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By
NICK ZEGARAC
"Anchors Aweigh" is bar none the best of the sailors-on-shore-leave musicals that seemed to flood the film market during the 1940's and early 50's.
The story is pretty contrite: two sailors, Joe (Gene Kelly) and Clarence (Frank Sinatra) fall for the same girl, Suzie (Kathryn Grayson). To gain Suzie's affections for Clarence, Joe tells her that Clarence has connections in the music world and can get her an audition with Jose Iturbi (playing himself) over at MGM. This, of course, is a lie, and Joe and Clarence will spend the better half of two hours trying to turn their fib into a reality. It doesn't happen, but its still great fun to watch the series of mishaps that ensue. However, when Joe begins to fall for Suzie himself, he thinks himself a heel until he realizes that Clarence has moved on to someone new. That's it, that's all. However, history has taught us that most musical film fare needs nothing more that this modest plotting in order to captivate an audience. The film is distinguishable for the first major appearance of Sinatra in his first MGM film. The combo of Kelly, Grayson and Sinatra were such a hit that "Anchors Aweigh" was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture and Actor (Kelly). The score is among the finest put forth for a musical, with such standards as "I Fall in Love Too Easily," "The Charm of You," "All of a Sudden" and "The Donkey Serenade."
Warner Home Video has done a pretty spiffy job on this transfer. Colors are bold, saturated and well balanced. During an animated segment in which Joe meets Tom and Jerry, there are some instances where the color balancing is inconsistent, but nothing that will terribly distract. In addition, a few instances of edge enhancement crop up, but again, nothing that will ruin your enjoyment of this great musical classic. There is a minor hint of mis-registration of the Technicolor print, but again, these instances are not lengthy or distracting. The sound, unfortunately, is mono but carried off with such clarity and remarkable spread, that one can forgive Warner for not doing a 5.1 remix.
Extras include a snippet from MGM: "When the Lion Roars," with animators Joseph Hanna and William Barbara explaining how Gene Kelly and Jerry (of Tom and Jerry fame) were able to be seen dancing together. Is it just me or is Jerry awfully big for a mouse?!? |
