On the Town - the movie
This is a story of three sailors (Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munchin) and their escapades while on shore leave for 24 hours in New York - a much worked Hollywood theme! It was originally a Broadway hit with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, itself a reworking of a Jerome Robbins ballet called Fancy Free. Gene Kelly directed and choreographed the film with Stanley Donen. Some of the Bernstein tunes were dropped in the film to be replaced by others composed by Roger Edens, Conrad Salinger and Lennie Hayton. But the rousing opening number, `New York, New York, It's a wonderful town' was retained as were some of the ballet sequences. In fact, the whole film was very balletic, which reflects its origins. The girls after whom the sailors chased were Vera-Ellen (`Miss Turnstiles'), Ann Miller (an anthropologist, would you believe), and Betty Garrett (as a lady cab driver). Though the storyline is somewhat overworked, the film as a whole is thoroughly entertaining for most of its 98 minutes. It was released in 1949 and is in Technicolor.