Luxury Liner

Director: Richard Whorf Richard Whorf

Overview

MGM whipped up another musical salad with Luxury Liner, featuring a glittering lineup of contractees including Jane Powell, Lauritz Melchior and Xavier Cugat. George Brent plays the skipper of a "love boat"-type cruise ship, while Ms. Powell plays his daughter. She entertains the passengers at every opportunity with a string of forgettable songs, and finds love herself in the form of Thomas E. Breen(you remember him). The highlight of the film features Jane Powell in male drag, singing "Spring Came to Vienna" to an uncomfortable-looking ingenue (Shirley Johns). Luxury Liner is the sort of lavish trifle that could only have come out of the Hollywood Studio System.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/20/2009
UPC:	0883316163474
Original Release:	1948
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Archives
Presentation:	[Full Frame]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:38:00
Sales rank:	33,199

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jane Powell	Polly Bradford
George Brent	Capt. Jeremy Bradford
Lauritz Melchior	Olaf Eriksen
Xavier Cugat	Himself
Frances Gifford	Laura Dene
Marina Koshetz	Zita Romanka
Thomas E. Breen	Denis Mulvy
Richard Derr	Charles Worton
John Ridgely	Chief Officer Carver
Chuck Lowry	The Pied Piper
Harold Hopper	The Pied Piper,Waiter
Clark Yocum	The Pied Piper
June Hutton	The Pied Piper
Connie Gilchrist	Bertha
Lee Tung Foo	Fu Dong
Georgette Windsor	Perdita
Romo Vincent	Pierre
Michael Dugan	Officer
Kay Norton	Ship's Hostess
Shirley Johns	Count Karper
Betty Blythe	Miss Fenmoor
Juanita Quigley	Jean
Joyce Compton	Actor
Roger Moore	Waiter
May McAvoy	Woman

Technical Credits

Gladys Lehman

Karl Kamb

Richard Connell

Richard Whorf	Director
Gladys Lehman	Screenwriter
Karl Kamb	Screenwriter
Richard Connell	Screenwriter
Joe Pasternak	Producer

Editorial Reviews

Luxury Liner is nothing but a trifle, a film so lightweight that the slightest breeze could topple it. That said, it's also an entertaining, simply nice film, a pleasant and breezy way to pass an hour and a half or so. As you might have gathered, you might as well forget about the plot. Oh, there's on there, scurrying around the shipboard and poking its head out of portholes now and then to remind the viewer that it's around. But the plot counts for nothing, something that can pretty much be said for character depth and originality in the dialogue department. But Liner isn't concerned with these things; it just wants to plop Jane Powell down in a basic situation and let her and her friends warble a few songs, do a little time step or two, and act a little silly now and then, all while romping about in glorious Technicolor. Powell is a perky delight, and is in top form vocally. Lauritz Melchior, perhaps not really perky, is in even better voice, and Marina Koshetz delivers an "I've Got You Under My Skin" to knock your socks off. Throw in a dependable George Brent, a lovely Frances Gifford and the Lantin rhythms of Xavier Cugat, and the result is empty but certainly entertaining.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler