Romance on the High Seas

Watching Romance on the High Seas I could have sworn that the Brothers Warner hijacked one of the plots of an RKO Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers film. It's got that kind of silliness in the plot, the usual case of mistaken identities and false suspicions that characterized the Astaire- Rogers films.

Don DeFore and Janis Paige are a couple each of who swears the other is cheating. When a mix-up from a travel agency in passport photos where Paige's is exchanged for Doris Day's she contacts Day and offers to pay Day's way on a South American cruise if she just travels in Paige's name. She wants to catch DeFore cheating.

Of course DeFore goes one better. He hires private detective Jack Carson to go on the trip and catch Paige cheating. Of course he latches on to Day.

If you are a fan of Astaire-Rogers films you know exactly where this one is going. Romance on the High Seas has all the ingredients of one of their films except the dance numbers.

It doesn't lack for a good musical score though. Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn came up with a good one where Day sings several songs, including the Academy Award nominated, It's Magic. It's Magic lost that year to Buttons and Bows. It's Magic happens to be a favorite one of mine of Doris Day hits.

Doris firmly establishes her image in this one. She's so radiant and sings so well, I can't believe she was a third choice for this film behind Judy Garland and Betty Hutton.

If you hear violins coming from some unknown source it will be the magic when you're watching Romance on the High Seas.

Make no mistake, this is Doris Day's movie, first one or not. And that's no small accomplishment. She is up against not just two, but three veteran scene-stealers in Oscar Levant, "Cuddles" Szakall and Jack Carson. Yet the sheer naturalness of her winning personality is enough to launch one of Hollywood's most successful screen careers.

On the whole, it's an entertaining film, especially the first third where Day's high spirits are allowed to shine. Once the shipboard romance takes over, things slow down and the mood shifts. Whatever his other many talents, the versatile Jack Carson is a character actor, not a leading man. Too bad he gets romantically serious and we lose his light comedic talents. And, of course, there's the professional wit, the very unHollywood-looking Oscar Levant, always livening things up with a mordant quip.

What a gorgeous movie to look at. The Technicolor is outstanding. Note how well the colors are coordinated, especially the scenes in Rio. This is a neglected phase of movie-making, and here the art director and set designer both deserve industry awards. The plot's fairly clever, having to do with a marital mix-up that keeps the audience interested without straining. Nonetheless, it's Day's movie, showing what an engaging screen personality she is-- too bad she became mockingly identified as America's "professional virgin". Here, her rendition of "It's Magic" is just that. Magic!

This one's a hoot!

This film's male cast is a very good one, and they receive most of the cargo of really funny lines: Don De Fore, Cuddles Sakall, Oscar Levant, and Canada's own Jack Carson. Oscar's misanthropic lines are usually acerbic enough, and self-referential enough, to sound as though he wrote them himself.

I was a little wary since this video is part of the Warner Brothers "Doris Day Collection". But Doris is really quite winning. According to an anonymous and unsung IMDb contributor, Judy Garland was the first choice for Doris's part. That would have been a poor fit; the role certainly calls for someone lighter. The second choice, Betty Hutton, would have been a good one as well, but Lady Day (sorry) won me over. She sings a number of delightful songs -- she just happens to find a jazz combo on shipboard to accompany her -- and there is nothing here as risible as "Que Sera Sera", the sugary kidnapping tune from "The Man Who Knew Too Much". "It's Magic" is the showstopper.

The cruise ship makes several stops as it's travelling south: Cuba, Trinidad, Rio. A song in the Hollywood version of the local style generally erupts spontaneously. Busby Berkeley called the shots on these, and his influence is, shall we say, detectable. Jack Carson sings a calypso number in an unsteady Trini accent, but it's not too bad considering he was attempting it 50 years ago, mahn.

Try booking a passage with this ship of fools the next time you're in need of a vacation.

It's hard to believe 'Romance on the High Seas' is Doris Day's first flick. She's awesome in a role originally intended for Betty Hutton--and everyone has a great time poking fun at manners and morals in this breezy sea breeze of a farce.

When Day and Jack Carson aren't coming up with one-liners, she takes time to sing some nifty tunes--among them, 'Put 'Em in A Box', 'It's You Or No One' and, of course, 'It's Magic'. Her rendering of the latter song in a Cuban nightclub is one of the highlights of the film--and her career. Never has she expressed the simple emotions of the lyric more beautifully with a honey of a voice that is always directly on pitch, warming the heart with great phrasing and tone. And her comedic skills are already in evidence here.

Especially enjoyable is her first night on board the cruise ship when she and Carson mistakenly dress up. "Nobody dresses on first night shipboard," Carson tells her. Posing as a society lady, she asks in cultivated tones, "Really? Don't they get chilly?" She turns and peers into the dining room. "This I gotta see!" she says in her own voice. She uses the cultivated tones to disguise herself as society lady (Janis Paige) whose identity she has taken.

The slim plot revolves entirely around the mistaken identity theme and it's all played for laughs with lots of punch lines. Doris has an amusing scene with the fabulous Eric Blore as a doctor who comes to check on her "illness" and ends up feeling weak when she checks his pulse.

Janis Paige, Don de Fore, S.Z. Sakall, Oscar Levant and the usual Warner Bros. stock players are all adept at this sort of thing. Highly amusing comedy with some great songs--easy to take and always good for a few laughs. Doris Day at the peak of her form.

In this Technicolor musical rom-com from Warner Brothers and director Michael Curtiz, married couple Michael (Don DeFore) and Elvira Kent (Janis Paige) have been together 3 years but they still don't trust one another. When Michael cancels their anniversary cruise to South America at the last minute due to business, Elvira doesn't believe him, so she concocts a dubious plan: she'll tell Michael that she's going on the cruise by herself, but will send nightclub singer Georgia Garrett (Doris day) in her place. That way Elvira can stay in New York and watch to see if Michael is cheating. However, Michael hires private investigator Peter Virgil (Jack Carson) to go on the cruise and watch to see if Elvira is cheating. Mistaken identities and blossoming romance produce havoc and laughter.

This mildly amusing confection was Doris Day's movie debut, and her persona is a bit different from her later "virginal" image. Here she's a distinctly blue collar dame, with attitude and some rough edges. She's still likable, and clicks with Carson. The color cinematography pops, and there are some nice set designs. The movie earned two Oscar nominations, for Best Score (Ray Heindorf) and Best Song ("It's Magic").