About the film
The Fleet's In is a 1942 American romantic musical comedy film directed by Victor Schertzinger. Produced and released by Paramount Pictures, the film stars Dorothy Lamour, William Holden and Eddie Bracken, with Betty Hutton, Betty Jane Rhodes, Leif Erickson, Cass Daley, Gil Lamb, Barbara Britton, Lorraine and Rognan and Jimmy Dorsey and his Orchestra. The film was Hutton, Daley and Lamb's feature-film debut. This was the final film of Schertzinger's long directorial career, as he died shortly before the film's production was scheduled to end.
The film is both a remake of the 1928 Paramount film starring Clara Bow and Jack Oakie, and the second screen adaptation of the 1933 Kenyon Nicholson and Charles Robinson stage play "Sailor, Beware!", the other two being Lady Be Careful (1936) and Sailor Beware (1952).
The film's songs are by Schertzinger and lyricist Johnny Mercer. Under the musical direction of Victor Young, the film introduced the songs "Tangerine", "Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry" and "I Remember You", which are now part of the Great American Songbook.
The film centers on a timid sailor called Casey Kirby, played by Holden, who is tricked into kissing film star Diana Golden, played by Rhodes. His friend Barney Waters, played by Bracken, bets with fellow shipmates that he can kiss and romance the icy dancehall and nightclub singer, known only as the Countess, played by Lamour.
