Classic Cinema Spotlight: Romance on the High Seas (1948)

A Vintage Nerd, Romance on the High Seas (1948), Doris Day Movies, Old Hollywood Blog, Classic Movie Blog

Doris Day had a twenty year movie career that began with Romance on the High Seas (1948) and ended with With Six You Get Eggroll (1968). By the time she starred in this film she already had a successful career as a big band singer that began in 1939. She eventually had commercial success in 1945 with two Number one recordings, "Sentimental Journey" and "My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time" with Les Brown and His Band of Renown. She then left Brown to embark on a solo career and recorded more than 650 songs from 1947 to 1967.

Her performance of the song "Embraceable You" impressed songwriter Jule Styne and his partner Sammy Cahn that they recommended her for a role in Romance on the High Seas (1948). Day was cast for the role after auditioning for director Michael Curtiz. It is said that she was shocked to receive the offer and admitted to Curtiz that she was a singer without acting experience. He seemed to appreciated her honesty and felt that "her freckles made her look like the All-American Girl." And that is how it all began for Doris Day.

Day was one of the main leads on Romance on the High Seas (1948) acting alongside Jack Carson as Peter Virgil, Janis Paige as Elvira Kent, Don DeFore as Michael Kent, Oscar Levant as Oscar Farrar, and S. Z. Sakall as Uncle Lazlo. This romantic comedy is incredibly charming and Day really shined like a star despite it being her very first Hollywood movie.

It all begins with a wedding. A man named Michael Kent is about to marry his bride, Elvira Kent but each is suspicious of the other. A few years into their marriage and they still fear that the other is cheating on them. To test out her suspicions Elvira (Paige) works alongside her Uncle Lazlo (Sakall) to set her husband (DeFore) up and catch him in the act of cheating. Michael also has the same idea and hires a private investigator by the name of Peter Virgil (Carson). Instead of canceling their yearly anniversary trip Elvira hires a singer by the name of Georgia Garrett (Day) to impersonate her and go on the trip to test her husband. Michael then sends his private investigator (Carson) on that same anniversary trip to South America hoping to test Elvira and find out if she is truly committed to him. Things get even more complicated when Peter Virgil (Carson) finds himself attracted to "Elvira" who is really Georgia Garrett (Day).

Georgia as "Elvira" has to pretend that she is married but she is also finding herself attracted to Peter. Unbeknown to either of them is that they were hired my the same married couple who are questioning each other's faithfulness. The more time they spend together the more confused they get. To complicate things more Georgia's friend Oscar (Levant) is also in love with her. Hilarity ensues when both Mr. and Mrs. Kent fly out to Rio with their trusty Uncle Lazlo in tow to figure out what is happening with the people they hired.

The real Elvira realizes what is going on with her husband Michael following suit not long after. Elvira and Georgia support each other in their perspective situations. Eventually Elvira and Michael make up and realize they should have never questioned their commitment to each other while Georgia gets a big singing gig and her beau, private investigator Peter Virgil.

Doris Day's film debut is sweet, charming, and funny. Everything you hope would be in a romantic comedy is in this film including musical numbers. You have Oscar Levant playing "Brazilian Rhapsody", Jack Carson singin Calypso in "Run, Run, Run" (which is a treat unto itself), and Doris Day singing, "Put 'em in a Box, Tie 'em with a Ribbon, and Throw 'em in the Deep Blue Sea" with the Page Cavanaugh Trio and "It's Magic" along with a few other songs. The romance, the comedy, the music, the fashion, the cast-all make for Doris Day's film debut to be nothing but pure magic.