Starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton, and Eric Blore
Directed by Mark Sandrich
Music by George Gershwin; Lyrics by Ira Gershwin
With their last three movies having been among the biggest hits of the mid-30's, RKO went all-out for their next vehicle. They enlisted the Gershwins, who rarely worked in Hollywood, and went all out with enormous Art Deco sets and glittering costumes. Pitting jazz and pop against classical music was all the rage in 30's. The popularity of jazz, swing, and other forms of pop music began to supersede older musical forms, to the frustration and disappointment of those who championed those forms. How does this battle look in Fred and Ginger's breezy world? Let's begin with a ballet class accompanied by one of Gershwin's symphonic pieces and find out...
The Story: Petrov, aka Pete Peters (Astaire), has passed himself as a Russian ballet dancer. What he really wants to do is blend tap and ballet under his own name, but he's the star of a company owned by fuddy-duddy Jeffery Baird (Horton). He falls hard for a photo of jazz dancer Linda Keene (Rogers), but she's put off by his "Petrov" persona. He finally arranges to meet her onboard an ocean liner with his own name and personality. Linda's beginning to like him, until journalists on the boat get photos of them, jump to the wrong conclusions, and claim they're married.
Linda's horrified, but her manager Arthur Miller (Jerome Cowan) thinks the idea is wonderful publicity. Linda's fiancée Jim Montgomery (William Brisbane) would disagree. Fed up with being hounded over the scandal, Pete and Linda decide to get married, and then divorced. They start to fall for each other and decide that calling the whole thing off isn't a good idea...until it turns out Pete has a fiancé (Ketti Gallan) of his own.
The Song and Dance: This wasn't a huge hit at the time, but nowadays, it has one of the most enduring scores from any Astaire-Rogers movie. Almost every song here is a standard, and two of Gershwin's background music and instrumental pieces turn up in concert halls occasionally, too. The Art Deco sets here are a marvel, especially the massive boiler room setting for "Slap That Bass" and the mirror finale with the many dancing Gingers. Blore and Cowan have the most fun of the supporting cast as the fussy butler who has a hard time keeping up with who's married and who isn't and the slick manager who wants to get the most publicity he can out of the marriage mix-up.
Favorite Number: Astaire sings "Slap That Bass" with Dudley Dickerson and the black workers in the oddly pristine Art Deco boiler room, his quick taps done in time to the rhythm of the boiler machinery. "They All Laughed" brings the two together in a nightclub, first with Fred spoofing his ballet reputation, then together as they swirl around the floor and end up on a piano.
They insist "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" while doing a delightfully goofy tap dance on roller skates in the park. The Oscar-nominated ballad "They Can't Take That Away From Me" was a personal favorite of Rogers and Astaire, perfectly accompanying their departure from the boat when they think they're getting a divorce. The title number is the big mirrors routine, with Astaire pursuing Rogers imitators in masks...until the real thing decides to dance back into his life.
What I Don't Like: As with most of the Astaire-Rogers vehicles, the plot is pretty much piffle. Cecil isn't the only one who may get confused by who's engaged to whom and who's married to whom and who isn't after a while. It's also a bit more abrasive than some of their films; Arthur's lucky Linda and Pete didn't slap him silly for messing around with both their lives.
The Big Finale: A must-see if you're a fan of the Gershwins or the stars for the musical numbers alone.
Home Media: As with all the Astaire-Rogers films, it's easily found on DVD and streaming.
No comments:
Post a Comment