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Binding: VHS Tape EAN: 9786302120608 Format: Color, NTSC ISBN: 6302120608 Label: MGM (Video & DVD) Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD) Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD) Release Date: September 01, 1998 Running Time: 99 minutes Studio: MGM (Video & DVD) Theatrical Release Date: July 03, 1948 Editorial Review: Amazon.com: For a crystal-clear lesson in how an unknown vaults into immediate stardom, look no further than Romance on the High Seas, the silly 1948 musical that launched the movie career of Doris Day. A band singer, Day was plucked from the ranks when Warner Bros. and director Michael Curtiz needed to find a replacement for a role intended first for Judy Garland and then for Betty Hutton. She's fourth-billed, but there's no question Doris Day owns the picture; in retrospect, the part seems tailor-made to break a new star. The plot is a howler: society wife Janis Paige is suspicious when husband Don DeFore (hubby to TV's Hazel) claims he must stay in New York on business instead of going on a cruise to South America. So Paige gives the cruise ticket to lounge singer Doris, on the condition that she pretend to be Paige, while wifey hangs back in New York. Make sense? Meanwhile, a suspicious DeFore hires a detective (Jack Carson) to spy on his wife during the cruise, except of course it isn't really his wife, it's... well, you get the picture. Day is somewhat sassier than her later well-scrubbed image would allow; she actually seems like an up-from-the-streets, well-traveled barnstormer. The saucy script has a handsome pedigree; it was penned by Casablanca boys Julius and Philip Epstein and polished by future Billy Wilder partner I.A.L. Diamond. However, it must be stated that Curtiz is nobody's idea of a buoyant comedy director, even if the lounge-singing sequences are sharply made. The cast is stocked with screwball stalwarts such as S.Z. Sakall, Eric Blore, and Franklin Pangborn. As Day's accompanist and suitor, the celebrated musican-wit Oscar Levant has one of his better screen roles--and his experience here was likely the source of his later quip, "I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin." If you see her cheeky performance here, you might agree with him. --Robert Horton Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Flyweight, Technicolor Glossy, & Charming: The Movie That Launched Doris Day Film CareerBy the late 1940s, Warner Brothers was no longer a major producer of lavish musicals--but in 1947 they decided to return to the field with ROMANCE ON THE HIGH SEAS, a lightweight tale of luxury liner romance and comic confusion. Lacking a major musical star, the studio sought to borrow Judy Garland from MGM--but MGM, notoriously possessive of its musical leading lady, refused. Warner then went to Paramount and did indeed secure the services of Betty Hutton--but Hutton became pregnant and would be ... Read More Rating:  - Fun and romanticThis is a film in true Doris Day spirit. A lot of misunderstandings, good humor, romance and a happy ending. Just like we want it for a day of escape from the ordinary life. The story is about a couple that are suspecting each other for playing around. He hires a detective to spy on his wife, she hires a nightclub singer to go on the cruise that she and her husband should have gone on so that she can stay in a hotel nearby to spy on her husband. This is the beginning for a lot of misunderstandings ... Read More Rating: - Good clean fun!I was prepared to hate this movie. One of Day's biographers had written that it was her worst film, but being a diehard fan I thought I'd give it a try. I was surprised at how much I liked it. The plot was silly (but so were most plots in 1940 comedies!) but the songs were lovely. Some of the movie was VERY funny. The scene where the two boyfriends get drunk without drinking a drop is a classic! I also enjoyed the wise-cracking tomboy-type Doris that opened the movie. Shades of the Calamity Jane figure ... Read More Rating: - breezy film with beautiful music and song--and there's even Doris Day before she was a virgin !!!Romance On The High Seas has great musical numbers, a plot to keep your attention--and we see the film debut of Doris Day. The plot moves along at a good pace; and the acting is rather good although I've still seen better. The action begins when Mrs. Elvira Kent (Janis Paige) suspects her husband Michael Kent (Don DeFore) of cheating on her since he can never celebrate their anniversary together on a vacation. He's always working, Michael tells Elvira. Worse yet, Michael Kent himself suspects that ... Read More Rating: - From the People Who Brought You "Casablanca"!"Casablanca" has "As Time Goes By," and "Romance on the High Seas" has "It's Magic!" And it truly is! This Michael Curtiz comedy, starring a young starry-eyed Doris Day playing opposite a delightfully funny Jack Carson has everything that used to make you want to go to the movies: Excellent music, excellent comedy, and excellent dancing (Busby Berkeley numbers, yet!). The story, which is perfectly ridiculous and ridiculously perfect, is too complicated to go into here, and totally irrelevant. It is ... Read More |
