User Reviews

The film was made in 1942 and with World War 11 around, the movie industry decided to capitalize on the fact that spies were around.

The film is fun to watch due to the fabulous dancing of Eleanor Powell. The late Miss Powell was certainly a great hoofer in every sense of the word. She is again paired with a very young looking Red Skelton here. The two of them also starred in "I Dood It."

Moroni Olsen, who 3 years later, was superb as the interrogating police officer in "Mildred Pierce" again appears as an officer asking Powell to deliver an item. Trouble is that Olsen and his rogues are really the Japanese spies.

Bert Lahr is his usual brilliant self here and he gets ample support from Virginia O'Brien.

MGM has a well-deserved reputation for lavish musicals...although it also produced a steady stream of "B" musicals. This one is sort of in-between. Not quite lavish, but more than the average "B" picture. And, the plot improves as the film progresses. And, this is one film where it actually appears that the actors are enjoying themselves.

A relatively young Red Skelton doesn't fail to please here. This was made in 1942, which could be considered the year that Red hit it big at MGM with a number of top rate movie credits. He balances well here between comedy and being the romantic lead.

The other real delight in this film are the dance numbers performed by Eleanor Powell. There was never a better female tap dancer, and her performances here are nothing short of amazing.

Costars Bert Lahr and Virginia O'Brien fill out the bill nicely, although in this picture, Lahr mostly mugs. And then there's Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra, along with a couple of vocals by a young Frank Sinatra (no dialog). Note Jo Stafford as part of the Pied Pipers backing him up vocally.

The plot doesn't get in the way of Powell's dancing or Skelton's clowning. But for the sake of information, Powell is asked to smuggle a new type of landmine into the Caribbean by her government...but she is duped and is actually working for Axis spies. Okay, so why would a dancer be handpicked to smuggle weaponry. No one said the script made sense. It's just a vehicle for comedy and dancing! But the "spy" plot improves toward the end of the picture, leading to a nice conclusion.

This one is on my DVD shelf...but then again I'm a Skelton fan. But most anyone who enjoys screen musicals will enjoy this one.

Harmless fluff from MGM made soon after America's entry into WWII.

Eleanor Powell plays Tallulah Winters, a dance speciality with the Tommy Dorsey band. The troupé is booked to play a stint in Puerto Rico and on the evening they are scheduled to sail she is approached by what she believes to be agents of the American government who want her to transport a new type of magnetic mine to the Latin port. Being an eager patriot and wanting to do her bit, she agrees, but you've guessed it, she's been duped as the agents are really working for Auntie Tojo and cousin Adolf rather than Uncle Sam.

On board she meets Pulp fiction author Merton Kibble, (Red Skelton), who's hypochondria has reached such a level that a nice cruise and the opportunity for some R&R seems to be just what he needs.

The plot plods along at such a speed that it doesn't exactly grip you but you're not exactly bored senseless either. In fact you sometimes even forget about the espionage subplot as you're too engaged in the love story between Eleanor & Red, the comic shenanigans of Bert Lahr and Virginia O'Brien and also the constant musical numbers to even care about the patriotic message the film halfheartedly gives out.

The movie does give us some great numbers from Dorsey and his boys and drummer Buddy Rich gets a very impressive spot and it's easy to see why so many rock drummers cited Rich as an influence on their own playing even decades later as he could play like a man possessed and kind of left time keeping to the other guy. Powell's dancing numbers were good enough, but I felt that they were held back slightly as I've seen her dance in many other films that have given me goosebumps while watching, no such feelings here though I'm afraid.

Also in the Dorsey camp and in an uncredited role, is a singer SO GOOD that I'm flabbergasted that he didn't go on to have super stardom of his own. He was bit on the skinny side and no doubt had some Italian ancestry, but this boy could have easily rivalled both Bing Crosby and Dean Martin as the world's best crooner had he been given the chance. If anyone finds out his name, please post it on the message board as I'd love to find out more about him.

In this movie, Skelton mercifully manages to remain the right side of lunacy as sometimes he always managed to go too far in all other movies I've seen him in, but his scene with the magnetised suitcase is hilarious. Lahr and O'Brien are also a joy to watch and I don't think I'll ever get tired of listening to O'Brien's deadpan and expressionless delivery of songs.

The plot is forgettable the stars are not and it is they who keep Ship Ahoy well and truly afloat as without their presence it could easily have sank without trace.

Before I forget, someone said that Frank Sinatra is in this movie somewhere but I haven't found him yet. Maybe he felt intimidated by that great singer from the Dorsey band and it scared him off.

Enjoy!!!

Droll Va. O'Brien always a hoot. I cannot believe she would be interested in Bert Lahr, but it takes all kinds. Skelton very nice here. Very young. A pulp fiction author interested in Eleanor Powell. I love to watch Powell tap dancing. She had such talent in those feet. I understand that tap sounds were added to film in later editing, since microphones could not pick up the sounds as they were made. I am a tap dancer. So, I notice in some of Powell's dance scenes there were actually too many taps when she would just make one tap sound. For example, I would hear two sounds when there should have been one, witness when she was tapping her toe and it sounded like a flap which is two sounds. She was the best tap dancer, at any rate. I understand she was married to Glenn Ford, and had a son with him.

Basically a musical comedy which hangs together on a slim beware-of-spies-bearing-mines plot, this movie is a must for all Bert Lahr's trillions of fans. Good old Bert expertly steals every scene from the inept Red Skelton (who is actually top-billed, would you believe?), although he does allow the lovely Eleanor Powell to handle the dancing and Frankie Sinatra, the singing. True, this one's not half as funny as Red's Whistling films, nor a tenth as noirish, but Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra (including drummer Buddy Rich and pianist Joe Bushkin, plus Jo Stafford and her fellow Pied Pipers – Chuck Lowry, Clark Yocum, Hal Hopper) hold our interest.

Incidentally the TRIVIA for this movie is wrong. Frank Sinatra's film debut with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra was in "Las Vegas Nights" in 1941,