anchor aweigh see two eager young sailor and joe brady ( gene kelly ) and clarence doolittle or brooklyn ( frank sinatra ) and get a special four day shore leave . eager to get to the girl and particularly joe lola and neither joe nor brooklyn figure on the interruption of little navy mad donald ( dean stockwell ) and his aunt susie ( kathryn grayson ) . unexperienced in the way of female and court and brooklyn quickly enlist joe to help him win aunt susie over . along the way and however and joe find himself fall for the gal he think belongs to his best friend . how be brooklyn go to take this betrayal . and do joe end up with susie and who love him too . the first and second time i saw anchor aweigh and i also saw it at the same time a i do on the town and the kelly or sinatra collaboration from 1949. both time i felt that anchor aweigh be the good film in term of plotting and structure all the dance and song fit the moment in the plot and and they develop the character and story rather than hamper them . yet and both time i come away feel that on the town be the good film overall . have now see both film a third time and i still stand by that judgement . somehow on the town and a a film and a piece of entertainment and be just light and gayer and purely and simply happy . the number be more outrageous and less integral to the plot and and yet somehow it work well than all the dance and sing in anchor aweigh . i be not quite sure why this be . the typical argument be that the latter film be over long represent at almost two and a half hour and this be certainly a valid criticism to make . i certainly felt the length the first two time i saw it . however and it also a film that grow on you the more you see it and the shorter it feel and the more you appreciate the technical mastery involve in it making . and yet and something just doesn not hang together quite right . it feel almost a if the script be pore over and and every single moment when kelly could break into dance or sinatra into song be note and and that exactly what happen . no opportunity to shoehorn a musical number in be give up . and that probably the film big weakness . it have 16 number ( give or take a few ) and and no matter how big a fan you be of kelly or sinatra and this really start to turn one numb after a while . ( contrast this and for example and with the ten number in on the town . ) you might well feel that each song and each dance and can not be take out of the film without leave it lack . and that true . but that also because the writer weren not more restrained in add them in in the first place . all this long preamble doesn not mean there nothing good about anchor aweigh . the musical be splashy with great song burst out all over and like the duet between kelly and sinatra ( we hate to leave and i beg her and if you know susie ) and the singing of sinatra ( what make the sunset and the charm of you and and the best of all and i fall in love too easily ) and and without a doubt the always inventive and always breathtaking dancing of kelly . it also hard to miss with a cast of this calibre . grayson be sweet and seem to improve on each viewing ( her voice become stun rather than frighten ) while jose iturbi role be write sympathetically and he do a great job with it while even clarence own brooklyn and pamela britton and be cute and charm . as close a one could get to betty garrett without be garrett herself . sinatra be adorable with those blue eye and curl of his and and play the innocent boy man wonderfully ( a role he reprise in on the town ) . his singing be and a usual and simply faultless from enunciation through to timing and phrasing . his solo number might seem to drag a little and but when you have get the voice of a century and showcasing it be probably as good a reason a any to slow up the rest of the film . gene kelly sheer genius in this film be worthy of it own paragraph . third in the billing behind sinatra and grayson respectively and anchor aweigh really be kelly film . his joe brady be a believable and real character he tough on the outside and glib and willing to lie when necessary to win a gal and but he actually the big softy on the inside . kelly make this charm rather than cloy and but also give joe a real edge that you see in the scene when joe chase brooklyn around the room with a genuinely murderous look on his face and his breakfast tray in his hand . and the dancing again and the film suffers from the too much of a good thing spoil the effect syndrome and a it do with sinatra singing . but once again and if it gene kelly do the softshoe and or tap across the screen in a sailor outfit or dress up a a bandit chief . might as well err on the side of overdo it . all of kelly dance be breathtaking and be it the par down simplicity of his tap number with sinatra to i beg her and his mexican hat dance with the sweet wide eye little girl and or his lavish spanish influence dance la cumparsita . of course and the classic image leave in audience mind for all time would be kelly in his red and white and blue sailor suit and dance with jerry mouse of tom and jerry fame . a well deserve golden film memory and to be sure it not often that one can say youre impress by the special effect in a film make in 1945 and give the saturation of cgi in the contemporary film market . but gene and jerry still look great and with kelly always hit his spot and look exactly where he need to look . it would turn out that just about the only people who could really keep up with gene kelly would be kelly himself ( in cover girl ) and a cartoon animation . it doubtless that this first daring and inventive kelly dance with jerry have reserve a place for anchor aweigh in film history and the heart of classic film buff . but it also notable for be the first of three kelly or sinatra film collaboration and and though rather too draw out and still a great couple of hour of entertainment . watch it first and then again and maybe again it will grow on you before you realise it . 7 . 5/10 .