Three Sailors and a Girl

Jane Powell and Gordon MacRae, supported by Gene Nelson and Jack E. Leonard, are the stars that carry this musical comedy. Powell displays real beauty (accented by some sharp fashions) while singing and dancing up a storm. MacRae's voice may be the best part of this film.

Jack E. Leonard appears in his first film. A stand-up comic better known for his appearances on television variety shows like "The Mike Douglas Show" or "The Merv Griffin Show", Leonard displays great energy and a surprising lightness on his feet.

The film is about the evolution of a stage musical that is backed by some sailors (and later, some marines). It starts off as a dog, but eventually becomes a hit. The film takes a similar path; it is only in the final act that "Three Sailors" feels like a solid piece of entertainment.

Look for Merv Griffin himself as a sailor. Burt Lancaster contributes a comic cameo.

As musical comedies go, this film is a lightweight, but it has moments that are entertaining.

Warners borrowed Jane Powell from MGM in 1953 and put her in a Doris Day kind of role, as an up- and-coming Broadway leading lady starring in Sam Levene's not-very-integrated-looking musical. Together they charm sailors Gordon MacRae, Gene Nelson, and Jack E. Leonard (trying to be Jackie Gleason, the Fat Funny One) into investing, and turn an out-of-town flop into a Broadway smash. Not an original story by any means, but it's lively, and the Sammy Fain-Sammy Cahn songs are good. It seems stinting of the screenwriters not to write in a girlfriend for Nelson, who has two spectacular tap numbers, and the no-name supporting characters (Georges Givot as a temperamental Ezio Pinza-like basso, somebody else as the sarcastic secretary, somebody else as the doofus playwright) don't have much interesting to do. But the songs and dances are really lively, and it's a chance to see Levene playing a Nathan Detroit-like schemer at the top of his form. MGM was making better musicals, even Warners was, but this one's an unpretentious good time.

This is a really lame musical. So so songs and stupid unbelievable plot. What was the show they were doing all about??? How could they change the scenery and costumes in a second??? dumb, dumb,dumb. Nonsensical and implausible. The only credits are an amusing performance by Miss Powell and some nice huffing by Gene Nelson. Otherwise forget this potboiler.

MGM made a ton of musicals over the years and the studio was the best for the genre. Some of them were terrific...some, well, were far from it. I would put "Three Sailors and a Girl" in the latter category.

The USS Texas has arrived in New York for shore leave (a VERY long one apparently). Before leaving the ship, three buddies come up with an interesting idea...that ALL of the sailors aboard pool their money. Then, the three pals set out to find a good investment for their shipmates. They come upon a jerk named Joe Woods, who sells them on the notion of investing their money in his latest musical show. They decide to do this because his leading lady, Penny (Jane Powell), has a gorgeous voice (at least according to the film). However, the play ends up being a flop...mostly due to a ham of an actor who is in the lead. Fortunately, he quits...and so does the producer! Now, without them, one of the sailors (Gordon MacRae) decides to play the lead AND producer! What next?

I had a hard time with this movie compared to some viewers because I found Powell's voice painful to listen to...as it was VERY high pitched and operatic. Like Jeanette MacDonald, you either love that style of leading lady or you don't. Apart from her singing, the movie was decent and enjoyable...but that WAS a big part of the film.

Warner Brothers musical Three Sailors And A Girl is based, very loosely based I might add on the George S. Kaufman play The Butter And Egg Man that ran on Broadway during the Twenties. It was one of Kaufman's earliest successes and one he did without a collaborator, unusual for him. It was the Navy participation in this film that was original.

Otherwise the plot has some down and out producer suckering a country yokel out of a lot of money to produce his show. In the film, the yokel is a sailor played by Gordon MacRae with a stern sense of morality, rather unusual for someone in the Navy. The crew has been on active duty for almost a year and their back pay which they've been unable to spend amounts to a considerable nest egg. While on Wall Street looking for an investment, MacRae, Gene Nelson, and Jack E. Leonard run into producer Sam Levene and he gets the boys to invest in his show. And the attraction is leading lady Jane Powell who falls for Gordon big time.

No big hits come from the score written by Sammy Fain and Sammy Cahn, but the numbers are serviceable to the plot. MacRae and Powell make a good team musically, too bad they were at different studios and didn't do more films together, Powell was on loan from MGM. Gene Nelson was as always great in the dance numbers, I've said it before on other of his films I've reviewed, he came along ten years too late, what a really big dancing star he would have been.

Jack E. Leonard was an early version of Don Rickles. I remember seeing him many times on the Ed Sullivan Show as a kid. His character was interesting, but too bad we didn't get one of his insult monologues for which he was so famous.

Part of the plot involves MacRae taking over the show and making a holy hash of it and Jane Powell calling in George Abbott, Ira Gershwin, and Moss Hart to contribute their talents to save the show. The real people weren't in Three Sailors And A Girl, just actors playing them. But as the show originated with George S. Kaufman, had all these people put their talents into this film for real, we might have seen a real classic unfold.

The mind boggles at the possibility.