Starlift (1951)

Set during the Korean War, two Air Force pilots (Ron Hagerthy, Dick Wesson) talk their way into meeting a Hollywood actress (Janice Rule) by pretending they're shipping out to the Korean front when they are really only flying to Honolulu. Things really get out of hand when the newspapers whip up a fictitious romance between the actress and one of the pilots (Hagerthy). Directed by Roy Del Ruth, the plot is is just a thin excuse to line up a bevy of Warners contract stars playing themselves and have most of them perform in musical numbers. Doris Day and Gordon MacRae sing together and apart, Gary Cooper and Frank Lovejoy do a comedy sketch, Randolph Scott does emcee duties, Virginia Mayo does a tropical dance, James Cagney does a Cagney imitation, Jane Wyman sings, Phil Harris gambles and Ruth Roman plays matchmaker. Most of it is fun but we still have to sit through a painfully unfunny sketch with Tommy Noonan and Peter Marshall and Dick Wesson is just plain irritating instead of funny. It's the kind of movie you watch to see all the movie star cameos rather than the threadbare plot. The Leroy Prinz choreography is very good. With Patrice Wymore, Gene Nelson, Virginia Gibson, Louella Parsons, Eleanor Audley and Hayden Rorke.