STATE

Evening Star, Issue 22453, 25 September 1936, Page 14

STATE

Beginning on a battleship, shifting to a San Francisco waterfront dance hall, and then to a society function on Hob Hill, ‘ Follow the Fleet,’ in an extended season at the State this week, reaches a finale that elaborately features the Irvine Berlin number, 1 Face the Music,’ which is sung by Fred Astaire and provides the accompaniment for an interpretative dance by Fred and Ginger. The sequence surrounds a play given on board a freighter, the Connie Martin, to raise funds so Harriet Hilliard can make the final payment on the craft in which she and Randy Scott plan to sail to distant honeymoon ports. It could truthfully be said that this picture goes one better than the famous ‘Top Hat,’ and provides magnificent opportunities for comedy and spectacle. In short, it may be said that ‘ Follow the Fleet ’ rises to the top standard in ’ screen musical comedy. The story illustrates the olid saying, “ The course of true love never runs smooth,” but innumerable complexities arise from the fact_ that both the men whose love stories are followd (Fred Astaire and Randolph Scott) are sailors. Full opportunity is therefore taken for witty ■ repartee, for which Astaire is famous, and several dances are introduced in appropriate places. The opposite leads are played by Miss Rogers and Harriet Hilliard, as sisters. Particularly witty lyrics are sung by Astaire to music of the usual high standard of Irving Berlin, the best of which are ‘ We Saw the Sea,’ ‘Let Yourself Go,’ and ‘ Let’s Face the Music and Dance.’ Some of the scenes deserve particular reference. Perhaps one of the finest tap dances that Astaire has yet done is that on the battleship, where, with a ballet of sailors, he imitates a kettledrum march with astonishing accuracy of rhythm.