Tentação da Sereia

This is a movie that turned out to be much better than I thought it would. I had been led to believe that it was a light, patriotic movie. Certainly it was patriotic. However the story line was really quite good. Betty Hutton was challenged to play twins and to play two different personalities (one bubbly and scatterbrained, the other far more serious). She pulled it off very well indeed. The movie keeps getting better as Susan (the bubbly one) plots to get Johnny (Bing) for herself while Johnny really wants Rosemary (the serious one). As the plots and the misunderstandings grow there is also a show to put on that is touring the country to get women to enlist in the WAVES. There is good music and there are numerous scenes of light humor. This one qualifies in my book as good fun.

Bing Crosby stars in this paper-thin musical comedy which doubles as an all-out flag waving morale-builder for the war effort. Although it boasts a noteworthy Johnny Mercer score, and Crosby's buoyant personality, `Here Come the Waves' is marred by extreme predictability and a glaringly overexuberant turn by Betty Hutton.

Crosby stars as a popular singer and bobbysoxers' idol, in a quasi-parody of Sinatra or even Crosby himself. Despite his colorblindness, he enlists in the navy and becomes romantically involved with a pair of WAVES who happen to be twin sisters (both played by Hutton). This leads to the usual complications, schemes, mistaken identities, one-upmanship, hurt feelings, and reconciliations. Along the way, Crosby and the WAVES put on a gala production for the servicemen, which climaxes in a show stopping performance of `Accentuate the Positive.'

Crosby brings his routine charisma to the role, which fits him like a glove. He gets to croon several other memorable songs, including `That Old Black Magic' and `Let's Take the Long Way Home.' But Hutton throws herself completely into her role(s), and comes off as far too bubbly and high-strung. Whether she honestly felt that the part called for so much pep or if perhaps she was trying her best to steal scenes from Crosby I do not know, but regardless of her motivations it is just too much, as director Mark Sandrich should have realized and immediately corrected. I grant that in a movie like this the plot is of minimal importance and exists merely to hold the tunes together, but this premise is tired and stale, and all the plot twists can be predicted from a mile away. It's unabashedly patriotic and perfectly harmless enough as entertainment, but there's honestly nothing new here.

My late aunt, Kathleen C. Quinn, was the technical advisor for "Here Come the Waves". She was a Lieutenant(jg) in the WAVES and was assigned to the movie. She said that the most difficult part of her job was in getting both the studio and the female cast, including Betty Hutton, to keep the hair styles within WAVE regulation length. (Regulation length was much shorter than the popular styles of the time.) She always told us that both Bing and Betty were very easy to work with.

Do you recall the brouhaha when Elvis was drafted? Well, that's nothing compared to what happens when the Navy lowers their physical requirements and the bobbysoxer's idol Johnny Cabot (Bing Crosby) enlists. Bing is quite funny spoofing that Hoboken lad as he ca-roons into the microphone for legions of swooning gals. His biggest fan is entertainer turned WAVE Susie Allison (Betty Hutton) who goes ga-ga in a big way. Susie's twin sister Rosemary (Betty Hutton) is the more sensible and reserved type so, naturally, Johnny falls for her. Sonny Tufts is appealing as a sailor pal with his own agenda. Lots of laughs and Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer tunes make this wartime morale booster a pleasant way to spend an evening. Look for Ann Doran and Noel Neil in uniform.

Time capsule alert: The Arlen/Mercer standard "Acc-Cen-Tu-Ate the Positive" is introduced in this feature. Georgia boy Johnny Mercer wrote the tune to a specific cadence that fans of his recordings recognize and enjoy. I'm certain no offence was meant (even at such as late date as 1944) by introducing the song in blackface, but oh my, that sort of thing can be hard to take in 2007. On the plus side the performance of the song is straight-forward and attached to a delightful ensemble dance routine.

After years of knowing about this Bing Crosby-Betty Hutton movie musical, I finally got to see this on YouTube in an excellent print. Crosby plays a singer who all the women are crazy about-his character is possibly a parody of then-newcomer Frank Sinatra and his following though Der Bingle himself had a similar crowd when he was just starting out a decade before. One of those women happens to be one of the twin sisters Betty plays, the one who's the usual characterization of Ms. Hutton-all over the place emotionally-instead of the more serious and calm one. She's convincing in both roles. Many fine songs provided by Harold Arlen & Johnny Mercer including the Oscar-nominated song, "Ac-Cen-Tchu-Ate the Positive", which unfortunately is a little marred by the fact that Crosby and Sonny Tufts perform it in blackface. In summary, Here Come the Waves was a pretty funny movie and a nice tribute to the women in uniform during World War II. Oh, and I also liked the cartoon sets as drawn by Milt Gross.