Ship ahoy! So dance good.” A menacing Uma Thurman and a game John Travolta shed their shoes for an intense go-go scene that comes out of nowhere, in the middle of a bloody crime film. Performed by Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra at a nightclub in the first scene Reprised as dance music aboard ship and danced by Red Skelton with Eleanor Powell Played also as background music Hawaiian War Chant (Ta-Hu-Wa-Ha-Hai) She was played byLauren King. Keaton had an uncredited role in writing gags for some of Skelton's early MGM films. A lot of movie dancing shows us the slippery ease and glory of moving to music, but here we see the opposite: the punishing work, humiliations and stoicism behind it. Gwen Verdon as a leggy demon sent by Satan to seduce a ballplayer — okay, I’m in. 1942. “I’m irresistible, you fool,” she taunts. The "other" O'Jays album masterpiece, Ship Ahoy combined shattering message tracks and stunning love songs in a fashion matched only by Curtis Mayfield's finest material. Astaire senses this and grows desperate. He brilliantly played up her strengths, focusing on those beautiful bare shoulders with a shimmy here, an arm extension there, a lot of shaking and — whoopee! Ann Miller was considered the queen of Hollywood tap dancers: She was tall, gorgeous and insanely fast. By Ryan Smith. Visit Tunefind to listen to all the songs used on the show. 2) to name his favorite female dancer. But John Travolta turns it into erotic gold. Ship ahoy! ‘Sweet Charity’ (1969) ‘The Aloof, the Heavyweight, the Big Finish’. How can two humans move so fast, in perfect time, with such giddy ease? Miss Winters is a dancer with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and is asked to … Ship Ahoy, a patriotic musical comedy of the WWII era, swings to the tempo of its big-band times. Dance contests come and go, but this one boasts muscular grace, jaw-dropping execution and incomparable street style. Owner Builds Bus Lift For Dog With Arthritis! 8 tracks (48:05). Post a comment. ‘West Side Story’ (1961) ‘America’. Directed by Edward Buzzell. Great dance fills this entire movie, but this scene stands out for the neat layering of Latin motifs — bullfighting, flamenco, mambo — and the exuberant staging of a gender war. ‘Stepmom’ (1998) ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’. Beautifully lighted and designed, this dark, wordless drama is by turns hallucinatory and Hitchcockian. Black and white. She’s funny, sexy and gleefully impish in this scene, choreographed by Fosse, who was soon to be her husband. Restrained in vocabulary and uninhibited in style and spirit, this witty dance is an exuberant celebration of the female assets, performed by one of the most vibrant bodies in cinematic history. She performs it effortlessly, and smiles all the way through it. ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’, ‘The Aloof, the Heavyweight, the Big Finish’. Share. That should blow their cover. That hot-pink dress, that cherry-red backdrop, those long, long gloves. But, in the final analysis, transcendence won out. Ann-Margret’s “torrid dancing almost replaces the central heating in the theater,” Life magazine declared in its cover story about “Bye Bye Birdie” and its young heroine. Ship Ahoy (1942) makes up for its lightweight story with all the verve and fun that its title implies. From ‘Children of Men’ to ‘Spirited Away,’ here are the best of the new century. It sounds so wrong, but it’s so funny, especially when miniskirted squads of frenemies shake off their frustrations on the dance floor. It’s an instantly immersive experience; you feel like you’re on the dance floor with them, bopping along as hip-hop duo Kid n Play show off their swiveling, sliding, twisting footwork. Dancing starts when dialogue fails. Customer reviews. Scary Flower That Is Perfect For Halloween! Every step conveys that she’s a nonhuman in a new role and loving it. High-pitched and unusually athletic, the dancing moves from an outdoor stage to picnic tables to wood beams. Warning: This graphic requires JavaScript. Don't Throw Snow On Burning Electric Boards! In other ways, though, Hines is looser and jazzier, while Baryshnikov is knife-sharp. You Might Want To Double-Check These Pictures! This scene looks artificial, but it´s very famous. Is there any more beloved dance scene on film than Gene Kelly’s inspired splashfest? (Newspaper Enterprise Association, "Erskine Johnson's Hollywood", The "San Bernardino Daily Sun", San Bernardino, California, … They prance down the hallway. The ballet tells the Hans Christian Andersen tale of enchanted shoes that dance their wearer to death; redhead ballerina Moira Shearer is their beguiling victim. The Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor stamp conveys a scene of desolate beauty at the end of the Pilgrims’ harrowing journey. Ship Ahoy! 4.8 out of 5 stars. Strutting like a show pony in his polyester suit and platform shoes, Travolta communicates the intent behind his smoothly syncopated steps and slow dips with co-star Karen Lynn Gorney; they’re a disco-driven lead-in to lovemaking. But the ladies also have their moments to shine. Ship Ahoy is not Mrs. Miniver, the Best Picture of 1942, but it is a little slice of the time, a forgotten morale-booster, that made folks laugh and marvel and in the end, suggest, that we could win the war, when that was not at all a foregone conclusion. Fayard and Harold Nicholas, a.k.a. Ship Ahoy! Ship Ahoy (1942) Full Cast & Crew. Taking stock of film’s dance treasury to pick the paragons was an irresistible challenge. Then the cliffhanger: She whirls out the door, leaving him, and us, bereft — and dying to see how the movie ends. Watch how Baryshnikov sinks into his knees, while the lankier Hines stays more upright. In making my choices for the best dance scenes, I looked at several factors: mastery of technique, imaginative choreography, quality of the music — this is very important — and design and storytelling. I urge you to add this to your watchlist. “We defend ourselves to music.” You feel that bite in an irresistible, decadent floor-show extravaganza of ’60s go-go, choreographed by Fosse, the master of sinister sexiness. “I wanna dance, I wanna win, I want that trophy. A true product of its time, this now-forgotten MGM musical features the energetic dancing of Eleanor Powell, the swinging sounds of Tommy Dorsey's big band, and the striking voice of a young Frank Sinatra in only his second feature film appearance. (We see Tomlin’s reflection whenever Martin passes a mirror.) Its lush, Technicolor intensity has never been matched, and the dancing, sweeping through paintings come to life, Parisian flower markets and moonlit fountains, feels like the very embodiment of postwar optimism. 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