Melody Cruise

What a joy it is for a movie collector like me to find a movie I've never seen before that is so darn good. It's hard to describe this movie because it's so many things at the same time. It's a comedy, it's a musical, it's sexy, groundbreaking and different.

Most of the dialogue is spoken rhythmically, a device that might have been tiresome in lesser hands. Zoe and Vera, are two interesting characters in this film. They are "party-goers", stranded in a stateroom. To keep the women safely in his cabin, Pete bribes steward Hickey to steal their clothes. They escape anyway.

The most fun elements of the film are both technical and sub-story-wise. The technical are the creative dissolves from scene to scene. They don't just fade; they are patterned in truly artistic ways. The film contains many highly entertaining special effects created by Vern Walker and Lyn Dunn. Decorated with lots of pretty girls, punctuated with melodic interludes, its strong points are a very pretty ice-skating ballet and the work of Charles Ruggles.

Melody Cruise is mixture of nonsense and music which makes for an excellent show. It's not the singing or the clowning that makes this a smart piece of work, but the imaginative direction of Mark Sandrich, who is alert in seizing ANY opportunity for cinematic stunts. From the viewpoint of direction this production is quite an achievement. I'm very happy to have this excellent film in my 3,000 DVD/Blu-ray collection.

From start to finish, this film never slows down. There are so many great one-liners, sexual innuendos, and great moments, that it is just a fun film to watch. Helen Mack is quick witted and a very natural actor. Her abilities are showcased well - no wonder they chose her for this part. The musical score is great! It borders on being a musical, especially with all the great choreography. It has the look and feel of the wonderful musicals of the '40s and '50s. The characters are memorable and the comedic timing is perfect. I give this move four stars!

This is an goofy little film! Despite the liability of Phil Harris as a man seemingly irresistible to women, the clever use of sound, the rest of the cast, and a lot of beautiful girls, make this entertaining viewing. Harris plays a millionaire with a penchant for rapid romance. Despite high billing, Greta Nissen has a small part as the woman he's been chasing around the world and has followed her to this cruise. Harris doesn't have chemistry with either Nissen or Helen Mack, and he looks like a trout when he sings.

The visuals are the best part. Scene wipes are all clever, such as seeing a storm at sea. The wipe comes in the form of water flowing down the screen, revealing Charlie Ruggles reeling from seasickness. There's not a lot of song and dance so you can't really call this a musical. But there is a lot of rhythmic dialogue, and a generally jaunty feel.

This is a musical comedy with hardly any songs, but is still interesting to watch because of its style. Outside of Phil Harris, none of the other 'leads' sing a note. Many of the songs are 'talked' by uncredited performers, and parts of the film are spoken in verse. The use of sound effects(train whistles, telegraph keys) are cleverly incorporated into the songs, creating an interesting approach to music-making. Helen Mack is very appealing as the female lead, with Charlie Ruggles fun to watch as he bumbles his way through the film. Fans of Phil Harris from his Disney cartoon voices('The Jungle Book', 'Robin Hood') will find him an attractive leading man. All in all, an oddity in the musical-comedy vein, but worth a viewing.

In this RKO musical Charlie Ruggles was brought over from Paramount but he's playing his usual role of a cheating playboy who has written an indiscreet letter and wants it back before wife Marjorie Gateson sees it. She's in Europe and Charlie is on a delightful cruise to California through the Panama Canal with cuties June Brewster and Shirley Chambers.

Along for the ride is Ruggles's pal Phil Harris who finds some true love on the cruise with Helen Mack. Some forgettable songs are in Melody Cruise save for its main theme Isn't This A Night For Love repeated throughout and best used as an ice ballet when the ship docks in California and Phil and Helen are in Squaw Valley. I have to say Busby Berkeley could not have done better over at Warner Brothers given the bigger budgets he had than what RKO did here.

What's hard to believe here is that Phil Harris was ever that young for those of us who remember him as Jack Benny's brash bandleader and in only a few more years. Handles his end of the singing nicely.

One only wishes that RKO had borrowed Mary Boland as well as Ruggles from Paramount. Ruggles always did his best work with her though no complaints about Gateson.

Nice ending for Ruggles when he knows the jig is up.