Starring Bing Crosby, Carole Lombard, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Ethel Merman
Directed by Norman Taurog
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A wealthy heiress is attracted to a singing sailor aboard a ship she owns, but when the ship sinks and they're stranded on an island, he tells her and her entourage they'll have to work along with him.
Famous crooner Bing Crosby headlines this musical from Paramount, and boy is it a musical, with at least 13 songs I counted, and there were at least three performed before I got a semblance of the film's plot. Crosby sings most of them, with Ethel Merman and Leon Errol joining in on a few, while Bing's paired with the lovely but non-singing Carole Lombard. The duo have the typically matched against type romance, with misunderstandings causing cross words between them before we reach the happy ending. The songs are mostly forgettable, but Wikipedia indicates that a few hit the top of the pop charts after the film's release. Merman, who looks great to match her fine singing voice, and Errol also provide most of the comedy in the film, along with radio stars George Burns & Gracie Allen. A lot of the jokes fell flat for me, but there were a few I laughed out loud at, and a routine with Lombard's pet bear racing across the ship deck on roller skates was pretty amusing. Crosby and Lombard have good chemistry together and she plays off him very well during the brief dramatic sequences between musical numbers. Also in the cast is a very young Ray Milland as one of two princes aboard pursing Lombard's hand. I enjoyed the film overall, but thought it could have been tighter and more effective with some better writing and more spaced out tunes.
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