Despite what its entry on Wikipedia tells me (“Follow the Fleet was extremely successful at the box office”), this movie is a snooze fest to me.
If you want to know a brief summary, visit The Movies page, or take a look at its entry on Wikipedia.
Maybe I’m not a fan of movies with a wartime Navy setting.
Or maybe I don’t get the full effect of an Astaire-Rogers movie without the elegance of it, a la Top Hat. But I just can’t work up enthusiasm, or even a soupçon of interest in Follow the Fleet.
Or maybe I miss the comedic talent and charisma of Edward Everett Horton and Eric Blore, frequent sidekicks in Astaire-Rogers movies. Randolph Scott was a strapping young lad in a Navy uniform. And Harriet Hilliard (later known as Harriet Nelson) made a fine wannabe love interest for Scott. Scott, however, dumps Harriet for Astrid Allwyn, something to which Fred doesn’t cotton and tries to scuttle their budding romance to push Randolph back to Harriet.
Be that as it may, I thought there was too much Navy and not enough Fred and Ginger.
There was one very fine dance number with Fred, though. Unfortunately, it was with about three dozen Navy fellas, rather than Ginger. But it was clever.
And then there was a dance number with Fred and Ginger during the obligatory “Hey, let’s put on a show!” rehearsal scene. The “show” in this case is a special gig created for the girls to raise money for Harriet to salvage her deceased sea-captain father’s sailing ship. Fortunately, during the “show,” Fred gets to wear his tails. He looks good in tails, especially when he’s hoofing with Ginger wearing some kind of formal gown.
Also, there’s a scene in which Fred Astaire plays the piano – something I didn’t know he did.
I looked it up. He did know how to play the piano.
Okay. So maybe there were a few great scenes in Follow the Fleet. But I still don’t like the movie as well as Top Hat.