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US (1949): Musical/Dance
98 min, No rating, Color, Available on videocassette and laserdisc
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| Actor | Role |
| Gene Kelly | Gabey |
| Frank Sinatra | Chip |
| Betty Garrett | Brunhilde Esterhazy |
| Ann Miller | Claire Huddesen |
| Jules Munshin | Ozzie |
| Vera-Ellen | Ivy Smith |
| Florence Bates | Mme. Dilyovska |
| Alice Pearce | Lucy Shmeeler |
| George Meader | Professor |
| Bern Hoffman | Worker |
| Lester Dorr | Subway Passenger |
| Bea Benaderet | Working Girl |
| Walter Baldwin | Sign Poster |
| Don Brodie | Photo Layout Man |
| Sid Melton | Spud |
| Robert B. Williams | Officer |
| Tom Dugan | Officer Tracy |
| Murray Alper | Cab Company Owner |
| Hans Conried | François |
| Claire Carleton | Redhead |
| Dick Wessel | Sailor Simpkins |
| William "Bill" Phillips | Sailor |
| Frank Hagney | Cop |
| Carol Haney | Dancer in Green |
| Eugene Borden | Waiter |
| Judy Holliday | Voice of a Sailor's Date |
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New York City never looked more beautiful or exciting on screen than in ON THE TOWN, a breakthrough film that, for the first time, took the musical out of the claustrophobic sound stages and onto the streets for on-location shooting. Perfectly fusing story, songs, and dances, with no production number staged merely for its own sake, ON THE TOWN is so energetic and vital that the screen barely contains it; the actors seem ready to leap off and dance up the aisles.
Synopsis
Sailors on liberty The slim story follows sailors Gabey (Gene Kelly), Chip (Frank Sinatra), and Ozzie (Jules Munshin) during their 24-hour pass in New York. In the subway, they note the picture of this month's "Miss Turnstiles," with whom Gabey is especially taken; later they meet Miss Turnstiles—one Ivy Smith (Vera-Ellen)—in the flesh, but she vanishes into the rush-hour crowd.
Pairing off Chasing after her, they enlist the help of cabbie, Brunhilde Esterhazy (Betty Garrett), who takes a fancy to Chip. Continuing their search, they meet anthropologist Claire Huddesen (Ann Miller), who sets her sights on Ozzie. The group splits into three units— Brunhilde and Chip, Claire and Ozzie, and Gabey —to look for Ivy, agreeing to meet on the Empire State Building's observation deck that night.
After a day of romantic adventures and misadventures, they rendezvous at the appointed site, Gabey squiring Ivy, whom he mistakenly believes to be a big star in her position as Miss Turnstiles. By the time she gets around to telling him she's really just a no-name dancer from a tiny town (as it happens, the same tiny town he's from), it makes no difference to the smitten Gabey, and, after a run-in with the cops that forces the gobs to pretend they're girls, they return to their ship exactly 24 hours from the time they left. Brunhilde and Ivy sadly wave farewell as the men board. 98 minutes have gone by and it feels like five.
Background
Louis B. Mayer bought the show for $250,000 before it was produced but didn't like the play when he saw it, deeming it "smutty" and "communistic" because there was one scene that had a white sailor dancing with a black woman. Producer Arthur Freed prevailed upon Mayer to give him a $2 million budget, including $110,000 to Betty Comden and Adolph Green for rewrites and new lyrics to the music by associate producer Roger Edens (Freed disliked Leonard Bernstein's stage score).
Location shooting Mayer didn't want the film to go on location, while codirector Kelly wanted to shoot the entire picture in New York, leading to a compromise in which Kelly was allowed one frantic week of location shooting, filming the Bronx, the Battery, Coney Island, Brooklyn, the Empire State Building, Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, Fifth Avenue, Radio City, the Bronx Zoo, Central Park, Carnegie Hall, the subway, Wall Street, Grant's Tomb, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Perhaps it was the short shooting schedule that contributed to the frantic pace of the film, a jampacked tour without a wasted second.
Codirectors ON THE TOWN was the first of Kelly and Stanley Donen's codirecting triumphs (SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, 1952 and IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER, 1955 would follow), with Kelly helming the dance sequences. (For one ballet, Kelly adopted the strategy of Agnes De Mille in OKLAHOMA!, 1955, substituting dancers more proficient in ballet for the leads.) There may have been better songs and even better performances in other musicals, but for effervescence and raw energy nothing has yet come close to the joyous, influential ON THE TOWN.
Music
Songs include "New York, New York," "I Feel Like I'm Not out of Bed Yet," "Come Up to My Place" (Bernstein, Comden, Green), "Miss Turnstiles Ballet" (Bernstein), "Main Street," "You're Awful," "On the Town," "You Can Count on Me," "Pearl of the Persian Sea," "Pre-Historic Man," "That's All There Is, Folks" (Roger Edens, Comden, Green).
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Leonard Maltin Review: 4.0 stars out of 4
Jubilant Betty Comden-Adolph Green-Leonard Bernstein musical (inspired by Jerome Robbins' ballet Fancy Free) about three sailors on leave for one day in NYC. "New York, New York" tops a bright, inventive score, with Roger Edens and Lennie Hayton earning Oscars for their arrangements. This was Kelly and Donen's first full directing assignment—and (rare for an MGM movie) they actually shot on location in NYC
Pauline Kael Review
This musical about three sailors with 24 hours leave in New York has an undeserved high reputation. Yes, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Betty Garrett, Ann Miller, Jules Munshin, Vera-Ellen (as Miss Subways), and Florence Bates, Tom Dugan, and Alice Pearce are all in it, and it's the Comden and Green musical with the remnants of the Bernstein score. But its exuberant love of New York seems forced, and most of the numbers are hearty and uninspired. Kelly and Stanley Donen choreographed and directed. Produced by Arthur Freed, for MGM.
CineBooks' Motion Picture Guide Review: 5.0 stars out of 5
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