Hit the Deck

Hit the Deck is a 1955 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical comedy directed by Roy Rowland, based on the 1927 stage musical of the same name. The film follows three U.S. Navy sailors on shore leave in San Francisco as they navigate romantic entanglements, family obligations, and the consequences of their well-intentioned mischief.

Shot in CinemaScope and Eastmancolor, the film features an ensemble cast including Jane Powell, Debbie Reynolds, Ann Miller, Tony Martin, Vic Damone, and Russ Tamblyn. Choreography by Hermes Pan delivers standout numbers, especially Ann Miller's tap solo in the gold lamé finale.

At a budget of $2.3 million, the film earned $3.4 million at the box office but still recorded a loss of $454,000. It marked the end of Jane Powell's MGM career and arrived as the studio's golden age of musicals was winding down. [edit]

During Operation Ice Cream at a U.S. Navy reservation in the Arctic, three friends—Danny Xavier Smith (Russ Tamblyn), Rico Ferrari (Vic Damone), and Chief Boatswain's Mate William F. Clark (Tony Martin)—are exempted from an icy swimming lesson when Bill recruits them to bake a birthday cake for the commander. Danny and Rico sabotage another sailor's failed cake by poking holes, filling them with rum, and decorating it with candles and icing. The commander is delighted until the cake combusts when he blows out the candles. Despite this disaster, the three friends earn their discharge and head to San Francisco on leave.

Danny is secretly the son of Rear Admiral Daniel Xavier Smith (Walter Pidgeon), a fact he keeps quiet to avoid preferential treatment. Danny's sister Susan (Jane Powell) longs to break free from her proper life as the admiral's daughter and has become infatuated with Wendell Craig (Gene Raymond), a smarmy actor who invites her to his apartment for an audition. Bill visits his girlfriend of six years, nightclub performer Ginger (Ann Miller), who is tired of waiting for him to propose and dumps him.

Danny and Rico meet Carol Pace (Debbie Reynolds), a performer in Wendell Craig's show, who tells them about Susan's planned rendezvous. Danny, Rico, and Bill crash the audition at Craig's apartment and give the actor a black eye, much to Susan's embarrassment. The sailors soon find themselves on the run from the Shore Patrol after Craig lodges a complaint. Rico develops feelings for Susan, even though she still believes she's in love with Wendell. Danny and Carol begin to fall for each other. Ginger proves her love for Bill, though everyone tells Bill he's a sap for not seeing how much she cares.

The narrative takes the characters through various San Francisco locations, including a carnival fun house where Danny and Carol perform a standout dance sequence. The story builds toward a resolution involving Admiral Smith, Lieutenant Jackson (Richard Anderson), and the consequences of the sailors' actions.[edit]