NR | 1 hr, 50 min | Comedy, Musical | 1936
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are remembered as one of the most successful dance partnerships of all time. They achieved fame through the eight movies they made together, the first seven of which were in the 1930s.
However, those not intimately familiar with their movies might not realize that they were one of two couples, in three of their early movies. In fact, in their first film pairing, “Flying Down to Rio” (1933), which was Astaire’s first feature film, they play minor roles.
The third and final movie in which Astaire and Rogers were one of two couples is “Follow the Fleet” from 1936. Unlike “Flying Down to Rio” (1933) and “Roberta” (1935), in which the other couple was definitely the focal point, “Follow the Fleet” featured both couples equally. The four main characters are two sisters, Ginger Rogers and Harriet Hilliard, who are in love with two sailors, Fred Astaire and Randolph Scott.
A Nautical Story
The naval fleet has docked in San Francisco’s harbor, and the sailors hit the town on shore leave. A group of sailors goes to the Paradise night club, since Bake Baker (Astaire) knows that his old dance partner, Sherry Martin (Rogers), works there as a featured dancer and singer. Also visiting Sherry there that evening is Connie (Hilliard), her sister, a studious-looking music teacher. She needs an escort to get into the night club, so she asks one of Bake’s shipmates, Bilge Smith (Scott), to escort her in.Connie asks the glamorous Sherry how to attract men, so she and a fellow chorus girl change Connie’s hair and wardrobe to more fashionable styles. With this new look, she easily gains the attention of Bilge, who doesn’t even recognize her. They strike up a casual flirtation and end up leaving together.
Meanwhile, Sherry has a surprisingly emotional reaction to seeing Bake again. After a tender reunion, they win the night club’s dance contest together. Bake insists that the job isn’t good enough for Sherry, so he purposely gets her fired. She isn’t happy about this, but he promises to introduce her to his producer friend the next day.
Both sisters are very happy that evening as they reminisce about their sailor beaux. However, when they realize that the fleet is leaving that night, Sherry is furious with Bake. Meanwhile, Bilge was a little spooked by Connie’s plans to restore her father’s ship so that she and her future husband can sail it together, since he isn’t ready to settle down yet. Will the two couples end up together?
The 1930s, Personified
“Follow the Fleet” is a great example of 1930s culture. That decade is one of the hardest to recreate in today’s movie culture because it doesn’t have the stereotypical characteristics associated with other eras.Too often, it’s confused with the flapper styles of the 1920s, the tailored look of the 1940s, or the curvaceous silhouettes of the 1950s. However, the 1930s had a unique style, which is easily recognizable once you become familiar with it, in terms of fashion, music, and even slang.
Fred and Ginger
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers perform some great numbers in this movie. Rogers starts out with a solo number, “Let Yourself Go,” an intriguingly minor yet peppy invitation to dance, in which she is accompanied by three female singers, including a young Betty Grable.
Later, the duo does an energetic dance to “Putting All My Eggs in One Basket,” which looks impressively impromptu as they are supposed to be rehearsing a new routine. My favorite musical number from this movie is “Let’s Face the Music and Dance,” which is a beautifully lyrical duet between Astaire and Rogers with a dramatic story of its own.
One of the most interesting things about this movie is that it is the feature film debut of Harriet Hilliard, a band singer who would become America’s favorite mother by playing herself on “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet” alongside her husband and two sons. When she made this movie, she had just married bandleader Ozzie Nelson. She shows off her charming voice in this movie with two solos, “Get Thee Behind Me, Satan” and “But Where Are You?”
Interestingly, the other actress who was famous for playing herself alongside her husband on television in the 1950s, Lucille Ball, can be seen as a peroxide blonde chorus girl!
