SKIRTS AHOY! (1952) is musical-comedy fluff aimed mostly at a female audience, but it's not too bad. It's pleasant enough and some of the songs by Harry Warren and Ralph Blane are fun ("What Makes a Wave?", "What Good Is a Gal?"). MGM's swimming superstar Esther Williams, "Guys and Dolls" standout Vivian Blaine, and Joan Evans join the Navy to escape their man troubles. Esther Williams performs a couple of dry-land musical numbers, but the script still finds time for her to visit the pool. In one scene she's accompanied by a couple pint-sized swimming prodigies (brother and sister Russell and Kathy Tongay). Keenan Wynn, Debbie Reynolds, and Bobby Van make celebrity cameos.

Ankles Aweigh! If Kelly and Sinatra could get two turns to play sailors, why not swimming star Esther Williams? It makes sense for Williams to be in the navy, but when she is sadly lacking is a story. What she does get is a fine co-star in Vivian Blaine who plays a naval version of "Guys and Dolls'" Miss Adelaide, utilizing that voice she hadn't supplied in earlier films. Third female co-star Joan Evans plays an extremely whiny character (surprising because Blaine's voice carries more of a whining pitch, yet she never seems like she is...), a jilted bride who joins the navy to escape her troubles yet at first can't cope. The basic story (what there is) has the three girls on the town getting into all sorts of trouble. They get one really good musical number ("What Good is a Gal Without a Guy?") which deserves classic status even though the film is otherwise mediocre and poorly constructed.When Ms. Williams does get into the water (with a couple of kids and a clown-faced plastic buoy taking over for Tom and Jerry from "Dangerous When Wet"), the result is mixed. Out of the blue comes a boring marching number that the producers should have nixed, remembering the similar dreadful one that Betty Grable lead in "Pin Up Girl". Top that with a cameo by Debbie Reynolds and Bobby Van in a pointless musical number, and you really begin to see this as "Naval Melody of 1952" rather than a patriotic salute to the Waves. (Williams should have seen the writing on the script, and given the producer a Wac for even suggesting this to her!) The male romantic interests provide no interest, with poor Barry Sullivan suffering from several indignities, especially one where he's annoyed by Williams in a crowded movie theatre (showing an MGM movie, none the less). I never thought that something would surpass the same year's horrible "About Face" (Warner Brothers), but this pretty much ties it.

This movie isn't terribly accurate as to actual Boot Camp life, they had MUCH more freedom than we did, but it was filmed at Great Lakes Naval Station about 10 years before I was stationed there in 1962-3. The barracks, the furnishings, everything in the background shots look just the way they did when I was there. We also lived in those same WWII temporary barracks. I thoroughly enjoy this movie every time I watch it just for the memories and to see those wonderful uniforms that I really liked! My favorite part of the movie each time is the Drill Team scene, they do some of the very same routines that we did when I was on the Boot Camp Drill Team at Bainbridge, Maryland in 1962.

This post-WWII film is very dated. The women recruits sing a song about how 'women are nothing without a man'. If you can put this sort of sentiment in the context that it was created, this film has a few things to recommend it. There are a few good musical numbers, and lots of camp humour. It's hilarious that none of the military personnel are ever shown doing anything remotely militant. The Navy is depicted as a social event, with shows, synchronized swimming, dating, hijinks.The DeMarco Sisters contribute a few nice moments to this brief, shallow movie. They harmonize nicely, and perform with enthusiasm.The movie is a mildly entertaining snapshot of the early Fifties, when America was still preoccupied with the war even while it was starting to focus its gaze on the changing relationship between the sexes.