Romance on the High Seas (1948), starring Doris Day, Jack Carson, Janis Paige, Don DeFore, S.Z. Sakall, Eric Blore, Franklin Pangborn, Oscar Levant directed by Michael Curtiz
Synopsis of Romance on the High Seas
In Romance on the High Seas, Elvira is supposed to go on a cruise, but decides to stay home when she suspects her husband is cheating on her. Her husband suspects the same of his wife, and sends an investigator to spy on her on the cruise – but he is really spying on Elvira’s husband.
Editorial review of Romance on the High Seas
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.
Plot
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.
Script
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
Cast
- Jack Carson (Arsenic and Old Lace) … Peter Virgil
- Janis Paige (Bathing Beauty) … Elvira Kent
- Don DeFore (It Happened on 5th Avenue) … Michael Kent
- Doris Day (Billy Rose’s Jumbo, It Happened One Night) … Georgia Garrett
- Oscar Levant (The Band Wagon) … Oscar Farrar
- S.Z. Sakall (Casablanca, In the Good Old Summertime) … Uncle Lazlo Lazlo
- Fortunio Bonanova … Plinio
- Eric Blore (Top Hat, Swiss Miss) … Ship’s Doctor
- Franklin Pangborn (The Bank Dick, Reveille with Beverly) … Rio Hotel Clerk
- Leslie Brooks … Miss Medwick
- William Bakewell … Dudley
Songs
- Put ’em in a Box, Tie ’em with a Ribbon (and Throw ’em in the Deep Blue Sea) – Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics by Sammy Cahn. Sung by Doris Day and the Page Cavanaugh Trio
- It‘s Magic. Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics by Sammy Cahn. Sung by Doris Day
- It’s You or No One – Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics by Sammy Cahn. Sung by Doris Day
- I’m in Love. Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics by Sammy Cahn, Sung by Doris Day
- The Tourist Trade. Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics by Sammy Cahn. Sung by Avon Long
- Run, Run, Run. Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics by Sammy Cahn. Sung by Jack Carson
- She’s a Latin from Manhattan. Music by Harry Warren, Lyrics by Al Dubin. Sung briefly by Doris Day in the travel agency
- Romance on the High Seas, aka “In Trinidad“. Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics by Sammy Cahn. Sung by the Samba Kings
- Brazilian Rhapsody, aka “Cuban Rhapsody“. Music by Jule Styne, Ray Heindorf and Oscar Levant. Performed by Oscar Levant