Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

hcoursen This is an awful film. Usually, the thin thread of a musical comedy plot links up with an Astaire, a Ginger, an Eleanor Powell, an Alice Faye. This one, with a plot even more gossamer than most, leads to some excruciating exhibitions of non-talent. The harmonica sequence and the parody ballroom dance performance are radically unfunny. Holden has nothing to do but be yanked like a puppet on the strings of Dorothy's sudden changes of mind. She plays a profoundly self-interested performer who, of course, falls in love with the puppet. The other women -- the raucous Hutton and the over the top Dailey play insulting stereotypes. As, of course, the rest of the sailors are. But some good sailor flicks do exist -- 'Follow the Fleet' and 'On the Town' for example. We do get to see Helen O'Connell, who towers over Dorsey and Eberly, and do, too briefly, hear Jimmy on the clarinet. He was one of the best clarinet players in an era that featured Goodman, Shaw, and Barney Bigard. At one point, Jimmy's band appears in a sudden pavilion on the street below Dorothy's aerie. How'd they get there? At the end, the four couples are all in a taxi getting married. How'd they get there? The film, made before Pearl Harbor, was already an anachronism when it was released (with Holden believing that his enlistment was just about up just as his battle wagon heads for Pearl). Robert Osborne on TCM said that he'd been trying for years to get the film on TCM. Never would have been too soon.

Neil Doyle DOROTHY LAMOUR never looked more alluring and WILLIAM HOLDEN never looked as impossibly youthful as he does in THE FLEET'S IN. His acting as a shy sailor shows a natural talent right from the start.It's a "cute" minor musical from the studio that nurtured the talent of BETTY HUTTON, who plays Lamour's roommate. Lamour is a frozen ice queen called "The Countess," known for being "hard to get." When Holden plants a kiss on a pretty society gal that's seen by his Navy buddies and another on a movie star for publicity purposes, his team decides he's a regular sea wolf and place bets on how soon he gets to kiss "The Countess." The slim plot gets interrupted--sometimes for too lengthy a time, by musical comedy acts. GIL LAMB and CASS DALEY are a bit too strident for my taste but BOB EBERLEY and HELEN O'CONNELL can do no wrong when they sing some catchy songs with Jimmy Dorsey's orchestra. EDDIE BRACKEN provides the chief comic relief and does it well.A dancing duo by the name of LORRAINE and ROGNAN do a wildly funny dance act in a nightclub scene. The Johnny Mercer songs include "I Remember You," "Tangerine" and "The Fleet's In." Good escapist fun that lifted the morale of the service men during WWII.

Robert J. Maxwell This is a rather typical romantic, musical comedy with a good number of Paramount's stars, established or on the ascend -- Dorothy Lamour, Betty Hutton, Eddie Bracken, William Holden. The plot barely merits description, a bit of froth like those of the Astaire-Rogers musicals.Okay. The fleet arrives in San Francisco. Bets are made on whether a shy Quartermaster, Holden, can get the notorious Ice Princess who sings at Swingland, Lamour, to kiss him. Arrangements are made for them to meet and they fall in love, but every time Holden tries to take the relationship a step farther, somebody tells her more about the details of the bet and she misunderstands Holden's intentions.Holden is boyishly handsome. Lamour is a glamorous and sexy mezzo-soprano. Betty Hutton is on afterburners throughout and provides much in the way of barbaric humor, but not nearly as silly as some of the vaudeville numbers we witness. Maybe the most amusing performance comes from the ordinarily irritable and fustian Leif Erickson trying to be happy-go-lucky. Every time he laughs and make a wisecrack I expect him to shatter and fall to the floor like a broken ice sculpture.What raises this musical effort above the average is the introduction of two tunes that were to enter the Great American Songbook, both with tunes written by the director and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. "Tangerine" is memorable as a puncturing of female vanity. "I Remember You" is a wistful love song that reappears from time to time. Mercer was a talented guy with a face that, with only a few daubs of make up, could easily have been turned into a clown's. Memorable tunes seem to turn up in unlikely venues. "I'll Remember April" is from an Abbott and Costello movie, "Star Eyes" from a Red Skelton comedy.I didn't find the plot so enthralling but, as with Astaire and Rogers, it must be taken lightly, I guess. Just let your mind drift. It's only a movie.

Kalaman This is a slight, inconsequential little Paramount musical that somehow manages to be whimsical & appealing. Directed by Victor Schertzinger (his last movie), it boasts a good cast of rising stars at Paramount: Dorothy Lamour as the Countess of Swingland, a glamorous nightclub hostess who entertains sailors on leave; Betty Hutton as Lamour's impetuous roommate Bessie; William Holden as Casey the shy sailor who intends to win a bet so he can kiss the Countess; Eddie Bracken as the eccentric shipmate of Holden; and a very young and upcoming Barbara Britton.While Lamour and Holden are the leading stars in this slightly erratic war-time entertainment, it is actually Betty Hutton's star-making show. She made her feature debut here. She literally steals almost every scene she's in, with her wacky comic acts. And her rapport with Bracken was a delight in its self.Some scenes drag pretentiously, especially the routine comic acts performed on stage to entertain the soldiers. Still, the songs and numbers are quite enjoyable in their own whimsical sort of way, especially Hutton's delivery of "Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry." Nice Fun and worth a catch, if you like this sort of musicals.