Romance on the High Seas (1948)

Wonderful character development!

Very disappointing...

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Co-produced and directed by Michael Curtiz, with a screenplay by Julius & Philip Epstein and additional dialogue from I.A.L. Diamond, this slightly above average musical comedy was Doris Day's first film. In it she sings the Oscar nominated Song "It's Magic", which would become one of her trademarks; Ray Heindorf's Score was also nominated. However, my favorite song in the film is "It's You or No One".The plot itself is the kind of fluff one used to see regularly on TV episodes of The Love Boat in the late 70's and early 80's, though this one features a single storyline with multiple characters. A busy executive (Don DeFore) is worried about his wife (Janis Paige) straying on a cruise she's taking by herself such that he hires a private detective (Jack Carson) to keep tabs on her. What he doesn't know is that his wife has hired a singer (Ms. Day) to pretend to be her on the cruise such that she can stay home to see if her husband is cheating on her with his secretary (Leslie Brooks).A recognizable supporting cast that includes Oscar Levant, S. Z. Sakall, Eric Blore, Fortunio Bonanova, Franklin Pangborn, and even Grady Sutton (uncredited) makes this one fun to watch.Married three years and having yet to take a trip since their honeymoon, Mrs. Elvira Kent (Paige) is determined that the third time will be a charm. She books an extended cruise vacation for her and husband only to be disappointed yet again. Her husband Michael (DeFore), who is the top executive in her Uncle Lazlo's (Sakall) pharmaceutical company, says he can't make it yet again because of something that just came up, a potential merger. Elvira discovers that Michael had just hired a brand new secretary (Brooks) that morning, and suspects the worst regarding what's just come up. Earlier that day, while having her passport picture taken, she'd met a singer at the travel agency who always plans trips, but can't afford to go. So, she has an idea.Elvira and her uncle go to Georgia Garrett's (Day) place of work with the aforementioned proposition, which she accepts. She tells her cynical piano player Oscar (Levant), who's infatuated with her, only that she's going away on a cruise ship. When Michael realizes he can go on the cruise if Elvira will only wait 4 days, he's surprised that she's unwilling and then suspects the worst. So, he hires detective Peter Virgil (Carson) to tail his wife and see what she's up to on the ship.Of course, Peter falls for Georgia, who he thinks is his client's wife Elvira ... and the feeling is mutual. Blore plays the ship's sick doctor; Sutton appears as the ship's nosy telegraph operator. Things get more complicated when lonely, and financially dependent Oscar arrives to join the voyage. But that's only the beginning.Once the ship finally docks in Rio, Michael and Elvira, both in New York, get worried and/or suspicious enough to fly down there themselves. Lazlo, aware that Elvira is on her way, learns that Michael is about to such that he tags along; the men actually arrive first. Bonanova plays the Rio hotel's show director, Pangborn its clerk (naturally).The ending, which is predictable, takes a little too long to come about, in my opinion. Ms. Day's songs are excellent, and even Carson sings a local flavor one in Trinidad (as does Avon Long).

Watching Romance on the High Seas I could have sworn that the Brothers Warner hijacked one of the plots of an RKO Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers film. It's got that kind of silliness in the plot, the usual case of mistaken identities and false suspicions that characterized the Astaire- Rogers films.Don DeFore and Janis Paige are a couple each of who swears the other is cheating. When a mix-up from a travel agency in passport photos where Paige's is exchanged for Doris Day's she contacts Day and offers to pay Day's way on a South American cruise if she just travels in Paige's name. She wants to catch DeFore cheating.Of course DeFore goes one better. He hires private detective Jack Carson to go on the trip and catch Paige cheating. Of course he latches on to Day.If you are a fan of Astaire-Rogers films you know exactly where this one is going. Romance on the High Seas has all the ingredients of one of their films except the dance numbers.It doesn't lack for a good musical score though. Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn came up with a good one where Day sings several songs, including the Academy Award nominated, It's Magic. It's Magic lost that year to Buttons and Bows. It's Magic happens to be a favorite one of mine of Doris Day hits. Doris firmly establishes her image in this one. She's so radiant and sings so well, I can't believe she was a third choice for this film behind Judy Garland and Betty Hutton.If you hear violins coming from some unknown source it will be the magic when you're watching Romance on the High Seas.

This is Doris Day's first film appearance, and her star quality is very much in evidence; she is a startling, natural film performer. Though she varied her screen performances from time to time, she could always recall this natural, comic-based persona. She is sexy, too; I wonder, though, did her figure "improve" over the years? Ms. Day has some fine songs, especially "It's Magic". The plot is very contrived, and Day is an unconvincing selection to "play" socialite Janis Paige. I suppose, if she stayed in her room, it might have been believable? The movie is enjoyable for Day's entertaining debut, and some well-selected songs. Hey, what's up with the guy singing the "Tourist Trade" song? ****** Romance on the High Seas (1948) Michael Curtiz ~ Doris Day, Jack Carson, Janis Paige

It's the sort of script that Hollywood would have called a "merry marital mixup" back when, but with a little more stuff on the curveball than usual: A suspects B and B suspects A of infidelity, so A hires C to impersonate A on a cruise, while B hires private detective D to trail A, but D thinks C is A... There are some good lines, and director Curtiz, as was his wont, keeps things moving. Janis Paige is a hoot in a series of increasingly bizarre hats, and the unusual dullness of the Warners leading men (I mean, Don DeFore?) doesn't hurt that much. Doris even manages to look enraptured opposite the slightly snarky Jack Carson, and sings "It's Magic" three times. Even Carson sings, and not badly, though it's a somewhat xenophobic mock-Trinidad specialty number that's embarrassing by today's standards. Doris, in her film debut, is assured and pleasant, and so is the movie, in a studio-manufactured kind of way.