MartinHafer This film finds Whitney (Esther Williams) joining the Navy WACs. Soon she makes a couple friends, Mary Kate (Joan Evans) and Una (Vivian Blaine) and they have some adventures--which in THIS Navy means singing, dancing, swimming and chasing men. Apparently the WACs in the 1950s didn't do much else....at least according to this film. Because of this, the film clearly is a bit of fluff...which isn't a surprise because most of Esther Williams' films were lightweight but entertaining. This one, however, is a bit sub- par for two main reasons. First, the songs are completely forgettable--even ones sung by singers playing themselves (such as Debbie Reynolds, Billy Eckstine and Bobby Van who all make cameo appearances). Secondly, the big romance is between Whitney and a senior officer (Barry Sullivan)...something which I don't think the Navy would have allowed. I could look past this second point but the fact that the songs weren't very good is a big hit since the plot is pretty flimsy. Clearly one of Miss Williams' lesser films and one mostly for her fans. Overall, not bad...just not all that good. Others might want to pick one of her better films such as "Million Dollar Mermaid".

Jimmy L. SKIRTS AHOY! (1952) is musical-comedy fluff aimed mostly at a female audience, but it's not too bad. It's pleasant enough and some of the songs by Harry Warren and Ralph Blane are fun ("What Makes a Wave?", "What Good Is a Gal?"). MGM's swimming superstar Esther Williams, "Guys and Dolls" standout Vivian Blaine, and Joan Evans join the Navy to escape their man troubles. Esther Williams performs a couple of dry-land musical numbers, but the script still finds time for her to visit the pool. In one scene she's accompanied by a couple pint-sized swimming prodigies (brother and sister Russell and Kathy Tongay). Keenan Wynn, Debbie Reynolds, and Bobby Van make celebrity cameos.

charlytully The Harold Warren\Ralph Blane tune lyric quoted in my summary more or less sums up the attitude of MGM's 1952 Esther Williams vehicle SKIRTS AHOY! regarding the relationship between men and women. All three of the featured characters begin their nine weeks' stints at Chicago's Great Lakes Naval Training Center after matrimonial snafus. With a "50:1" male:female ratio, most of the recruits seem hell-bent upon attaining the rank of "Mrs." Other memorable lyrics include "It takes a whole lotta water to make a WAVE; it only takes a little bit of water to make a squirt" (sung during a chicks-get-wet-on-stage sequence that precedes FLASHDANCE's similar spectacle by decades) and "what use is a moonlit night, without a guy to hold you tight?" In between the singing, SKIRTS AHOY! viewers pick up such bon mots as "plumbers know everything there is to know about EVERYTHING--plumbers and garbage men."Perhaps the nautical highlight, as least for Esther Williams' swim fans, is when this diva of wetness cavorts underwater with a pair of urchins (played by Russell and Kathy Tongay) with a number of yellow props, including a wooden ladder and hula hoop prototypes. Unlike TOP GUN, these trainees are never thrust into a "hot zone," however.

mikecom This post-WWII film is very dated. The women recruits sing a song about how 'women are nothing without a man'. If you can put this sort of sentiment in the context that it was created, this film has a few things to recommend it. There are a few good musical numbers, and lots of camp humour. It's hilarious that none of the military personnel are ever shown doing anything remotely militant. The Navy is depicted as a social event, with shows, synchronized swimming, dating, hijinks.The DeMarco Sisters contribute a few nice moments to this brief, shallow movie. They harmonize nicely, and perform with enthusiasm.The movie is a mildly entertaining snapshot of the early Fifties, when America was still preoccupied with the war even while it was starting to focus its gaze on the changing relationship between the sexes.