Follow the Fleet

Infobox Film
name = Follow the Fleet


caption = "Follow the Fleet" DVD cover
director = Mark Sandrich
producer = Pandro S. Berman
writer = Allan Scott
Dwight Taylor
Hubert Osborne (play)
starring = Fred Astaire
Ginger Rogers
Randolph Scott
Harriet Nelson
music = Irving Berlin
Max Steiner
cinematography = David Abel
editing = Henry Berman
distributor = RKO Radio Pictures Inc.
released = February 20, 1936 (U.S. release)
runtime = 110 min.
country =
language = English
budget =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0027630

"Follow the Fleet" (RKO) is a 1936 Hollywood musical comedy film with a nautical theme and stars Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Randolph Scott, Harriet Nelson (credited under her real last name: Hilliard), and Betty Grable, with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin. Lucille Ball also appears, in a bit part. The film was directed by Mark Sandrich with script by Allan Scott and Dwight Taylor based on the 1922 play "Shore Leave" by Hubert Osborne.

Dance commentators Arlene Croce and John Mueller point out that, aside from the obvious weakness [Croce: "it's plot is a dead weight," p.82; Mueller: "bogged down by a sour, labored plot," p.89] : a discursive and overlong plot lacking quality specialist comedians [Mueller p.90] to bring its whimsical elements to life - a flaw which also characterised [Croce: "the story makes very little sense" p. 46] "Roberta" - this film contains some of the Astaire-Rogers partnership's most prized duets, not least the iconic "Let's Face the Music and Dance." According to Croce: "One reason the numbers in "Follow the Fleet" are as great as they are is that Rogers had improved remarkably as a dancer. Under Astaire's coaching she had developed extraordinary range, and the numbers in the film are designed to show it off." [Croce, p.82] That this film's remarkable [Astaire: "one of his best" p.218] score was produced immediately after his smash-hit score for "Top Hat" is perhaps testimony to Berlin's claim [Mueller p.78] that Astaire's abilities inspired him to deliver some of his finest work. As an actor, however, Astaire makes an arguably unconvincing [Mueller: "no one is taken in", p.89] attempt at shedding the wealthy man-about-town image by donning a sailor's uniform, while Rogers, in this her fifth pairing with Astaire - brings her usual comedic and dramatic flair to bear on her role as a nightclub entertainer.

"Follow the Fleet" was extremely successful [Croce: "with all its flaws "Follow the Fleet" was a shattering hit", p.84] at the box office, and during 1936, Astaire's recorded versions of "Let Yourself Go", "I'm Putting all My Eggs in One Basket", and "Let's Face the Music and Dance" reached their highest positions [Mueller p.412] of 3rd, 2nd, 3rd respectively in the US Hit Parade.

ynopsis

'Bake' Baker (Fred Astaire) and Sherry (Ginger Rogers) are former dance partners, now separated, with Bake in the Navy and Sherry working as a dance hostess in a San Francisco ballroom.

Bake visits the ballroom with his Navy buddy 'Bilge' (Randolph Scott) during a period of "liberty", re-uniting with Sherry while Bilge is initially attracted to Sherry's sister Connie (Harriet Hilliard). When Connie begins to talk about marriage, Bilge quickly diverts his attention towards a friend of Sherry's, Iris (Astrid Allwyn), a divorced socialite.

The sailors return to sea while Connie seeks to raise money to salvage her deceased sea-captain father's sailing ship. When the boys return to San Francisco, Bake attempts to get Sherry a job in a Broadway Show, but fails amidst a flurry of mistaken identities and misunderstandings. He redeems himself by staging a benefit show which raises the final seven hundred dollars needed to refurbish the ship.

After the concert, Bake and Sherry are offered a show on Broadway and decide to re-team.

Key songs/dance routines:

Hermes Pan collaborated with Astaire on the choreography, which dwells on themes of sudden changes in tempo, rhythm and direction. Competitive challenge is another important component.

* "We Saw The Sea": The film loses not a minute in introducing Astaire the sailor, and his mates, in this cheerful ditty. [A separate recording exists of Irving Berlin singing this song to his own piano accompaniment, a recording which was featured by Hermes Pan and Hal Borne in the 2004 ARTE documentary "l'Art de Fred Astaire". ]

* "Let Yourself Go": Backed by a trio which includes Betty Grable, a nautically-attired Ginger sings this bright and bubbly Berlin standard, which is followed after a short interlude by a comic tap duet with Astaire. This routine begins as a competitive challenge between Astaire-Rogers and another couple (Bob Cromer and Dorothy Fleischman, who soon withdraw) and develops into an energetic duet with much emphasis on galloping kicks, leg wiggling and scampering moves. [Mueller p.92]

* "Get Thee Behind Me Satan": Sung by Harriet Hilliard, this number was originally intended for Ginger in "Top Hat".
* "I'd Rather Lead A Band": After singing this jaunty number Astaire embarks on a virtuoso tap solo in which he makes great play with the challenges of dancing on, off and around the beat - an ability for which he had long been famous in theatre. Complicating the task are frequent and sudden changes of tempi [Mueller p.93] . This concept would be explored further in his "conducting solo" finale of "Second Chorus". After leading the band in the song, he discards the baton and begins the solo part of his routine. After this, he is joined by a chorus of sailors who are alternately led and challenged by him.

* "Let Yourself Go" (solo dance): Ginger Rogers' only solo tap dance in her ten films with Astaire is an engaging [Croce: "splendid and perky" p.88; Mueller: "sweet and winning" p.94] routine which permits comparison [Mueller p.94] of Pan's independent choreography with his joint efforts with Astaire.

* "I'm Putting all My Eggs in One Basket": Berlin's ability to combine endearing melodies with syncopated rhythms, complex key modulations and verbal dexterity is showcased in lines such as: "I've tried to love more than one/Finding it just can't be done/Honey, there's one I lie to/When I try to/Be true/To/Two". As in the "I Won't Dance" number from "Roberta", the song is preceded by a solo piano display by Astaire - a playing style he termed his "feelthy piano". Then Astaire and Rogers sing alternate choruses before embarking on an affectionate comic dance duet which plays on the notion of both dancers being unable to keep in step with each other. Incidentally, Lucille Ball appears just before this number to put a sailor admirer down with the line "Tell me little boy, did you get a whistle or a baseball bat with that suit".

* "But Where Are You?": Sung by Harriet Nelson.

* "Let's Face the Music and Dance": Astaire sings the poignant lyrics to Ginger after which the dance begins slowly and builds to a hedonistic climax, culminating in a flamboyant [Croce: "a Joos-type lunge" p.89; Mueller: "daring and extraordinary pose" p.99] static exit pose. The dance is filmed in one continuous shot lasting two minutes and fifty seconds. During the first take, Ginger's dress, which was heavily weighted so as to achieve a controlled swirling action, hit Astaire in the face [Astaire: "I got the flying sleeve smack on the jaw and partly in the eye", p.220] midway through the routine, though the effect is barely discernible. He nonetheless selected [Astaire: "The No. 1 take was perfect. It was the one we all liked best.", p.220] this take out of twenty overall for the final picture. The set - designed by Carroll Clark under the direction of Van Nest Polglase - is frequently cited as a leading example of Art Deco-influenced art direction known as Hollywood Moderne. Film clips of this routine were featured in the 1981 film "Pennies from Heaven" - detested by Astaire, [Satchell, p.251:"I have never spent two more miserable hours in my life. Every scene was cheap and vulgar. They don't realise that the thirties were a very innocent age, and that should have been set in the eighties — it was just froth; it makes you cry it's so distasteful."] - where it was also reinterpreted by Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters with revised choreography by Danny Daniels.

Note: Two songs, "Moonlight Maneuvers" and "With a Smile on My Face" were written for the film but unused.

External links

*
* [http://www.reelclassics.com/Teams/Fred&Ginger/fred&ginger5.htm "Follow the Fleet" at Reelclassics]

References

*Fred Astaire: "Steps in Time", 1959, Heinemann, London
*Arlene Croce: "The Fred and Ginger Book", Galahad Books 1974, ISBN 0-88365-099-1
*John Mueller: "Astaire Dancing - The Musical Films of Fred Astaire", Knopf 1985, ISBN 0-394-51654-0
*Tim Satchell: "Astaire, The Biography." Hutchinson, London. 1987. ISBN 0-09-173736-2

Notes