In this wonderful musical comedy, shore-leave sailors Fred Astaire and Randolph Scott breeze into town and fall for sisters Ginger Rogers and Harriet Nelson [Hilliard]. The plot revolving around the Scott/Hilliard characters had dominated the stage play Shore Leave and the Broadway show and film of Hit the Deck, on which sources this film was based. But here it plays second fiddle to the romance between the swaggering Astaire and the equally sassy Rogers. The settings might not be the Art Deco delights of the couple's other pictures and not all of Irving Berlin's songs would make his greatest hits compilation, but the song-and-dance duo are as captivating as ever and Let's Face the Music and Dance ranks as one of their finest routines.

When the US Navy fleet docks at San Francisco, sailor Bake Baker tries to rekindle the flame with his old dancing partner, Sherry Martin, while Bake's buddy Bilge Smith romances Sherry's sister, Connie. But it's not all smooth sailing—Bake has a habit of losing Sherry's jobs for her and, despite Connie's dreams, Bilge is not ready to settle down.