Gene Kelly Dancing with Jerry (from Tom and Jerry)

Happy New years everyone!!!

I hope everyone had a great holiday season and got everything they wanted for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa etc...etc...

Now that that's out of the way I can talk about an old film that I saw a few days ago titled "Anchors Aweigh" 

A singer, a dancer, and a 1940's "bae"

Starring a well known Gene Kelly, a young up and comer Frank Sinatra, and the beautifully button nosed Kathryn Grayson.

Kat just had it on randomly one day and I was intrigued when I saw that it was Gene Kelly and a young Frank Sinatra.  I already love old films so I thought why not sit down and and see what it's all about.  

The story is simple.  Two sailors go on leave for 4 days in Hollywood.  They meet a beautiful woman and Sinatra instantly falls for her.   

Sup girl.

Kelly tries to be a good wing man for him, but fails as he starts to fall for her as well.  Hilarity ensues when a lie causes a bunch of misunderstandings and the woman chooses Kelly.  Which is actually okay because Sinatra ends up meeting a random woman who happens to be from the same town as Sinatra.  The ending is happy and literally ends with them singing "Anchors Aweigh".  :)

Yea the story is corny and the script is cheesy, but I thoroughly enjoyed the song and dance numbers.  Gene Kelly (if you didn't already know) is a freaking master.  There are scenes of him dancing for over 5 minutes straight without any cuts through large sets.  Sinatra, who looks like a skinny little guy here, has such a full voice that it's almost startling to hear that from him.  Then you have Kathryn Grayson (who I honestly never heard of) has a unique operatic voice which also is a surprise when you hear it coming from her.  A lot of talent in this film.

And what a surprise when Jerry (from Tom and Jerry) appeared and had a dance number with Gene Kelly!  Well actually, I had already seen it before, but I didn't know that it came from this film! (yes, Stewie Griffin did too)

Jerry

Stewie

I really enjoyed finding that out :)

But my absolute favorite part of the film was this scene.  (warning: Piano playing scene that is about 5 minutes long)

I sure hope you watched that whole thing because it is amazing.  Seriously, watch it.  Not only was I impressed by the pianist (Jose Iturbi) but I remembered hearing the same song in Tom and Jerry and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Brought me back to my childhood :)

This film is gold.  It stars 2 legends and a gorgeous love interest.  Epic dance numbers and some surprisingly experimental cinematography.  It was visually, musically, and emotionally fantastic!

I need to pick this up on blu-ray.