although in my opinion this be one of the less musical of star frank sinatra and gene kelly and kathryn grayson and director george sidney and a less musical feature anyone from that line up be nothing to sneeze at and and in conjunction and the line up make anchor aweigh a pretty good film despite it flaw . sinatra and kelly be clarence doolittle and joseph brady and respectively and two navy men . a the film begin and theyre just pull in to the los angeles area for some much need leave . brady plan on visit a girlfriend name lola . doolittle be still a bit wet behind the ear and appropriately enough and and seek advice on woman from brady in private ( publicly and scriptwriter isobel lennart and sidney have all of the navy men comically exaggerate their finesse with woman to each other ) . brady promise to help get doolittle hook up and but primarily because doolittle would not leave him alone otherwise . a kink be put into their plan when local police basically force them to assist with a young boy who be obsess with the navy . he would not give the police any information about who he be or where he live . brady help and he and doolittle end up take the boy back home . when the boy guardian and susan abbott ( grayson ) and finally show up and doolittle go gaga for her . brady try to convince him to forget about her while brady just want to get back to lola . but they keep get coax back to abbott home and and eventually something of a love triangle form . thing become more complicated when brady lie about doolittle know a famous musician and jose iturbi and who be in residence at a film studio and and claim that doolittle have set up an audition for abbott and who be a singer and actress and in front of iturbi . because of the story and the music be a strange combination of militaristic music because of the navy premise and obviously and broadway pop what the star tend to sing in more informal setting and opera what abbott character excels at and liberace like popular classical what iturbi do and and mexican music because abbott frequents a mexican restaurant in a mexican section of l. a. the combination doesn not work as well a it could . plenty of the song be good and and everyone involve be certainly talented a a singer or musician and but the genre hop tends to lose coherence . bad and there be a couple showcase for iturbi and who be apparently a big star at the time and that effectively bring the plot to a halt and that seem more than a bit hokey at this point in time . i just watch another film that happen to have outstanding music and robert altman kansa city ( 1996 ) and but that misguidedly stop the plot to periodically turn into a concert film . anchor aweigh take a similar tactic . yes and this be a musical and but there a difference between song that propel and be integral to the plot and concert showcase that seem like contractual obligation material . there be also some plot problem . it not very well establish why brady be so against doolittle pursuit of abbott . we can guess that brady think doolittle shouldn not become involve with someone who have to take care of a kid and and who seem relatively proper and traditional and but on the other hand and brady can tell that doolittle doesn not have the same womanizing disposition that brady admits of himself . abbott seem like a good fit for doolittle and and furthermore and lennart work hard to establish that brady just want to get doolittle out of his hair and get on with meeting lola it seem that brady character should be quickly pawn doolittle off on any candidate and whether she a good fit or not . this might seem like a minor detail and but it actually the hinge for about a third to half of the plot . the story also seem a bit draw out . length be a problem . anchor aweigh and clock in at roughly two hour and twenty minute and should have be cut down by at least a half hour . the above surely sound like i be complain about the film too much to justify an 8. i just want to stress what i see a flaw and because the conventional wisdom on anchor aweigh be much closer to the idea that it have no flaw . sinatra and kelly and grayson be certainly charismatic and separately and together . they turn in good and interesting performance . sinatra look and act much young than his actual age of 29 30 while shoot . he play an unusually naïve and virginal character completely different than most of the role he would take late and and different than his public image a a crooner . for kelly and this be his breakthrough film and and rightfully so . his choreography be vary and impressive and a be his act . grayson be charm and her performance be sophisticatedly understated and and she simply gorgeous . all of this help override the flaw with the script and the drawn out pacing . and there even a very interesting element that probably only arise because sidney be allow to sprawl over a large variety of mood the infamous kelly dance with jerry the mouse ( of tom and jerry fame ) in an extended fantasy sequence . this be one of the early example of combine live action and animation and and it be extremely well do and enjoyable as long a youre a fan of fantasy . the fantasy sequence tend to be the best of the film . match in excellence to the dance with jerry the mouse be a long song and dance number feature kelly and grayson and where brady be imagine abbott in a scene from a period film while he woo her and have to resort to acrobatic stunt to reach her physically a she stand on a high balcony . a uneven and flaw a the film be and it be largely successful and entertaining to watch . fan of classic musical certainly shouldn not miss anchor aweigh and and neither should sinatra fan and who will get quite a kick out of his character .