Trying to figure out this absurd plot is like trying to recite the most confusing tongue twister: practically impossible. Jack Oakie is traveling on a cruise ship from New York to Europe, and for some reason, everybody seems to think that he's a famous engineer incognito. He befriends socialite Ginger Rogers (practically unrecognizable as a brunette) who mistakenly believes that he is the man who helped design the modern Erie canal. Politicians, social climbers and crooks all want a piece of him, and it all creates the complete crew and passenger list of a real ship of fools.
Oakie's goofiness and Ginger's perkiness aids to the enjoyment of a silly story that includes out of nowhere a few songs by Johnny Green and Vernon Duke. Amusing performances by Granville Bates, George Barbier and Verree Teasdale are additional plusses. But being one of Ginger's very first films, she will be the attraction that will draw interest. Her singing voice is a combination of Helen Kane and Gracie Allen, but she's certainly a force to be reckoned with as evidenced in an early scene where she displays her authority as the head of a family business that she's inherited.
Oakie's goofiness and Ginger's perkiness aids to the enjoyment of a silly story that includes out of nowhere a few songs by Johnny Green and Vernon Duke. Amusing performances by Granville Bates, George Barbier and Verree Teasdale are additional plusses. But being one of Ginger's very first films, she will be the attraction that will draw interest. Her singing voice is a combination of Helen Kane and Gracie Allen, but she's certainly a force to be reckoned with as evidenced in an early scene where she displays her authority as the head of a family business that she's inherited.