Not long into their shore leave the guys are approached by a police officer who has the young Donald Martin (Dean Stockwell) in tow. Donald has run away from home to join the Navy; the police officer hopes the sailors can gain his confidence so he will tell them where he lives. The two men offer to take Donald home so the officer doesn't have to. When they do, they meet Donald's young widowed aunt Susan Abbott (Kathryn Grayson). Clarence is immediately taken with the young woman and agrees to return the next day.

When the pair return to Donald's house the next day they meet Bertram Kraler (Grady Sutton). Susan has agreed to a date with Kraler, primarily because he had agreed to introduce her to Jose Iturbi (Jose Iturbi) the famous maestro. Knowing of Clarence's infatuation with Susan, Joe decides to get Bertram out of Clarence's way by telling him that Susan is a Navy sweetheart. When Susan finds out what Joe did she is furious with him, telling him he has ruined her chance to meet Iturbi. Joe tells her it is not a problem because Joe and Iturbi are friends and will introduce them.

Susan takes the men to a Mexican restaurant where she sings and Joe dances. Clarence meets a waitress he names Brooklyn" (Pamela Britton) which is both of their home towns. Joe finds himself falling for Susan but hides his feelings because he thinks his buddy is in love with her. In the mean time Clarence is falling in love with Brooklyn the waitress. Susan has a chance meeting with Iturbi only to find out that neither Joe nor Clarence knows him. Iturbi feels for Susan being deceived and ends up giving her a screen test which Susan does really well in. Friendship seems to be getting in the way of romance, and we wonder if things will ever be resolved so that true love can prevail.http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=10

"I absolutely loved this film. It's like musical cotton candy, a feast of great songs and dance numbers and bright colors. The most memorable number is probably the one where Gene dances with Jerry the Mouse from the Tom and Jerry cartoons (I won't get into how that comes about), but there are several numbers that are just as good. My favorite was the Mexican Hat Dance that Gene does with an impossibly cute little Mexican girl, a number that actually made me applaud, sitting home alone."—Michael W. Phillips Jr., Goatdog's Movies http://goatdog.com/moviePage.php?movieID=702

"Anchors Aweigh is an uneven, overlong, musical highlighted by great production, and flashes of inspired genius."—Frank's Movie Loghttp://www.franksmovielog.com/browse/reviews/anchors-aweigh-1945/