in a moderate to fast tempo, as was later done by any number of male and female singers. Sinatra later recorded a decent-sounding mellow version, while Bobby Rydell did a fast tempo rock and roll-styled version.
Bing later sings the romantic ballad "Let's Take the Long Way Home" off stage to sister Rosemary. Again, this rendition is way too slow for my liking. On stage, near the end, he croons the romantic ballad "I Promise You" to Rosemary, who chimes in for the latter part. Between, Bing and Sonny don blackface for their elaborately staged "Ac-Cen-Tchu-Ate the Positive" number, accompanied by WAVES and sailor dancers. They finally got the tempo right for this one! Sony gets to sing a bit here. Actually, he trained in opera at Yale, but seldom got to sing in films and failed to catch on as a major star. I thought this blackface routine was done in good taste, as was Bing's blackface routine in "Holiday Inn". By '44, blackface was very rare in Hollywood films, except perhaps in historical period films.
Betty had a girlish clown-like face which she could easily use to create a big smile or frown, and wasn't afraid to express her emotions with her face or whole body. Audiences took to this novel personality right away(although clearly not all reviewers of her films did). The Hollywood actresses of this era who probably came the closest to her typical stage persona were Martha Raye, who left Paramount about when Betty arrived, and Universal's Peggy Ryan, who mostly was cast in Don O'Connor as a teenager. Martha was cast in several films with Bing or Bob Hope before they were cast together in their 'road series'.
Betty gets to do 3 stage numbers, including part of the somber romantic "I Promise You" duet with Bing near the end, in her Rosemary persona. She was much more distinctive doing her trademark manic song and dance numbers: "Join the Navy" , near the beginning, and the long elaborately-staged "There's a Fellow Waiting in Poukeepsie". Bing recorded a single of the latter with the Andrew Sisters, but Betty's version with worth seeing. "Join the Navy" involved Betty singing and dancing around the stage in both her Susie and Rosemary personas. I don't know how this and all the other many scenes in which the twin sisters are shown talking and moving around face forward were shot. Amazing! Many other films with an actor playing 2 roles never show the 2 characters together face forward. Another web site claims Vera Marshe doubled for Betty in some scenes, but I haven't found this claim at other sites.
The final stage production involves a large contingent of women dressed as WAVES marching around and singing "Here Come the WAVES", with film clips of various on-the-job WAVES interspersed. This is reminiscent of the contemporary morale-boosting Warner production "This is the Army", the finale of Fox's "Pin Up Girl", in which Betty Grable serves as drill sergeant for women dressed as WACS, and the finale of Universal's "When Johnny Comes Marching Home".
I much prefer Bing's performances in several other films of this era, such as several of his 'road series' with Bob Hope, "If I Had My Way", with Gloria Jean; and "Holiday Inn", with Fred Astaire and Marjorie Reynolds"