Anchor's Aweigh (1944)

Plot:  Two sailors on leave in Los Angeles look for fun and romance
Stars: Kathyrn Grayson,  Gene Kelly,  Frank Sinatra,  Jose Iturbi
Plus:  Technicolor, Production Numbers, Kelly dance with Jerry
Minus:  Too long, Corny story

I feel guilty about criticizing Anchors Aweigh, because so much of it is so good.  This is the first of the Sinatra-Kelly pairings and the two play off each other very well.  Grayson is very attractive, but  Gene Kelly dances with Jerry Mouse, not her. The movie also has some "high culture" with  Jose Iturbi playing Liszt & Grayson singing Operetta. The main problem? Its too long -143 minutes.  By comparison, Singing in the Rain and American in Paris are about 105 minutes.  It easily could have been 2 hours, by cutting down some of the lesser numbers/corny lackadaisical plot.  Summary:  A 1945 Box-office smash,  its the movie that made Gene Kelly a Star. He probably made 5 better musicals, but its still very good.

Back-story on the Kelly - Jerry Mouse Dance Number
As usual, there are different stories of how this came about.  Donen's biography credits him for originating the idea, getting Kelly on-board, and pushing it through.  Meanwhile, Kelly's biography talks about "our idea" and only credits Donen for the camera work.  In any case, the original idea was to dance with Mickey Mouse, since Disney** was already working on something similar (real actors/animated figures for the 3 Caballeros). It seemed like a natural fit but MGM wouldn't give Disney film credit or enough compensation, so MGM's Jerry Mouse was used.  The eight minutes of animation took Kelly two months, and the animators almost a year.  But it was worth it.

** Donen talks about meeting Disney and how nice and helpful he was, but can't resist smearing him as a "reputed anti-semite" and "Terrible Right-winger" (aka a Republican).  Kelly simply compliments Disney.