Least Favorite of the Kelly/Sinatra Trilogy

I recorded this movie along with Take Me Out to the Ballgame and On the Town. I watched TMOTTB first, then OTT, and then AA. Perhaps that was its undoing in my mind. The plots of all three are very similar. Sinatra's and Kelly's characters see a girl that Sinatra initially likes (Esther Williams, Vera-Allen, and Kathryn Grayson). Gene's character then tries to play matchmaker but falls in love with the girls instead. To soften the apparent back stabbing, Sinatra's character naturally meets someone else along the way (Betty Garret-twice and Pamela Britton).

Anchors Away has some nice, rousing songs, but they don't compare to TMOTTB IMO. I did enjoy the dance number Kelly does with the young Spanish girl by the fountain. However, the Jerry the Mouse sequence was silly. Maybe in its time it was fascinating to audiences, but I just saw it as 10 minutes of padding an already bloated (143 minutes) movie.

The basic plot to try and get Grayson's character an audition with composer Jose Iturbi (played by...Jose Iturbi) is kind of fun. It just felt too much like been there, done that after seeing the other two films. I understand this movie actually came out first, but I still feel its the weakest of the three.


My memory foam pillow says it can't remember my face. I can tell its lying.