Luxury Liner

Plot

MGM whipped up another musical salad with Luxury Liner, featuring a glittering lineup of contractees including Jane Powell, Lauritz Melchior and Xavier Cugat. George Brent plays the skipper of a "love boat"-type cruise ship, while Ms. Powell plays his daughter. She entertains the passengers at every opportunity with a string of forgettable songs, and finds love herself in the form of Thomas E. Breen(you remember him). The highlight of the film features Jane Powell in male drag, singing "Spring Came to Vienna" to an uncomfortable-looking ingenue (Shirley Johns). Luxury Liner is the sort of lavish trifle that could only have come out of the Hollywood Studio System. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Review

Luxury Liner is nothing but a trifle, a film so lightweight that the slightest breeze could topple it. That said, it's also an entertaining, simply nice film, a pleasant and breezy way to pass an hour and a half or so. As you might have gathered, you might as well forget about the plot. Oh, there's on there, scurrying around the shipboard and poking its head out of portholes now and then to remind the viewer that it's around. But the plot counts for nothing, something that can pretty much be said for character depth and originality in the dialogue department. But Liner isn't concerned with these things; it just wants to plop Jane Powell down in a basic situation and let her and her friends warble a few songs, do a little time step or two, and act a little silly now and then, all while romping about in glorious Technicolor. Powell is a perky delight, and is in top form vocally. Lauritz Melchior, perhaps not really perky, is in even better voice, and Marina Koshetz delivers an "I've Got You Under My Skin" to knock your socks off. Throw in a dependable George Brent, a lovely Frances Gifford and the Lantin rhythms of Xavier Cugat, and the result is empty but certainly entertaining. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi

Cast

• George Brent - Capt. Jeremy Bradford
• Jane Powell - Polly Bradford
• Lauritz Melchior - Olaf Eriksen
• Frances Gifford - Laura Dene
• Marina Koshetz - Zita Romanka

Xavier Cugat - Himself; Thomas E. Breen - Denis Mulvy; Richard Derr - Charles Worton; John Ridgely - Chief Officer Carver; Romo Vincent - Pierre; Betty Blythe - Miss Fenmoor; Joyce Compton; Lee Tung Foo - Fu Dong; Connie Gilchrist - Bertha; Shirley Johns - Count Karper; May McAvoy - Woman; Juanita Quigley - Jean; Georgette Windsor - Perdita; Michael Dugan - Officer; Kay Norton - Ship's Hostess; Wesley Hopper - Waiter; Roger Moore

Credit

Cedric Gibbons - Art Director, Paul Groesse - Art Director, Nick Castle - Choreography, Jean Louis - Costume Designer, Helen Rose - Costume Designer, Irene Valles - Costume Designer, Richard Whorf - Director, Robert J. Kern - Editor, George Stoll - Composer (Music Score), George Stoll - Musical Direction/Supervision, Robert Planck - Cinematographer, Joe Pasternak - Producer, Arthur Krams - Set Designer, Edwin B. Willis - Set Designer, Karl Kamb - Screenwriter, Gladys Lehman - Screenwriter, Richard Connell - Screenwriter

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