Daddy Long Legs (1955)

20th Century Fox, 1955

Starring Fred Astaire, Leslie Caron, Fred Clark, and Thelma Ritter

Directed by Jean Negulesco

Music and Lyrics by Johnny Mercer

This week, we jump ahead to the 1950's for one of my favorite underrated musicals. Leslie Caron was one of the most popular stars of the decade, in and out of musicals. She started the decade in the Oscar-winning An American In Paris with Gene Kelly, and while Lili wasn't a huge hit, her personal notices were glowing. Astaire personally asked her to star alongside him in this updated musical version of the 1912 novel of the same name. We've already seen it done once at this blog, as the adorable Shirley Temple vehicle Curly Top in 1935. How different is this version from that previous one? Let's begin at the home of millionaire Jervis Pendleton III (Astaire) as we see people touring his home and find out...

The Story: Jervis is on assignment in France when he stops at an orphanage to use their telephone. While there, he sees 18-year-old Julie Andre (Caron) working with the younger children and is enchanted with her vivacity, her creativity, and her intelligence. Over the protests of his fussy aide Griggs (Clark), he arranges for her to attend college in the United States with his niece Linda (Terry Moore). To avoid a scandal, he says he'll keep a hands-off approach, and she can write to him about her progress once a month. 

Jervis doesn't even look at Julie's letters at first, until his secretary Alice Pritchard (Thelma Ritter) brings them to his attention. Julie calls him her benefactor "Daddy Long Legs," after the long shadow the orphans saw when he was first in France, but she's getting tired of never hearing from him. He finally connects with her at a school dance while visiting Linda with her mother Gertrude (Kathryn Giveny) and falls for her, taking her out on the town and sending the boy who is interested in her to work in Bolivia. Griggs points out their rather large age difference, which makes Jarvis flee for several long business trips. Julie, however, is almost finished with college. She thinks she still hasn't met her "Daddy Long Legs" and wonders if he or Jervis really love her. It's Alice who finally convinces the men that age matters less than love, companionship, and compatibility. 

The Song and Dance: For all the trouble they had making this - Fred Astaire's wife died right before filming began and they almost replaced him, the studio originally wanted Mitzi Gaynor for Julie - it actually came out quite well. Astaire and Caron work better than you might think. Like Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face two years later, Caron's warm, airy persona helps to transcend their age differences. The Technicolor glows here, especially in Caron's two witty dream ballets and the gorgeous 50's gowns, tutus, and suits for Astaire and Clark. Mercer's songs are lovely too. "Something's Gotta Give" was nominated for an Oscar and has since become a jazz standard.

The Numbers: We open with Jervis showing off his drumming skills to an annoyed Griggs in the instrumental drum-and-dance routine "History of the Beat." Julie teaches the orphans that "C-A-T Spells Cat" as Jervis watches them in delight at the orphanage. She wanders around the outdoor classroom in shock and delight as an offscreen chorus sings about her "Daddy Long Legs" after she's told she'll be going to college in the US. "Welcome Egghead" the other college girls tease when Julie arrives. "Julie's Dream Ballet" is the first of two instrumental ballets. Julie imagines what her "Daddy Long Legs" looks like. Jervis dances as a Texas millionaire doing a square dance, a sensual playboy after all the ladies, or Julie's guardian angel. 

"The Sluefoot" is the big chorus number at the dance, with Ray Anthony and His Orchestra and the Pied Pipers. Jervis and Julie turn the intimate dance into a delightful moment. Jervis brings her to New York, where he sings "Something's Gotta Give" at the penthouse he sets her up in, and they dance together. This is followed by the instrumental "Dancing Through Life" ballet as the two kick up their heels in all of the fashionable Manhattan clubs. Julie's dream of meeting her benefactor becomes a "Nightmare Ballet" as she dreams of dancing for Jervis in a Paris ballet, encountering him in a smoky cafe in Hong Kong, and chasing him through carnival in Rio. The movie ends with the brief "Dream" as Julie finally realizes who her benefactor is. 

Trivia: This would be the only movie Caron or Astaire made for 20th Century Fox.

If Astaire looks a little red-eyed and upset at a few junctures...well, see the death of his beloved wife mentioned above. They pushed back filming to give him more room to process his grief.

This is the third version of Daddy Long Legs 20th Century Fox made, and the fourth time the 1912 children's novel made it to the big screen. In addition to Curly Top, Mary Pickford did a silent version in 1919, while Janet Gaynor would appear in a non-musical sound remake in 1931. It would become a London stage musical, Love From Judy, in 1952. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, while the age difference doesn't bother me, some people may find 50-something Astaire dancing with 20-something Caron (and kissing her in the end, a rarity for Astaire's films) to be a tad creepy. Second, this movie, for all the lovely art direction and costumes, didn't really need the lavish Cinemascope. It's really an intimate four-person story at its core. We have the one chorus number in "Sluefoot." Most of the songs are duets, solos, or ballets. Clark and Ritter are the only ones besides Astaire and Caron who even remotely register. We barely see Caron's roommates, which is a shame because they're pretty funny when we do meet them, and Kelly Brown as Jimmy McBride barely registers as window dressing.

The Big Finale: The age difference aside, this is a must-see if you're a fan of Astaire, Caron, or the big lavish ballet-filled musicals of the 1950's. 

Home Media: The DVD and Blu-Ray are hard-to-find and often pricey at this writing. Your best bet would be streaming. 

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Let's Dance

Paramount, 1950

Starring Betty Hutton, Fred Astaire, Roland Young, and Ruth Warrick

Directed by Norman Z. McLeod

Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser  

There were high hopes for this one in 1950. Astaire just had a major hit with Easter Parade two years before; Hutton got the lead in Annie Get Your Gun after Judy Garland bowed out. Songwriter Frank Loesser had hits with the Oscar-winning "Baby It's Cold Outside" from Neptune's Daughter and the wildly popular Guys and Dolls on Broadway. Paramount tossed them all into this unusually dark story about a comedienne who desperately wants to keep her son and gets help from her former dance partner. Is it still meaningful today, or should it be taken away? Let's begin with Hutton in full belting mode, singing for the troops during World War II, and find out...

The Story: Don Elwood (Astaire) thinks Kitty O'Neil (Hutton) is going to marry him, but she ends up wed to a handsome and wealthy soldier. Five years later, the solider is dead after being shot down. Lively Kitty lives with his family, raising his son Richard (Gregory Moffat), but feels constrained by his disapproving family. Snooty Aunt Serena (Luclile Watson) wants Richard to stay with them, but Kitty won't give up her last line to her soldier and insists he stay with her.

Fed up with Serena's meddling, Kitty flees to New York with Richard. Don gets Kitty a job as a cigarette girl at the nightclub where he works. To Kitty's horror, Serena has sent two lawyers to get Richard back from her. Don takes her on as his partner to give her more stable employment. The lawyers are concerned by all the time Richard spends backstage and away from school, but the nightclub staff admit they have no trouble keeping an eye on him. Don once again tries to get her married, but it ends with them fighting and Kitty falling for another rich man, Timothy Bryant (Sheppard Strudwick). After Don ends the wedding and Serena gets Richard back, Kitty takes off with the boy yet again...but this time, Don has the means to make Serena understand how much the boy means to all of them, and to get Kitty to see how much they all mean to each other.

The Song and Dance: An unusually thoughtful musical for this era, with Hutton making a wonderful mother. She's hilarious with Moffatt, especially when he asks her where she's going and she exclaims "Crazy!" (My mother used to say the same thing to my siblings and me.) The story of a mother's devotion and how found families are often far kinder and more supportive than our actual ones is surprisingly heartfelt, and even a little dark, despite Hutton's noisy antics. Watson and Barton MacLane stand out among the supporting cast as the frigid aunt who thinks she knows best - or better than Kitty - and the owner of the nightclub who is as surprised as anyone when he gets attached to the kid.

The Numbers: We start off with Hutton doing what she does best, blaring the rapid-fire patter number "Can't Stop Talking About Him" while accompanied by an air raid siren - and more than matching its wail. Astaire comes out later for a more romantic dance. He has a creative solo number where he glides around the piano during a rehearsal in the nightclub that's by far his best moment. Richie is delighted to hear his stocks and bonds-based rendition of "Jack and the Beanstalk." 

The hilarious "Oh Them Dudes" has Hutton and Astaire dressed as cowpokes and clowning while complaining how TV made their do-se-dos look all fancy-fied. Hutton tries to be seductive to Timothy, insisting "Why Fight This Feeling?" The film ends with the charming "Tunnel of Love," as Kitty and Don come together in the nightclub for this charming seaside-based dance routine.

What I Don't Like: The story is honestly a little too dark and complex for a light-hearted musical. The courtroom scenes and stuffy lawyers bog down a lot of the middle section and turn what should have been a fun romp into an almost two-hour slog. Astaire could have had more to do than one solo and the brief "Jack" routine. This is really Hutton's show. Frank Loesser's score is charming but hardly among his best work. And to tell the truth, Hutton's brash and forceful personality really doesn't fit all that well with the more charming and graceful Astaire. They dance all right together, but her pushiness and neediness crowds out his elegance. 

The Big Finale: Worth seeing once for some decent numbers alone if you're a fan of either star and have time on your hands.

Home Media: Easily found on streaming and disc; just released on Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber.

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Silk Stockings

MGM, 1957

Starring Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Janis Paige, and Peter Lorre

Directed by Rouben Mamoulien

Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter

This one has a lot in common with The Band Wagon, starting with the Broadway pedigree.  We also have Cyd Charisse as the chilly avatar of the world of high morals as opposed to Astaire's "common" ones and a comedienne better known for her stage work as the second lead. Unlike Band Wagon, however, this is a fairly faithful transfer of the stage show, which had only been on Broadway two years before.

This is a different story in other ways, too. Silk Stockings is based on the 1939 film Ninotchka, about a devoted Russian operative sent to Paris to retrieve three rogue Russians who falls for a Western man..and western Capitalism. How does this story work 20 years later during the Cold War, when relations between Russia and the US were very different? Let's begin in Paris with a concert by Russian pianist Peter Illyich Boroff (Wim Sonneveld) and find out...

The Story: Movie producer and performer Steve Canfield (Astaire) wants Boroff to write the music for his next movie. Swimming star Peggy Dayton (Paige) is looking to get out of the water and into something darker and more dramatic, and he thinks his compositions would be perfect. Russian officials send Comrades Brankov (Lorre), Bibinkski (Jules Munshin), and Ivanov (Joseph Buloff) to retrieve him. Steve is easily able to ply them with wine, women, and song. They not only let Boroff stay, they end up staying on as well. 

Enter Nina "Ninotchka" Yoscheka (Charisse), the most devoted operative in Russia. She's not nearly as impressed by Paris and its decadent ways at first. Steve finally manages to charm her, and even gets her into an evening gown. She and the men are less thrilled when they realize Peggy, despite what she claims, has no desire to do a musical drama. After she turns Boroff's music into showtunes, they return to Russia. Steve realizes how crazy he is about Nina, but he can't get into Russia. It'll take a little conniving from their three Russian friends to bring these two lovers from very different cultures and political ideologies together. 

The Song and Dance: This one is all about Astaire, Charisse, and the dancing. Charisse does better than you might think as the frigid comrade who thaws out in the City of Lights, and Astaire is delightfully charming alongside her. Munshin, Buloff, and especially Lorre steal the show as the three bumbling commissars who are easily swayed by the enchantments of Paris. The story that compares the decadence of Paris to rigid Russia is also fairly interesting, and those satin and silk gowns that finally win Nina over are gorgeous. 

Favorite Number: Our first proper number opens with the Russian commissars deciding that it's "Too Bad We Can't Go Back to Moscow." Or it would be, if they didn't enjoy dancing and drinking with the ladies so much. Steve tries to explain to Nina at her hotel room that "Paris Loves Lovers," but Nina only loves the working man. Janice and Steve claim to the press that the modern movie must have widescreen and "Stereophonic Sound" to really make a splash. 

The big one here is Porter's last great ballad, "All of You." Here, the sinuous, sensual ballad becomes a duet for Astaire and Charisse as they swirl around her room and we finally start to see cracks in her armor. Nina disagrees. "It's a Chemical Reaction, That's All" she claims. Janice thinks all a girl needs for love is a little "Satin and Silk." Nina wonders if she's right as she dresses for the evening in Charisse's big solo. She rejoins Astaire for their second, more lively duet at the movie studio, "Fated to Be Mated." 

"Josephine" is the jazzy number for the ill-fated musical War & Peace that turns the story of Napoleon's wife into a chorus routine. The Russians long for "Siberia," but when they get there, Boroff shows off his new composition, "The Red Blues." Charisse joins the chorus for a joyful mix of Russian and western dance styles. Porter wrote "The Ritz Roll and Rock," a spoof of the then-new rock scene, for Astaire as his big solo. He joins a group of hoity-toity society types in his usual tux and top hat in a salute to that bright, jangly new sound.

Trivia: Silk Stockings ran through a heavily troubled tryout period that saw the book totally re-written and many songs discarded. Don Ameche and German actress Hildegarde Kneff played Steve and Nina on Broadway. It was a hit, running for almost two years, but has seldom been seen since then outside of the occasional concert.

This is the last musical Cole Porter wrote for the stage, and the second-to-last for film. 

What I Don't Like: Let's discuss that story. It just hasn't dated well, which is probably the reason this is seldom revived. Russia's changed a lot since 1957, and so has its relationship with France and the US. Other than the standard "All of You," the score isn't Porter's best, either. I do wish they hadn't dropped the other show's other hit song, the gorgeous "As On Through the Seasons We Sail." All the re-writing mainly shows in Paige's character. She claims to the press early-on that she wants to get out of swimming musicals...and then she wants to turn the War & Peace musical into a comedy? And Peggy vanishes completely once they return to Russia. Neither she nor the film are mentioned again. 

The Big Finale: Recommended mainly for fans of Porter, the two leads, or the splashy MGM musicals of the 1940's and 50's. 

Home Media: Easily found in all formats. Discs are available via the Warner Archives. 

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The Band Wagon

MGM, 1953

Starring Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Nanette Fabray, and Oscar Levant

Directed by Vincent Minnelli

Music by Howard Dietz; Lyrics by Arthur Schwartz

By 1953, the MGM musical was at its zenith. It was one of the most popular entertainments in the entire world, with its biggest films often the top hits of their year. This one, however, had a lot of trouble on the road to filming. Fred Astaire's wife was dying, and he had to focus on this and losing her. Nanette Fabray and Oscar Levant didn't get along. Writers Betty Comden and Adolph Green had to figure out how to turn the original 1931 revue, with unrelated songs and skits, into a full story. How well did they do, with everything else going on? Let's begin with the auction of a famous top hat and cane belonging to former movie star Tony Hunter (Astaire) and find out...

The Story: Tony's friends Lily (Fabray) and Lester (Levant) Martin have written a stage musical that he hopes will be his big comeback. However, they've also convinced Jeffery Cordova (Jack Buchanon) to direct. Cordova is a theatrical wonderkind who has directed three plays on Broadway at once and is currently starring in a fourth. None of those plays were musicals, however, and Tony has his doubts about using him when Cordova insists he wants to change the Martins' fluffy detective story into a pretentious musical version of Faust. He even convinces ballerina Gabrielle "Gaby" Geraud (Charisse) and her choreographer boyfriend Paul Byrd (James Mitchell) to create the dances.

Everything goes badly at first. Gaby and Tony are from different eras and styles of dance and don't get along. Lester is tired of Lily going on about how great Cordova, too, and they end up bickering. Cordova is not only hard to please, but is overfond of huge productions with sets too large for the stage and special effects that hide the dancers. Tony finally quits in frustration. Gaby follows him, finally admitting she thinks he's the better dancer. Dancing together makes them realize they have more in common than they previously believed. Now they just have to convince Cordova that he's barking up the wrong cardboard tree and bring the rest of the show together, too.

The Song and Dance: I've loved this movie since I saw it on TCM in college. It's one of my favorite movies of any genre. Along with Three Little Words, it's probably Fred Astaire's best performance at MGM; it's also Vincent Minnelli's second-best work on a musical after Meet Me In St. Louis. Minnelli manages some wonderful touches, especially the montage that depicts how badly the first version of the show went over by just showing still images of crashes. Even Cyd Charisse does well as Gaby, who gradually comes to enjoy the "lower" form of entertainment as much as she does ballet, Buchanon is appropriately oily as the overconfident director who learns that musicals are harder to pull off than they look, and pianist Levant and Broadway star Fabray are hilarious as the married writers who end up quarreling over how much Cordova took over their original idea.

Favorite Number: The movie begins with a brief "By Myself" as Hunter strolls down New York, looking for his friends. "Shine On Your Shoes" has him dancing around an arcade that used to be a theater lobby, joined by real-life dancing shoe shine man Leroy Daniels. Cordova sings "That's Entertainment," the only new song written for the film, to convince Tony that "there's no difference between Shakespeare's immortal words and Bill Robinson's immortal feet." Watching the two of them and the Martins clown around and hoof it together, you almost believe him. 

Two big chorus numbers that are barely seen in the film, "Something to Remember You By" and "You and the Night and the Music," represent the show during its original rehearsal period. "Music" in particular is drowned out by Cordova's huge special effects. This leads to the film's most famous number, "Dancing In the Dark." Gaby and Tony escape to Central Park, where their dance together is more lyrical and moving than any special effect...and proof positive that high and low art can work together. We get a more comic version of this as Tony, Gaby, and Lily clown around with the German-themed "I Love Louisa" at the chorus members' after-party.

Charisse almost literally glows in her gorgeous yellow gown, singing about that "New Sun In the Sky." Fabray leads a group of hayseed chorus kids on a lively "Louisiana Hayride." Buchanon and Astaire define elegance in their top hat-and-cane duo, "I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan." Despite the number being almost a literal pain to make, Astaire, Fabray, and Buchanon are morbidly hilarious as "Triplets" with dancing knees who wish the others would go away. "The Girl Hunt Ballet" ends the film, with real-life detective novel lover Astaire as the gun shoe who pursues two different versions of Charisse, an ethereal blonde beauty and a low-down, dark-haired vamp in glittering scarlet.

Trivia: The original Broadway Band Wagon revue opened in 1931, with Astaire, his sister Adele, Frank Morgan, and Helen Broderick. It ran almost a year, not bad for the height of the Depression. "New Sun In the Sky," "Dancing In the Dark," and "I Love Louisa" came from this version. This would be the last time Fred and Adele appeared together. Adele retired to get married shortly after the show's run. 

A stage adaptation of the film debuted as Dancing In the Dark in San Diego in 2008. It reverted to The Band Wagon when it played New York City Center as an Encores! special event. 

Cordova was inspired by Broadway director and actor Jose Ferrer, who in the early 50's produced four shows on Broadway and was considering a fifth. The Martins are based on unmarried songwriting team Comden and Green. Fred Astaire really did almost retire for a while in the mid-40's. 

Look for a redheaded Julie Newmayr as one of the models seen during the fashion salon segment of "The Girl Hunt Ballet." 

The number "Two Faced Woman" with Charisse and the chorus was cut from the film. The recording would be used in the Joan Crawford movie Torch Song; part of the number would turn up in That's Entertainment III. 

What I Don't Like: Even for a light-hearted backstage comedy, there's a lot of plot contrivances and unexplained stuff going on. The most obvious is how Cordova got into Tony's hotel room without anyone noticing after the "I Love Louisa" number. (Well, he was Mephistopheles...) There's also all the fact that, of all those great numbers at the end, only "The Girl Hunt Ballet" sounds like it could have been created for the description of the show that Lily and Lester give Jeffery and Tony in the beginning. The others look like they could have come from the original Band Wagon revue. 

The Big Finale: This is one of my favorite movies of all time, period. If you're a fan of Astaire, Charisse, dance on film, or the big splashy MGM musicals of the 40's and 50's, they don't come any bigger, splashier, or more fun than this. Check out this with Singin' In the Rain as a double-feature if you want to know what the MGM musical is all about. 

Home Media: My two-disc DVD set that I've had since it came out is in print but now a bit expensive. You may be better off looking for this on the one-disc Blu-Ray or streaming.

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The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle

RKO, 1939

Starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Walter Brennan, and Edna Mae Oliver

Directed by H.C Potter

Music and Lyrics by various

Story of Vernon & Irene Castle is unique in Fred and Ginger's filmography in many respects. It's their last RKO film, their last film together until Barkleys of Broadway a decade later, the only time they played real people in one of their movies, their only historical film, and their only film to have a tragic ending. Vernon and Irene Castle were celebrity ballroom dancers of an earlier era, and many people at the time compared Astaire and Rogers to them. How does all of this look nowadays? Let's begin with Irene Foote (Rogers) in 1911, as she meets him on a boat near her native New Rochelle, and find out...

The Story: Irene and her family are excited when they learn British actor Vernon is in vaudeville. After Irene sees him dance for a group of young people returning from a picnic, she thinks he's a great dancer. Turns out he's only the stooge in a slapstick comedy act. Incensed, she convinces him to give up the slapstick and dance with her. They love dancing - and each other - so much, they ultimately get married. 

After trying - and failing - to find a job in New York, they think they have luck when two men offer them a show in Paris. The show doesn't happen, and they almost get thrown out of their rooms when grouchy theatrical agent Maggie Sutton (Oliver) hears their act. Irene's friend and manservant Walter (Brennan) isn't fond of Maggie, but she does manage to land them an audition at the Cafe de Paris. Their performance of "The Castle Walk" is such a sensation, they first become the darlings of Paris society, then American.

By the time they open on Broadway in 1914, they're two of the most beloved entertainers on the planet. Their names are lent to everything from hats to cigars, their book on ballroom dancing is a best-seller, and their tours are sold-out. Irene even causes a sensation when she bobs her hair, inspiring millions of women to do the same. Vernon, however, has more patriotic matters on his mind. He joins the Royal Air Corps in World War I and becomes a flying ace. Irene does her part with propaganda serials. She's delighted when Vernon's moved to training new pilots in Texas, but it's not as safe of a job as she thinks...

The Song and Dance: The older numbers on display here are, for the most part, as much fun as the original routines in their other films. It's fascinating to watch Astaire and Rogers demonstrate the dances of an earlier era. For the most part, they do really well with it. Ginger may not have loved the costumes Irene Castle designed herself, but I think they're gorgeous and fairly accurate to the era, especially the fur-trimmed ensemble she wears during the "rise to fame" dance montage midway through and that adorable Dutch-inspired sequined cap. Astaire not only enjoys playing Vernon Castle, he actually looked quite a bit like him, too. Oliver and Brennan have some of the funniest lines of the film as the Castles' crotchety agent who gets them out of the gutter in Paris and Irene's loyal valet.

And honestly...as cliched as the plot is, I do appreciate that the biography here makes it slightly stronger than in most of the Astaire-Rogers films. You really feel Irene's devastation in the end, making that last, haunting image of two ghostly dancers whirling off together even more poignant. 

Favorite Number: We kick off with what would be Rogers' second and last solo in one of her films with Astaire. "The Yama Yama Man" is based on Broadway star of the time Bessie McCoy, complete with her trademark Pierrot clown costume and floppy dance. Astaire does an instrumental tap routine to "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" with - and eventually outdoing - portly Sonny Lamont at the train station in New Rochelle. It's good enough to prove to Irene that he's a better dancer than a comedian. "Oh You Beautiful Doll" is a number at the vaudeville theater where Vernon works for female dance Frances Mercer and the male chorus, an example of the type of dancing you'd see at a vaudeville show then.

The Castles first show off their daring ragtime style in an instrumental "King Chanticleer" at rehearsals. They do a spirited two-step to "Waiting for the Robert E. Lee" at an audition, but the manager isn't nearly as impressed as the audience likely is by this point. They finally hit the big time with their delightful "Too Much Mustard (Tres Moutarde)" at the Cafe de Paris. We next get a series of dances from them, including a slightly awkward tango and a far more appropriate polka. A montage shows how their constant touring and best-selling book made headlines...and left dancing feet wherever they went; a second medley shows how their final dance together to a series of waltzes. 

The only song written for the film is "Only When You're In My Arms." It's heard twice. Vernon sings it to Irene right before they announce their engagement...and then, it's heard in the last shot as Irene looks up, and sees an image of them dancing together, forever, in the garden...

Trivia: Vernon and Irene Castle popularized couples dancing in the early 1910's when it was still considered to be sinful. Much of what you see in the film actually happened, from how Irene and Vernon met to their being stranded in Paris to how wildly popular they were between 1911 and 1916. Patria, the war propaganda serial Irene Castle is seen filming in the movie, was also real. Episodes 2, 3, 4, and 10 exist today. Sadly, Vernon's death is also portrayed accurately. He was the only one who died; the student (and Vernon's pet monkey) survived. Irene became an animal activist later in life, which explains all the dogs and horses seen in the movie. She retired and married three more times, finally passing away in 1969.

What I Don't Like: Irene Castle later disowned the film for several inaccuracies, from her real manservant Walter being black to Rogers' costumes being too thirties. The real problem here is it's a bit dark compared to their other movies. In some ways, despite the usual down-and-up cliches, it has more in common with later stories like Love Me or Leave Me that sought to give a more accurate assessment of the character and era than fluff like 'Till the Clouds Roll By. It's not for those looking for a more typical Fred and Ginger vehicle, with their usually assortment of wacky supporting actors and dramatic numbers set to jazz standards.

The Big Finale: I consider this to be Astaire and Rogers' most underrated film together. If you love older styles of dance and are willing to give something different from them a chance, this is a charming and bittersweet look at a bygone era. 

Home Media: Like all of Fred and Ginger's movies, this is easily found on DVD and streaming. 

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Swing Time (1936)

RKO, 1936

Starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Victor Moore, and Eric Blore

Directed by George Stevens

Music by Jerome Kern; Lyrics by Dorothy Fields

Let's dance into the holiday season with the two Fred and Ginger films I haven't gotten to yet, starting with the one widely considered to be their best. Unlike their previous film Follow the Fleet, this one puts them front and center, with no secondary romance to distract the audience. How does the breezy tale of a gambler who tries to win the money to marry his sweetheart, only to fall for a dance teacher, look nowadays? Let's begin backstage with John "Lucky" Garrett (Astaire) and his dance troupe at the end of a number and find out...

The Story: Lucky wants to marry his fiancee Margaret (Betty Furness), but he keeps losing his money on gambling. Her father Judge Watson (Landers Stevens) insists they can marry if he can make $25,000. He thinks he can, but his troupe takes most of it after they bet he won't get married. They end up riding a freight car to New York. Lucky encounters Penny Carroll (Rogers) when he tries to make change for his quarter. She's a dance teacher, and he's so smitten, he immediately takes lessons from her. He makes it look like he can't dance, until her boss Mr. Gordon (Blore) fires her. Lucky immediately shows that she did teach him to dance, and well. 

Mr. Gibson is so impressed, he not only rehires her, he sets up an audition for them at the Silver Sandal nightclub. Lucky is unable to win a tuxedo and misses the first audition, but he finally convinces Penny to join him for a second. That's almost derailed when the bandleader, Penny's own fiancee Ricky Romero (Georges Metaxa), won't play for them. Lucky wins his contract in a poker game and makes sure he doesn't have any choice. Lucky's friend Pop (Moore) first loses the contract, then lets it slip to Penny that Lucky's engaged. After she walks away, Lucky finally admits the truth that Margaret isn't the lady who owns his heart anymore...and he may end up losing both the women he loves.

The Song and Dance: Everyone is on top of their game in this sparkling confection, from Astaire and Rogers having a ball with the comedy to fussy Moore as Lucky's manager and Helen Broderick as Rogers' tart-tongued best friend and Mr. Gibson's former secretary. The Art Deco sets are incredible, too. Check out the mirrored backdrop for "Bojangles of Harlem" or the long stairway of the Silver Sandal for "Never Gonna Dance." There's also those gorgeous gowns for Broderick and Rogers (especially Rogers' simple but glittery "Never Gonna Dance" outfit), and the details on the cozy snow-laden inn for "A Fine Romance."

Favorite Number: Our first real number is "Pick Yourself Up" at the dance studio. Lucky first tries to make it look like he's not learning anything to spend more time with Penny. When Mr. Gibson fires her, he breaks out his moves to show he may have learned a thing or two after all. "The Way You Look Tonight" won the Oscar in 1936. This gorgeously simple ballad appropriately has an equally simple introduction, just Lucky playing the song as Penny washes her hair, but it's so effective, she changes her mind about  him. Penny complains at the country inn that it's not "A Fine Romance" like she wants when Lucky remembers his fiancee and pulls away. Lucky sings a reprise after Pop lets it slip about his fiancee and Penny's the one avoiding him. 

The reason this is so well-regarded comes down to the three main dance routines. The instrumental "Waltz In Swing Time" is really a non-vocal "Way You Look Tonight," with Lucky and Penny swirling around the Silver Sandal ballroom in glowing elegance. Astaire honors "Bojangles of Harlem" in blackface, first dancing with chorus girls in black and white, then hoofing with his own shadows in a still-nifty bit of trick photography. "Never Gonna Dance" takes us back to the Silver Sandal as Lucky admits that he may have lost Penny, their elegance now replaced by a gentle sadness.

Trivia: A stage version of Swing Time, Never Gonna Dance, premiered on Broadway in December 2003. Alas, it barely ran for two and a half months and received mixed reviews. The production used all of the songs from Swing Time but "Bojangles of Harlem," plus songs from other Jerome Kern shows. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, this has the same problem as most of Fred and Ginger's other films. If you're looking for a stronger plot, you won't find it here. It's about as light of a frappe as you can imagine. 

Second, let's discuss "Bojangles of Harlem." Astaire admired Bill Robinson and had learned tap from several black entertainers, including John W. Bubbles. He meant no offense then, but the dark makeup on him and some of the mildly condescending lyrics may not sit well with some folks nowadays. 

The Big Finale: This and Top Hat are Fred and Ginger's best movies, and probably the best places to start if you want to know what their vehicles are all about. A must-see for fans of Astaire, Rogers, musicals, or dance in film.

Home Media: The Criterion Collection released it on DVD and Blu-Ray in 2019; it's also easy to find on streaming.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Amazon Prime

The Gay Divorcee

RKO, 1934

Starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Alice Brady, and Edward Everett Horton

Directed by Mark Sandrich

Music and Lyrics by various 

Astaire and Rogers were such a sensation in Flying Down to Rio, they were rushed into an adaptation of a stage hit Astaire also starred in...and this time, they were the leads. It was called Gay Divorce on Broadway in 1932, but by the time this was in production, stricter censorship standards were already coming into effect. A divorce could never be light and carefree...but a divorcee could. (Nowadays, I don't think either title would work.) Under any title, how does this light-as-air confection look today? Let's begin in at a nightclub in London and find out...

The Story: Dancer Guy Bolton (Astaire) first encounters Mimi Glossop (Rogers) at a hotel in Brighton, England. Mimi's looking for a divorce from her rarely-seen husband Cyril (William Austin), an archeologist. Guy's best friend Egbert (Horton) happens to the the lawyer for her and her Aunt Hortense (Brady). He hires co-correspondent Rodolfo Tonetti (Erik Rhodes), or someone who aids in a legal proceeding, to make it look like he's having an affair with Mimi and have photos taken by private detectives. 

Not only do the detectives never arrive, but Mimi thinks Guy is the co-correspondent. When Tonetti turns up, he holds them in the room, but they escape. Even after that, there's still trouble...until the waiter at the nightclub under their room (Eric Blore) reveals that Cyril isn't as blameless as previously suspected.

The Song and Dance: And with a plot that lightweight, "song and dance" are the operative words here. Astaire and Rogers are a delight in their first starring showcase together. This comes a lot closer to their later movies than Flying Down to Rio, with a sparkling supporting cast, impressive Art Deco sets (check out the huge multi-level nightclub!), and terrific dance numbers. I also appreciate that they kept most of the original plot of the Broadway show (which Astaire also starred in), changing Guy's career from writer of smutty novels to dancer.

Favorite Number: We open with the very strange "Don't Let It Bother You" at the nightclub. Chorus girls in stockings, garter bows, and not a lot else make little finger dolls in tutus "dance." Astaire and Horton try it next. Astaire can get it; Horton has more trouble. Astaire finishes the number with a quick tap routine for the audience. A very young Betty Grable insists to Horton "Let's Knock Knees" at the resort's restaurant. Soon, they have the whole dining room knocking knees - and occasionally, into each other. Astaire's other big solo in his room when he's looking for Mimi is "Needle In a Haystack."

The big one - in every sense of the word - is "The Continental." At almost 18 minutes, the number is the longest in film history until Gene Kelly's ballet in American In Paris. Dancers in black and white whirl over those long staircases and across curving balconies, until they come down in black and white gowns. Among all this are singer Lillian Miles, who takes the song over from Erik Rhodes, and Fred and Ginger, who start things off with a great comic tap routine and do a quick one to end it. 

But the one most associated with Fred and Ginger nowadays is also the only Cole Porter song retained from the original show. Fred sweeps Ginger into "Night and Day" when she still thinks he's a co-correspondent. By the end of the song, she's thoroughly enchanted and in love...and so are we, thanks to their fine footwork and off-the charts chemistry.

Trivia: Ginger Rogers drives her own 1929 Duesenberg during the chase scene. It still exists and has turned up in car shows. 

Gay Divorce first appeared on Broadway in 1932. It went over equally well in London, with most of the original cast, including Astaire. Like many older shows, it's only New York runs since then has been in off-Broadway concerts.

"The Continental" won the first Academy Award for best song. It was nominated for Best Picture, Sound, and Art Direction. 

What I Don't Like: Too bad the story is so annoying. The whole co-correspondent thing is more than a little confusing. Not mention, divorce and adultery tend to be taken a lot less lightly nowadays. And why on Earth didn't they keep Cole Porter's original score, which also includes the standard "After You, Who?" The other songs by Harry Revel and Mack Gordon are ok, but certainly not at the level of "Night and Day." 

The Big Finale: As the first Astaire-Rogers film to really show their later style, this is a must for fans of them, Grable, or the big musicals of the 1930's. 

Home Media: DVD and streaming in the US. It's on HBO Max with a subscription. 

DVD

HBO Max

Flying Down to Rio

RKO, 1933

Starring Dolores Del Rio, Gene Raymond, Fred Astaire, and Ginger Rogers

Directed by Thorton Freeland

Music by Vincent Youmans; Lyrics by Gus Kahn and Edward Eliscu

We return to the bubbly Art Deco dance world of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers this week with their first two vehicles. Astaire's only making his second film, but he's as at ease before the camera as Rogers, who had been appearing in films since 1929...but they're not the main couple here. That honor goes to fiery Latin movie temptress Del Rio and up-and-comer Raymond. How well do Fred and Ginger fit in this south-of-the-border backstage tale? Let's head to Miami, where Roger Bond (Raymond) and his orchestra are being scolded for their untidiness by fussy Hammerstein the hotel manager (Franklin Pangborn), and find out...

The Story: Bond sees the beautiful Belinha De Rezende (Del Rio) while leading the orchestra. He leaves his post to dance with her, but despite his assistant leader and accordionist Fred Ayres (Astaire) trying to warn him, Hammerstein and her chaperon Dona Elena (Blanche Friderici) catches him and fires the band. Bond is so crazy about her, he gets the band a gig in Brazil at the Hotel Atlantico just to find her. 

Turns out that her father (Walter Walker) owns the hotel and is having problems with gangsters who want him to sell it. Bond takes her out in his plane to find out more, but they end up stranded on a deserted island. She does say she loves him...but she's also engaged. And not only that, but engaged to his best friend Julio (Raul Roulien). The orchestra is out on its ear anyway when the gangsters convince the Mayor (Paul Porcasi) to deny the hotel an entertainment license...which convinces Roger to take the show to the air!

The Song and Dance: No wonder Fred and Ginger became major stars here. They really liven up this unusual South American romance. Fred has a few funny bits in addition his song sequences, including his attempt to tell Belinha how his buddy felt about her and how they were fired at Miami that leads to him being thrown out. Del Rio isn't bad as the flirtatious beauty and certainly looks the part, especially on that desert island. The lavish sets and costumes are redolent of Rio and Brazil, with their ruffled dresses and flowered outfits in "The Carioca" number and old Portuguese architecture and palm trees everywhere. 

Favorite Number: We don't get our first number until almost ten minutes in, but it's "Music Makes Me." Ginger Rogers has a great time shimmying for the orchestra in a see-through gown that definitely screams "pre-Code." The big hit was the ballad "Orchids In the Moonlight." Roulien sings this to Del Rio as backdrops of orchids fall around them. Astaire sings the title song on the ground, but it's Rogers and the chorus who do the death-defying dance stunts on the wings. One girl even falls and is caught by a plane under her. Astaire also gets a short but memorable tap solo earlier, when he's teaching the chorus how to dance.

The big one here - literally and figuratively - is "The Carioca." Fred and Ginger introduce the Latin dance craze that involves touching heads...and even here, we can see sparks flying. They dance like they've been together for years, and indeed, Fred did teach Ginger a dance for the Broadway Girl Crazy the year before. The chorus, wearing see-through gowns, pick up the dance all around that massive hotel set. Then opera singer Etta Motten, dressed as a local in a floral dress and Carmen Miranda fruit headgear, comes in to lead a similar dance with chorus members in native dress. It's big, bold, and goes on for too long...but Astaire and Rogers are what you remember.

What I Don't Like: Raymond's a little stiff as Roger, but at least he has a few good moments in his plane and on the desert island. Roulien is dull in a thankless "other man" role. Wish we could have seen more of Pangborn and Blore, who have some fun gags in the first half in Miami. And while Fred does get a few good moments of his own and the solo tap routine, other than her numbers, Rogers has a lot less to do as the band's sassy singer. 

The Big Finale: Fred and Ginger may not dominate this to the extent of some of their other films, but it still has things to recommend it for fans of theirs, Del Rio, or the Busby Berkeley imitation backstage movies of the early-mid 30's. 

Home Media: Like all of the Fred and Ginger films, easily found in most formats. The solo DVD is from the Warner Archives.

DVD

DVD - Silver Screen Icons: Astaire & Rogers Vol. 2

Amazon Prime

Musical Documentaries - That's Dancing!

MGM, 1985

Hosted by Gene Kelly, Ray Bolger, Liza Minnelli, Sammy Davis Jr, and many others

Directed by Jack Haley Jr.

Music and Lyrics by various

When I was six, this used to appear with some frequency on cable. It gave me my first glimpse of Shirley Temple, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly, and ballet, and I was entranced. It's one of several older films and more recent musicals I saw as a child that helped make me the musical film fan I am today. How does this summation of the history of dance on the big screen look nowadays, with most of these films easily found on home media and no longer limited to cable showings and rare big-screen revivals? Let's start with a man who certainly knows something about dance on-screen, Gene Kelly, as he explains to us about primitive dance around the world, and find out...

The Story: Some of the most popular musical stars and dancers to ever appear on the big screen relate to us the history of dance via segments from movies made by MGM...and for once, other studios as well.

Kelly discusses the origins of filmed dance, dance on the silent screen, and how Busby Berkley's surreal choreography revolutionized chorus numbers on film.

Sammy Davis Jr. talks about solo and couple dance on film, via Fred Astaire, who insisted on the camera remaining on his full figure while he danced and his frequent partner Ginger Rogers. He also goes into Shirley Temple, whose mixed-race tap routines with Bill Robinson broke barriers in the 30's, Robinson's graceful style as a solo act in shorts, and solo stars Eleanor Powell and Ray Bolger and the amazing duo the Nicholas Brothers. 

Russian ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov gives us the history of ballet on film, from Anna Palova on the silent screen to major international ballet greats of the 60's and 70's Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, as well as screen ballerinas Vera Zorina and Moira Shearer. 

Liza Minelli discusses screen adaptations of classic Broadway dance routines, from James Cagney demonstrating what George M Cohan's style looked like in Yankee Doodle Dandy to the explosive "Cool" from the original 1961 West Side Story. 

Ray Bolger gives us the (then) future of dance on the screen, including the "What a Feeling!" finale of Flashdance and Michael Jackson's influential and much-parodied "Beat It" music video. 

The Song and Dance: If That's Dancing does one thing right, it's expanding its net to include a truly wide variety of dance...including acknowledging that dancers came from studios other than MGM. We get the Yankee Doodle Dandy and Busby Berkley footage from Warners, the Shirley Temple/Bill Robinson, Nicholas Brothers, and Rogers and Hammerstein dances from 20th Century Fox, Universal's release of Sweet Charity, Flashdance from Paramount, The Red Shoes from England, and the MTV Michael Jackson footage. We also get our first glimpse of cut songs in an incredible extension of Bolger's "If I Only Had a Brain" solo from The Wizard of Oz. They even wrote two original songs. It's also nice to see sequences from musicals made after the 50's as the hosts point out that dance on the screen continues to evolve. There's also the extremely rare footage of early silent dancers, some of it going far back as 1897. 

Favorite Number: As mentioned, we begin with footage, some of it rare, of primitive dances from around the globe, from African tribal ritual to native dances in Mexico and China. Of the Busby Berkley routines shown here, none continue to amaze more than the Oscar-winning "Lullaby of Broadway" from Gold Diggers of 1935, with its thousands of tap dancers who all manage to move in perfect unison. 

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers have a lot more fun with two of their best routines, the romantic "Night and Day" from The Gay Divorcee and comic "Pick Yourself Up" from Swing Time. A decidedly different duo, Shirley Temple and Bill Robison, show off their "Organ Grinder's Swing" from The Littlest Rebel. Robison goes it alone and shows off his light-as-air footwork in two numbers from the short King for a Day. A very young Sammy Davis Jr. gets in on his own short, Rufus Jones for President, and gives us a delightful and adorable tap routine. Fred goes it solo as well with "I Won't Dance" from Roberta and later, "A Shine On Your Shoes," making brilliant use of an arcade on Broadway in The Band Wagon. Eleanor Powell manages to combine tap and graceful hula and make it work in the peculiar "Hola E Pae" from Honolulu. 

Vera Zorina demonstrates grace of a different sort with Charles Laskey in "La Princesse Zenobia Ballet" from On Your Toes. Delicate Moira Shearer is haunted by her scarlet footwear, which stands out like a beacon in the sherbet tones of The Red Shoes. Ray Bolger does death-defying leaps after crows (with the help of MGM's special effects department) in a delightful extension of his "If I Only Had a Brain" from The Wizard of Oz. 

Astaire this time joins an unusually tough Jane Powell for the colorful tropical chorus routine "I Left My Hat In Hati" from Royal Wedding. Anne Miller joins Bob Fosse, Bobby Van, and the late Tommy Rall for their big tap number "Tom Dick and Harry" from Kiss Me Kate. We get a glimpse at a more spontaneous chorus routine with the teens dancing in the streets and stopping traffic to the tune of the Oscar-winning title song from Fame. The dancers of the original West Side Story show why they're still "Cool" with their stylized, finger-snapping dance moves. "Cool" inspired much of Michael Jackson's "Beat It"; song and video were smash hits in 1983, and we get to see why here, with their equally dramatic moves. We also get Kim Carnes' pop song "Invitation to Dance" over the end credits. 

Trivia: The use of the rare Ray Bolger/Wizard of Oz footage was so well-received, it inspired MGM to dig in its vaults for more deleted numbers to use in That's Entertainment III a decade later. 

Final film appearance of Ray Bolger. 

Bolger and Minnelli's sequences were to have been much longer and feature more numbers from other studios, but many were dropped in the interest of time and expense, as was the sequence with Fred and Ginger. Which brings me to...

What I Don't Like: It's pretty obvious that MGM chopped this up since before release. There's even less rhyme and reason to this than there is to the Kelly and Astaire-hosted That's Entertainment Part 2. Liza Minnelli's segment from Cabaret was dropped, leaving her as the only host without a dance routine in the film and making many audiences wonder what she's doing there. Many of the MGM numbers seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel after three films and makes you really wish the other studios had cooperated more. 

There's problems with the other hosts, too. Their narration is just as stiff as the first That's Entertainment film, and mostly of interest to real dance aficionados. Casual audiences will likely be bored and wish they'd get out of the way and let the footage speak for itself. Baryshnikov in particular lacks the charm and intensity he usually shows when dancing. (And he's not helped by his thick Russian accent.) The five hosts often seem spread too thin as well, with Davis Jr. and Kelly covering more than half the film. 

Let's talk about that final "modern" segment. Breakdancing was a huge fad in 1985, but it's barely remembered today by anyone but fans of 80's dance. I understand they wanted to convey the evolution of dance, from primitive times to modern times, but the emphasis on 80's fads like breakdancing and music videos dates this in a way the That's Entertainment films, with their use of mostly older footage, manages to avoid. 

The Big Finale: Mainly of interest to fans of dance on the screen, dance history, or the That's Entertainment documentary series. 

Home Media: Finally got its first solo release on Warner Archive DVD in October 2020; can be found easily for streaming as well. 

DVD

Amazon Prime

A Salute to Arlene Dahl - Three Little Words

MGM, 1950

Starring Fred Astaire, Red Skelton, Vera-Ellen, and Arlene Dahl

Directed by Richard Thorpe

Music by Harry Ruby; Lyrics by Bert Kalmar and others

For our first two reviews this week, we salute red-headed beauty Arlene Dahl. She's nowadays mainly known for her television work, but did do movies as well from the late 40's through the early 70's. At this point, she was still an ingenue with MGM who was occasionally farmed out to low-budget studios for bigger parts. This was her second role in a major musical, having debuted in the biography My Wild Irish Rose. How does she look here, alongside three of the biggest names in musicals at MGM? Let's begin onstage at a vaudeville theater with dance partners Bert Kalmar (Astaire) and Jessie Brown (Vera-Ellen) as they give us our first number, and find out...

The Story: Kalmar really does love performing, but he's also a big fan of magicians. His attempt at a magic act is disrupted by a clumsy, baseball-loving stagehand (Skelton). The stagehand is Harry Ruby, who's looking for help with a song he wrote. Kalmar finally joins him when he hurts his knee and can't dance. They seem to do well, but Kalmar walks out when he realizes Ruby was the one who ruined his act. Ruby has the song published anyway, and it becomes a big hit. 

The two continue as songwriters, even doing Broadway shows. Ruby helps bring Kalmar together with Jessie, while they try to keep Ruby from consorting with the wrong women. It's when Ruby convinces a backer to withdraw from Kalmar's not terribly good play that Kalmar really blows his top and the two split. It's up to Jessie and Ruby's lady Eileen Percy (Dahl) to reunite them.

The Song and Dance: The simple story and small cast makes this a refreshing contrast to the previous MGM composer biographies 'Till the Clouds Roll By and Words and Music. Cameos are limited to Gloria DeHaven playing her mother Mrs. Carter DeHaven and Debbie Reynolds as (and with the voice of) Betty Boop inspiration Helen Kane. The emphasis is right where it should be, on the four talented leads. 

Astaire and Skelton put some of their best performances as the feuding songwriters whose hobbies sometimes clash with their work. Astaire won a Golden Globe; he would later say this was one of his favorites of his movies. Keenan Wynn has a few good bits as their energetic agent too, especially when he gets drunk and spills the beans about Kalmar's play.

Favorite Number: We open with a delightfully simple tux-and-cane soft shoe duet for Vera-Ellen and Astaire, "Where Did You Get That Girl?" "Mr. and Mrs. Hoofer at Home" is an instrumental non-vocal parody of what happens when dancers marry, with Astaire and Vera-Ellen performing some fairly dexterous moves as they depict a dancing domestic scene. The duo get two even better romantic duos later, "Nevertheless" onstage when Jessie and Bert reunite, and the gorgeous "Thinking of You" in the world's most massive cruise ship room. 

Gloria DeHaven looks every inch the Broadway beauty her mother must have been as she introduces what's now likely Kalmar and Ruby's best-known song, "Who's Sorry Now?" Reynolds gets to have her own fun when she "boop-oop-a-doops" as Kalmar and Ruby work on their latest song...and they're so impressed, she ends up doing "I Wanna Be Loved By You" with a nervous Carleton Carpenter onstage. Dahl's solo is "Love You So Much," and she's radiant strutting down that staircase in bubble gum pink and waving a huge feather fan among the boys. Vera-Ellen's big number "Come On Papa" is a French spoof with her in scanty costumes that's also done with an appreciative male chorus. 

Trivia:  Kalmar and Ruby were good friends of Astaire's from their vaudeville days. Kalmar died in 1947, after giving MGM permission to make the film, but before filming began. Ruby lived until 1974 and was a consultant on the film. 

The song "Three Little Words" was actually written for the 1930 film Check & Double Check. 

"Thinking of You" and "Nevertheless" were huge hits after this came out, as was the movie itself. 

For all that was fabricated, Ruby really was a huge baseball fan, and Kalmar was indeed a magic aficionado. Kalmar did have a bad knee injury that ended his vaudeville dancing carrier and forced him to turn to songwriting. 

What I Don't Like: Like the other musical biographies of this era, this is complete fiction. Kalmar and Ruby were friends all their lives. They did occasionally work with other partners but never had a dramatic split like the one depicted here, and certainly not over their hobbies! They didn't discover Helen Kane booping on the sidewalk, either. She'd been doing that routine for years when she sang "Wanna Be Loved By You" in the Broadway show Good Boy. Ruby didn't invade Kalmar's magic act, and he never sabotaged Kalmar's play. 

They could have done more with the ladies. Vera-Ellen does have some fun bits with Astaire (I love her expressions when he takes credit for her ideas or keeps going on about magic), but Dahl doesn't appear until the second half and has very little to do beyond "Love You So Much." Oh, like the other MGM composer biographies, there's no historical accuracy whatsoever. It looks like 1950 for the entire movie. 

The Big Finale: I'm going to agree whole-heartedly with Astaire on this one. This is my second-favorite Astaire movie at MGM after The Band Wagon. Highly recommended for fans of the four leads, dance nuts, or someone looking for a lower-key MGM show.

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming.

DVD

Amazon Prime

The Barkleys of Broadway

MGM, 1949

Starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Oscar Levant, and Billie Burke

Directed by Charles Walters

Music by Harry Warren and George Gershwin; Lyrics by Ira Gershwin

MGM originally intended to reunite Astaire and Judy Garland in this movie after the success of Easter Parade, but Garland's ongoing problems caused her to drop out. Rogers came in at the last minute. That makes this the the last of the ten movies she and Astaire made together...and one that hit a little close to home, so to speak. How does the story of married dancers who split when the wife wants to do drama look today? The best way to answer that is to go right into our very first number over the credits and see the most famous dancing pair in Hollywood history in action...

The Story: Dinah (Rogers) and Josh (Astaire) Barkley are the toast of New York in their hit show Manhattan Down Beat, but Dinah's tired of Josh criticizing her acting and taking credit for both their successes. She's flattered and interested when French playwright Jacques Barrendout (Jacques Francois) suggests she could be a wonderful dramatic actress. Dinah tries to keep Josh from figuring out her new interest, but he finds the script for Jacques' play and jumps to conclusions. She finally leaves him and the show, but is too nervous to do well in rehearsals. After their grumpy friend Ezra (Levant) tries to help, Josh steps in, playing Jacques on the phone to give her acting tips. It works too well, and now Josh wonders if he's lost his wife and favorite partner for good.

The Song and Dance: Astaire and Rogers have as much fun here as they did the decade before at RKO, with the benefit of MGM's unstinting production. The color in the copy at TCM is glowing, and the costumes are gorgeous, especially Rogers' gowns. It's interesting that the story was originally intended for Garland and Astaire. Rogers gave up doing musicals briefly in the early 40's to focus on drama and get away from her Astaire films, and was a success at it...but she too ultimately returned to musicals.

Favorite Number: We start right off with Fred and Ginger doing what they do best as the credits roll over "The Swing Trot," a big chorus routine with them tapping in the thick of it. Josh tells Dinah "You'd Be Hard to Replace" at their home. They have fun "Bouncin' the Blues" and challenging each other to a delightful duet at rehearsals. "My One and Only Highland Fling" spoofs Scottish courtship as Astaire and Rogers attempt bad accents and swirl around in plaid kilts. They try to convince Ezra that a "Weekend In the Country" would be fun, but he's a creature of the city and is having none of it. Astaire dances a duel with shoes that tap on their own in the nifty special-effects-laden "Shoes With Wings On."

Astaire and Rogers reprise "They Can't Take That Away From Me" from Shall We Dance, this time doing a graceful and thoughtful pas de deux to it as Josh believes he's lost Dinah to drama and Jacques for good. Of all the numbers, it most recalls their beautiful duets from the films at RKO, with their elegant steps and fluid motion.

What I Don't Like: First of all, why not wait until after the credits for "The Swing Trot?" We can barely see it, and it's one of the best numbers in the film. (MGM finally rectified this by showing the number without the credits during That's Entertainment III.) Second, the supporting cast isn't nearly as much fun as their RKO films. Billie Burke is all right as the dithery arts supporter, but Levant can come off as pushy and annoying, and Francois is so dull, you wonder why Dinah's mesmerized by him. And that story can be pretty fluffy at times, despite its relation to the stars' careers.

The Big Finale: The musical numbers alone are enough to make this a must-see if you love the Astaire-Rogers movies or musicals of the 1940's. 

Home Media: Like all the Astaire-Rogers films, it's easily found on DVD and streaming; the DVD is currently released by the Warner Archives.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Shall We Dance (1937)

RKO, 1937

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.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Happy Memorial Day! - The Sky's the Limit

RKO, 1943

Starring Fred Astaire, Joan Leslie, Robert Benchley, and Reginald Fenton

Directed by Edward H. Griffith

Music by Harold Arlen, Lyrics by Johnny Mercer

We honor the troops this Memorial Day Weekend with a very different wartime musical. As I've mentioned many times, the musicals of the World War II years were largely intended to be the ultimate in escapist fare, often set in faraway places or times. Sky's the Limit takes a different road, with it's slightly darker depiction of a war hero who pretends to be an ordinary guy to woo an ambitious photographer. How does this small-scale romance look today? Let's begin as three heroic ace Flying Tigers return to the US for a ticker-tape parade in New York and a whirlwind publicity tour and find out...

The Story: Triple ace Lieutenant Fred Atwill (Astaire) is on leave and just wants to have some fun and meet a few pretty girls. Sneaking off the train, he heads to New York City, where he meets photographer Joan Manion (Leslie). Joan's tired of taking pictures of celebrities. She's dying to head overseas and photograph a war zone, but her boss Phil Harriman (Benchley) would rather keep her near him, so he can try to convince her to marry him. 

Fred falls head over heels in love with Joan and does everything he can to woo her, even moving in next to her. She wishes he'd get a real job, but he doesn't seem to have any interest in working. He tries setting up Phil with her...but it ends up working in his favor anyway. His buddies, however, have found him out...and then tell him that his leave's been cut short, and he only has two days left to show Joan how much he really cares about her.

The Song and Dance: Astaire usually doesn't work in uniform, but he's a tad bit more realistic as an independent-minded flyer who has a hard time taking orders than he is a sailor or army officer. Leslie simply glows as the strong-willed and intelligent young woman who is enchanting enough for two older men to adore her. You'd never believe she turned 18 during filming; she seems far more mature. Benchley's also on more accustomed territory here as the caustic newspaperman who wants to keep his crush out of harm's way. The wartime setting and small cast gives the story a feel of intimacy and sophistication. 

Favorite Number: The Oscar-nominated ballad of longing "My Shining Hour" turns up twice, as Leslie's solo with a neon-framed orchestra early in the film, and later as an instrumental backdrop for Leslie and Astaire's romantic ballroom duet. They have a great time with the comic "A Lot In Common With You" as they jokingly sing about the same things they do (and don't) like, leading into a very funny dance routine. 

The big one here is the standard "One for My Baby." Astaire performs this at the bar after he criticizes an airplane manufacturer's planes and Joan walks out on him. After he drunkenly asks for more, he taps furiously across the bar, eventually ending with him breaking all the glassware on the bar and throwing a stool into the mirror in the back. What's even more impressive is that Astaire did all the choreography in this one himself, without the help of his usual partners. 

What I Don't Like: This isn't for those looking for a bigger, bolder, more epic plot, or a more typical romantic comedy. It's funny, but it's a small story that's mostly about a man trying to be ordinary for a lady who wants to be something special. No huge chorus numbers, no goofy side characters besides Benchley and Astaire's buddies. Speaking of his buddies, their nasty behavior when they find out what Fred's up to may rub some people the wrong way, especially when they force him to do a snake dance that's as awkward as it is silly.

The Big Finale: Underrated and charming, this low-key wartime romance is highly recommended for fans of Astaire or those who prefer their musicals on a smaller scale. 

Home Media: Easy to find on DVD from the Warner Archive and on streaming.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Cult Flops - The Belle of New York

MGM, 1952

Starring Fred Astaire, Vera-Ellen, Marjorie Main, and Keenan Wynn

Directed by Charles Walters

Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer

As we saw with the superhero films two weeks ago, science fiction and fantasy musicals aren't easy to pull off. Musicals already come with fantasy elements like people bursting into son in the middle of a downpour built-in. Adding more overtly fantastical elements is a delicate balance, as shown in our next movie. Producer Arthur Freed wanted Astaire to star in this movie for years. He finally agreed to it when he discovered that Vera-Ellen, whom finnicky Astaire greatly admired, would be his leading lady. Was Astaire right to avoid this light-as-air romance, or is there more to this than it appears on the surface? Let's begin at the local Salvation Army, as lovely officer Angela (Vera-Ellen) is being serenaded by several "sinners" at her window, and find out...

The Story: Angela wishes those gentlemen would actually come to be reformed, rather than to gawk at her. She's singing with the Army group one night when one of the "sinners" who admire her turns out to be a man in a tux. Playboy Charles Hill (Astaire) has the habit of leaving his performer brides at the alter, then turning to his rich Aunt Lettie (Main) to pay them off. Not this time. Charles is so smitten with Angela, he floats on air and vows to reform for her. After he proves his intentions to Angela by actually working for the first time in his life, she's ready to head to the church. He's not so sure...and now she has to show him they're a lot more compatible than anyone in the Big Apple thinks.

The Song and Dance: And "dance" is the operative word here. Astaire took advantage of Vera-Ellen being one of the most technically-proficient dancers he'd ever work with to put together a series of complicated and very romantic Terpsichorean showcases. He and Vera-Ellen have a great deal of fun as the lovers from very different worlds. Wynn's also having a good time as Astaire's nervous lawyer, and Pierce is a riot as Vera-Ellen's best friend and the other woman at the Salvation Army. The colorful costumes provide an equally lovely backdrop for both the simple gray world of the Salvation Army and Charles' society home.

Favorite Number: "Seeing's Believing" when he's so smitten with Angela, he dances right to the top of the Washington Square Arch and does death-defying leaps around its flagpoles. "Oops" is a number for Charles and Angela as he drives her home on the street car. It makes surprisingly good use of the limited space as they spin around poles and waltz alongside the moving vehicle. "Currier and Ives" is the big chorus routine, with Angela comparing their love to the changing seasons as depicted in the famous Currier and Ives artwork. 

Angela and her best friend claim they're "Naughty But Nice" when they dress up in fancy low-cut gowns for a night on the town and a slinky song and dance. "I Want to Be a Dancin' Man" is one of Astaire's best solos. No chorus, no noise, just him and his marvelous footwork against a simple blue backdrop. 

What I Don't Like: As charming as Astaire and Vera-Ellen are, the story is definitely earthbound. It's an overstuffed cream puff that sags towards the middle after he suddenly leaves her at the alter again and falls apart by the finale. For all his chemistry with Vera-Ellen, Astaire's reluctance to appear in this shows in his lack of energy during the book scenes. Marjorie Main is miscast as his aunt who is fed up with his antics, too - she's no high society lady. Doesn't help that the songs those dances are spinning around to are fairly dull. 

The Big Finale: Recommended for the numbers alone if you're a fan of Astaire, Vera-Ellen, or the MGM musicals of the 1950's. 

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming, the former from the Warner Archives.

DVD

Amazon Prime

A Damsel In Distress

RKO, 1937

Starring Fred Astaire, Joan Fontaine, George Burns, and Gracie Allen

Directed by George Stevens

Music by George Gershwin; Lyrics by Ira Gershwin

By the late 30's, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were popular enough for RKO to split them into separate vehicles. Fred's first movie without her is a loose adaptation of a P.G Wodehouse novel from 1919, about a veddy British noblewoman who accidentally ends up in a cab with an American performer, leading half her household and his press agent and secretary to believe she's in love with him. How does this English story work with its American music and sensibilities? Let's begin with the staff at Totney Castle deciding who will pick the eventual beau for Lady Alyce (Fontaine) and find out...

The Story: Jerry Halliday (Astaire) is an American performer traveling through England with his press agent (Burns) and secretary (Allen). He meets Alyce when she ducks into his taxicab while on her way to wait for her real American lover. Albert the young footman (Harry Watson) is convinced that Jerry's the man she loves and asks him to come to the castle. The butler Keggs (Reginald Gardiner) has his money on another suitor and is just as determined to keep Jerry out. Albert manages to sneak Jerry upstairs during a castle tour. Later, Jerry joins Alyce in the Tunnel of Love, but not only does he push too far with her, he doesn't realize her father (Montagu Love) is the head of the castle. It takes a ball at the castle to bring the lovers together and reveal the misunderstandings that separated them.

The Song and Dance: Astaire, Allen, and Burns have a wonderful time romping through some truly creative numbers. The songs may be one of the Gershwins' best film scores; it certainly produced some of their best-known hits, including "Nice Work If You Can Get It" and "Things are Looking Up." Nice supporting cast, too, with Gardiner and Watson as the servants who stir things up with their wager, Love as Alyce's down-to-earth nobleman father, and Constance Collier as her stuffy Aunt Caroline. This is also one of the rare movies where George and Gracie get more to do in the script besides a few supporting bits, including Gracie getting an odd romance of her own with the castle orchestra leader (Ray Noble). 

Favorite Number: We kick off with "I Can't Be Bothered Now." Astaire takes over for a man dancing in the London streets in order to avoid being chased by a bobby, and has a wonderful time literally dancing on the pavement. George, Gracie, and Fred do a goofy dance with whisk brooms (one which Burns and Allen apparently taught Astaire) at the inn where they're staying in "Put Me to the Test." "Things are Looking Up" when Astaire leads Fontaine through a dance around and behind the trees and flora in her family's garden (to masks her limitations as a dancer). Astaire shows twice how it's "Nice Work If You Can Get It," first with the choir at the party, then later in a fast-stepping drum and tap solo.

The big one here is "Stiff Upper Lip." Astaire, Burns and Allen dance this one in a massive Art Deco funhouse, complete with them wiggling in front of wavy mirrors, tapping around moving floors and sidewalks, and slipping down steep slides. It's one of the more creative big chorus numbers I've seen in a 30's movie, and richly deserved its Oscar for Dance Direction in 1937.

What I Don't Like: Fontaine may be more authentically British than Ginger Rogers, but she can't sing or dance worth a darn. She was 19 at the time, and her inexperience shows, especially alongside the much older and more sophisticated Astaire. The story gets very annoying at times, especially with the servants pushing them and pulling them together over a silly bet. You start to wish that Astaire had kicked Alfred and Keggs in the rear long before the end of the movie. 

The Big Finale: Highly recommended for the numbers and music alone if you're a fan of Astaire, Burns & Allen, or the Gershwins and their work. 

Home Media: Easily found on streaming and DVD, the latter from the Warner Archives.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Dancing Lady

MGM, 1933

Starring Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone, and Winne Lightner

Directed by Robert Z. Leonard

Music and Lyrics by various

Once 42nd Street was a hit early in 1933, all of the studios resumed making backstage musicals. This time, however, a tougher, grittier sheen replaced the innocent sherbet-colored antics of the early talkie backstagers. The Depression suddenly made putting on a show not only something to do for the tired businessman, but a vital part of the economy that provided jobs and hope for dozens of performers, stagehands, and musicians and gave people something to take their minds off the crisis. MGM responded by throwing everything they had into this glittering vehicle for Joan Crawford. How does this slightly tough confection look today? Let's start in downtown New York at a burlesque joint and find out...

The Story: Janie Barlow (Crawford) and her roommate Rosetta "Rosie" LaRue (Lightner) just finished a strip number when the theater is raided and they're arrested for indecency. Wealthy playboy Tod Newton (Tone) bails them out, having seen the show and been attracted to Janie's moxie. Janie spends weeks trying to see big-time director Patch Gallagher (Gable), who keeps brushing her off. Tod finally offers to finance the show if he'll put Janie in the chorus. Patch is so impressed with her when he does see her dance, he gives her a featured role, then moves her into the star spot. 

Ted, however, isn't happy that his "dancing lady" seems to be growing further away from him, and he'll even shut down the show to keep her closer. Patch, however, isn't willing to let go without a fight...and even Janie admits she'd rather dance than live in a love nest with a man who can't understand that performing is her life. 

The Song and Dance: You can't fault the cast for this one. Crawford is surrounded by some of the best MGM had to offer. Tone begins what would become a career of playing similar playboys with his playful yet selfish man about town. The Three Stooges have a few slapping-around bits that preview many of the routines from their later Columbia shorts. Crawford is fine when she's not called on to actually dance, especially in the end, when she explains to Tone why "dese things" and "those things" can't work together. Lightner also has a few funny lines, and there's Robert Benchley as Gable's buddy and a Walter Winchell-style gossip hound and Fred Astaire and Nelson Eddy doing tiny parts in the finale. Some of the Art Deco sets, especially in the finale, are amazing, and the costumes are absolutely gorgeous. 

Favorite Number: We open with "Hold Your Man" at the strip joint. Lightner performs the number as the women parade around her, but Crawford has more problems when her zipper gets stuck while she's trying to strip. Singer Art Jarrett gets the one standard to come from this film, "Everything I Have Is Yours," to Crawford as she dances with Tone at the party. 

The major numbers come at the end. We kick off with none other than Fred Astaire joining a white-clad Crawford for "Heigh-Ho, the Gang's All Here" as a formal-dressed chorus dances and drinks around them. Somehow, a magic disc whisks them off to Germany, where the peasant-clad chorus now drinks beer and sings the virtues of that drink in "Let's Go Bavarian." Rogers and Hart's "The Rhythm of the Day" begins with a chorus clad in 17th century dress lead to a modern New York by Nelson Eddy in a tuxedo. This eventually encompasses an amazing Art Deco mirror merry-go-around, with chorus girls riding on horses going around the glittering sunbursts. 

Trivia: The debut film of Fred Astaire and Lynn Bari, who is in the chorus. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, no amount of constant praise can turn Crawford into a dancer. With her flailing arms and wobbling legs, she more closely resembles someone trying to kill flies than perform a dance routine. It's especially awkward next to the genuinely talented Astaire. She just cannot keep up with him in the complicated "Heigh-Ho." Doesn't help that her singing was dubbed, too. Gable's miscast as the Warner Baxter-type tough director and is definitely not happy to be here. 

The movie wants desperately to be Busby Berkeley, but the glossy MGM style just can't figure it out. Those big finale numbers may be shiny and fast-moving, but they also make absolutely no sense whatsoever, lurching from one big set piece to the next with no form or function. They're just not about anything, not even the sexual undercurrents that often ran through Berkeley's numbers. 

The Big Finale: The cast alone makes this worth seeing at least once for fans of Crawford or 30's musicals.

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming, the former now via the Warner Archives.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Musical Documentaries - That's Entertainment III

MGM, 1994

Hosted by Gene Kelly, Lena Horne, Esther Williams, Mickey Rooney, and others

Directed by Bud Friedgen and Michael J. Sheridan

Music and Lyrics by various

It took the financially-strapped MGM almost 20 years to bring another MGM documentary with the That's Entertainment moniker to the big screen. In the interim, Turner Entertainment released many of the most popular MGM movies on home video, and cable channels specializing in older films like American Movie Classics showed even more. These movies were no longer as difficult to find as they'd been in 1974, nor were they really out of the public eye. Did we still need these movies by the mid-90's, or should the curtain come down on this franchise? Let's return to MGM Studios with Gene Kelly, and find out...

The Story: Once again, some of the most popular stars of MGM during the Golden Age of Hollywood talk about their vehicles and the dazzling array of films MGM made during its heyday, including many numbers dropped from those films. Your hosts here are:

Gene Kelly discusses the early two-strip Technicolor films of the late 20's and how they fell out of fashion, the sex-charged musicals of the pre-Code early 30's, and the black-and-white operettas and backstage films that replaced them. 

Esther Williams discusses her water-bound swimming extravaganzas of the 40's and 50's. 

June Allyson discusses the dance-heavy musicals of the late 40's and early 50's, along with how an actor got into working at MGM during the Golden Age. 

Cyd Charisse discusses the career of Gene Kelly, including two of his ballets from An American In Paris and Words and Music.

Debbie Reynolds discusses how she joined MGM, how the studio "glamorized" its actresses, and how voice dubbing works. 

Lena Horne discusses her (frequently rough) treatment as a black performer at MGM, how she lost the role of Julie in the 1951 Show Boat to Ava Gardner, and several other actors who lost roles at the studio.

Mickey Rooney discusses the career of his beloved best pal Judy Garland.

Ann Miller discusses the career of Fred Astaire.

Howard Keel discusses how the rise of television and technology like stereophonic sound and widescreen processes and new types of music like rock and roll impacted the MGM musical in the late 50's. 

Gene Kelly finishes the film with a montage of the studio's most famous musical moments over "That's Entertainment!" from The Band Wagon. 

The Song and Dance: The idea of showcasing numbers cut from films wasn't nearly as common in 1994 before the internet and streaming sites allowed many of these lost numbers to be more widely viewed. In fact, those "lost" numbers are among my favorite moments in the movie. The hosts' dialogue feels a little looser and less gushy. The fact that they allowed Lena Horne to touch on how badly she was treated at the studio showed how much time had changed...and how audiences were now a little more familiar with what really went on behind the scenes at the studios during the so-called Golden Age. 

Favorite Number: We see "Fascinating Rhythm" from Lady Be Good again, this time with alternate shots revealing how MGM put together this amazing Eleanor Powell routine. "Solid Potato Salad" showcases the creepily limber Ross Sisters doing crab imitations in the semi-revue Broadway Rhythm. Reynolds shows off the more glamorous version of "A Lady Loves" from I Love Melvin...and Donald O'Connor's view of things with her as a more down-home farmer's wife that was dropped from the movie. Fred Astaire dances with himself in split-screen in two takes on "I Wanna Be a Dancin' Man" from The Belle of New York...and we see just how perfectly rehearsed he was when the two numbers are exactly the same despite the different costumes. 

"Two-Faced Woman" gives us two routines using the same recording. I have to agree with Reynolds that they probably should have left Cyd Charisse's chorus routine in The Band Wagon; it's certainly aged better than Joan Crawford's tropical blackface routine from Torch Song. Horne has a ton of fun in the bubble bath singing one of her signature numbers, "Ain't It the Truth," from Cabin In the Sky. Judy Garland does far better dancing with a passel of kids and clowning to "Doin' What Comes Naturally" than with the exhausting "I'm an Indian Too" from Annie Get Your Gun.

What I Don't Like: Time and technology keeps catching up with these movies. Most of the cut numbers (and many more) can be found on DVD and Blu-Ray with the films they came from or on YouTube or other sharing sites. Once again, only MGM musicals are discussed. While 20th Century Fox has done at least one documentary of it's own, I really do wish many of the other older studios would dive into their vaults and showcase their older material. 

The Big Finale: I found this movie on video in the late 90's and have owned it in one form or another ever since. The slightly more honest tone and rare numbers makes this my favorite of the three Entertainment movies...but they're all recommended if you love classic musical film like I do. 

Home Media: Slightly easier to find on solo DVD than the other two, but you're still better off looking for the Blu-Ray collection or watching it online. 

DVD

Blu-Ray - That's Entertainment: The Complete Collection

Amazon Prime