Product Description

All hands on deck! In the fifth of 10 Astaire/Rogers pairings, Fred trades his top hat for a sailor's cap, Randolph Scott gets the girl (pre-Nelson Harriet Hilliard), Ginger gets a tap solo and viewers get the unending delight of seven sparkling Irving Berlin numbers, including Let Yourself Go, We Saw the Sea, the Duo's zany I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket skit and their sublimely powerful Let's Face the Music and Dance. Astaire is Bake Baker, a hoofer now given to stepping a sailor's horn-pipe while he and other swabbies patrol the seas for democracy. Rogers is his former partner Sherry, now convoying the Navy around a ballroom for 10 cents a dance. But one day the fleet returns to home port. Bake again meets Sherry, and the partnership is renewed at least for one more show. In small early-career roles, look for a very blond Lucille Ball and a very young Betty Grable.

DVD Features:
Featurette:Follow the Fleet: The Origins of Those Dancing Feet
Other:Musical Short Melody Master: Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra and Classic Cartoon Let It Be Me

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33712 in DVD
• Brand: ASTAIRE,FRED
• Released on: 2005-08-16
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 110 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
Of the nine films Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers completed for RKO Pictures, Follow the Fleet falls short of the top echelon. Coming between series peaks Top Hat and Swing Time, Fleet repeats the mistake (à la Flying Down to Rio and Roberta) of casting Fred and Ginger as the comic couple, while the romantic roles went to Randolph Scott and Harriet Hilliard (before she went on to fame with her husband, Ozzie Nelson, in Ozzie and Harriet). Fred puts down his top hat to become sailor Bake Baker (yet another of his alliterative screen names), while Ginger plays old flame Sherry Martin. The two are reunited when Fred takes shore leave in San Francisco, and soon their efforts turn to helping Ginger's sister Connie (Hilliard) land Fred's shipmate Bilge (Scott). (Look for Lucille Ball and Betty Grable in small roles.) Too much screen time is spent on Hilliard and Scott, but Fred and Ginger make up for it with plenty of laughs and some classic musical numbers, and Irving Berlin's score is one of the best of the series, with cunning lyrics and melodies that linger in the memory. Highlights include Fred and Ginger in a dance contest, a Ginger solo tap number, and "I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket," their best comic dance. The pièce de résistance is "Let's Face the Music and Dance," a show within a show in which Fred and Ginger don their customary evening formals. Effortlessly flowing from pantomime to song to dance, this sublime piece of storytelling is one of Fred and Ginger's defining moments. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

fine and somewhat underrated Fred and Ginger musical
Follow The Fleet is a solid RKO musical from 1936 that gives us Fred Astaire as Bake Baker, navy seaman and Ginger Rogers as Sherry Martin dancing at their best, even if the plot is rather thin. Look also for a great performance by Randolph Scott as Bilge Smith, Bake's buddy in the navy; and Harriet Hilliard plays Connie Martin, Sherry's sister. The plot and the action move along at a good pace; and the convincing acting was very nicely done.

The action starts when a navy ship carrying Bake Baker and his buddy Bilge Smith come into San Francisco's port. Bake wants to rekindle his old romance with Sherry but for now at least she wants nothing of the sort between them. Bilge soon falls for Sherry's sister Connie; and this provides a subplot even though too much time is spent on Bilge and Connie's relationship, in my opinion.

Bake wants Sherry back very badly--and he even ruins a job or two for her just to make sure she's still available! This causes obvious complications between Sherry and Bake. Meanwhile, Connie wants marriage with Bilge; but Bilge certainly isn't ready for marriage with any woman.

The song and dance numbers shared by Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire are nothing less than heavenly; they dance exceptionally well together especially in the film's finale, "Let's Face The Music And Dance." We also get a scene in which Ginger dances by herself; and this is noteworthy simply because it so rarely happened in the movies.

Look also for some great musical numbers on board the navy ship. Fred really knew how to dance!

The DVD comes with a very good bonus about Fred and Ginger; it has historians and Fred's daughter discussing how Fred and Ginger got into show business and finally movies. There's also a cute cartoon and another brief extra entitled Melody Master: Jimmy Lunceford and His Dance Orchestra. This is great bonus material!

Although some believe that Follow The Fleet is not the strongest Fred and Ginger movie, it kept my attention very well and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The song and dance numbers couldn't have been better; and it's nice to see Lucille Ball as a friend of Sherry Martin even if Lucille's part was rather small. The finale features Ginger in the famous beaded dress that she maintained weighed 35 pounds!

I highly recommend this movie for fans of classic movie musicals; and fans of Fred and Ginger will not want to overlook this one!

Not Quite Their Best But Not Bad
"Follow the Fleet" differs from the 3 classic Astaire and Rogers films "Swing Time", "Shall We Dance" and "Top Hat" in that the comedy beats usually provided by Victor Moore, Eric Blore, Edward Horton, and Helen Broderick are notiecably absent. In their place is a second melo-dramatic plot line with Harriet Hilliard and Randolph Scott which isnt bad but can't compare to say a scene from "Top Hat" with Edward Horton and Eric Blore and the laughs they get.
So, you can skip over the Scott and Hilliard spots or enjoy the irony of Harriet's "Get Thee Behind Me Satan" number knowing that she will become Harriet in the Ozzie and Harriet early TV sitcom.
The rest of the movie is brilliant Astaire and Rogers, launching one great Irving Berlin song after another. There's Ginger's spicy "Let Yourself Go" delivered in an adorable satin sailor suit, Fred's very funny "We Joined the Navy", and the unforgetable duet and tap number "I'm Putting All My Eggs In One Basket", a tune you can't get out of your head along with Ginger's goofy and charming playfullness in the tap dance. And of course this movie contains one of Astaire and Roger's most memorable ballroom dance numbers "Let's Face the Music and Dance". This routine alone shows the amazing story telling ability of Astaire's coreography combined with the Roger's powerful but silent emoting while dancing in that fantastic beaded dress. Any serious Astaire and Rogers collector has to get this movie if just for this dance by itself.

One of the Best Astaire & Rogers Movies Iv'e Ever Seen!!!!!
I am a big fan of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and thought that "Follow the Fleet" is one of their best films. I especially like the comical plot. Irving Berlin is brilliant, as usual, and delivers several fantastic numbers including "Let Yourself Go" (my personal favorite), "We Joined the Navy", and "Let's Face the Music"(which brings tears to my eyes). I also liked the comical number, "I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket". Absolutly Brilliant.