1h 28min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 25 September 1941
Director: Sidney Lanfield
Stars: Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth, Robert Benchley.
Robert Alton ... dances staged by
The synopsis classifying FA as "one of the dancers" is silly. FA is immediately shown rehearsing and leading the dancers. Frankly, it's never clear to me whether he's the choreographer or also a dancer in the show. In a subsequent show produced for army base, he is also a principal dancer.
On 9 Jan 2015, I rated 3 movies; all earned 6. I have no idea why I was so hard on this film. Possibly because I find the Swivel Tongue character (that's how he's listed in onscreen credits) very, very annoying.
So let me spend the rest of this post justifying bumping it up to an 8. Rita Hayworth is arguably the best dance partner FA ever had. Their styles match perfectly (which could mean that there's less spice than with Ginger Rogers), she's the right height (even in heels; no awkward poses ala Cyd Charisse), and does the tap and balletic stuff with the equal skill and style (my memory is that Charisse doesn't really tap, Vera-Ellen taps and then visibly shifts style to ballet). And we get her with FA in only 2 films (and once with Gene Kelly, a few times elsewhere; cataloging her dancing would be a worthwhile list), so her performing all-out dancing is very rare. Which is a huge shame, given that she was thoroughly trained from an early age (part of the Cansino family dance act), and so very good at it.
FA dances with a large ensemble again. Some day I might catalog that distinction scene by scene. He does it 3 times in this film.
All musical numbers (all songs written by Cole Porter; nothing that I'd call a Standard):
- Sc 3: Boogie Barcarolle - 24 bars, FA & RH dance, rehearsing her while the rest of the chorus watches
- Sc 4: Boogie Barcarolle - from the top, FA & dozens of chorus girls and some boys rehearse. BTW, FA's idea of rehearsal clothes is a double-breasted pin-striped suit and tie.
- Sc 13: Shootin' the Works for Uncle Sam, FA & many chorus girls and a small marching band in the train station as he departs for boot camp. BTW, every chorus girl has a fur coat she tosses at the limo drivers. The signs they display refer to FA as Boss.
- Sc 17: Since I Kissed My Baby Goodbye, FA dances solo in the guard house (he's in jail)
- Sc 19: A-Stairable Rag, FA returns to the guard house and dances solo even more
- Sc 21: So Near and So Far, FA & RH dress rehearsal in formal wear, no chorus. The way they repeatedly touch fingers at the end is very sensuous, much sexier than when he grabs her and kisses her twice at the end of the final dance (and she's unwilling then).
- Sc 27: The Wedding Cake Walk, FA & RH and dozens of chorus boys & girls, in performance for the army base
Wow, according to the Soundtracks page, the 2 dances in the guard house are backed by 2 different quartets. They're not onscreen for long, and the names are not familiar, but I must confess I didn't look at them very carefully either.
I'd guess the forced marriage double nonsense bothered me too. The reason FA joins the Army is to get away from RH after her boyfriend, posing as her brother with not-loaded gun in hand, tells FA he must marry her. Then in the final dance, the minister was real, so that meant the staged wedding was real? I can't imagine that would hold up if challenged. Was there a state where you didn't also have to sign a document agreeing to be married?
This is dance director Robert Alton's second film credit, the first being Strike Me Pink ('36). I immediately put him on my list of choreographers of note, and would have done so for this film. He has a lot of Broadway in his Other Works, from 1924-57.
I should watch this movie at least once a year. (Now that's a good premise for a list.)
Columbia, dir. Lanfield; 8
