Lately I have been completely addicted to these kinds of old Hollywood musicals. I am trying to watch as many of them as I can get…

On the Town, directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen (Funny Face, 1957), is a film about three sailors who have 24 hours to explore New York City. One of them (Frank Sinatra) wants to see all the sights, but the other two (Gene Kelly and Jules Munshin) just want to meet the NY women.

Gene Kelly’s character Gabey falls in love with a picture of “Miss Turnstile of the Month” that he sees on the subway and decides that he has to find her. During their search for this girl the other two sailors pick up girls for themselves. At night they all hit the town together and enjoy the short time they have as lovers before the sailors have to leave at 6 am the next morning.

Even thought the movie is quite fun to watch, I was a bit disappointed. The songs are not really engaging (or known, for that matter) and the story line is a bit weak. In a lot of ways it has great similarities to An American in Paris. In the beginning there is a dream sequence where Gabey is imagining what Miss Turnstile looks like and what she does in her free time, and at the end there is another dream sequence in which the story of the film is retold in dancing. The exact same things happen in An American in Paris, although there the end dancing scene is much longer and is more of a dream of the future then a repetition of what has happened. On the Town just seems a bit like a practice run for An American in Paris.

I really hope I haven’t already seen the crème de la crème of the old-fashioned musicals. My favourites so far have been Swing Time and Singin’ in the Rain. Any further suggestions?