1h 29min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 13 July 1943
Director: Edward H. Griffith
Stars: Fred Astaire, Joan Leslie, Robert Benchley
Fred Astaire ... dances created and staged by
bootleg, ok copy; abrupt end, but time matches 1:29?
This is a war film: FA plays a flyer, and the ending shows him going back to battle.
Insufficient time dancing, but the 3 numbers are excellent. JL has a poor voice (thin; OMG, I just saw in Soundtracks that she was dubbed?), but she can keep up with FA, almost as well as Rita Hayworth does, and that's high praise. In the Tap! Appendix for FA, JL.
Two songs that I associate with Sinatra both premiere in this film: My Shining Hour, and One for My Baby (and One More for the Road). Another FS connection: FA decides to rent a room where JL lives, at a late hour, and he turns over the Vacancy sign. Already identical to Pal Joey ('57, Columbia, starring FS), and then the landlady is Elizabeth Patterson (5th billed), just as in PJ.
The age difference between FA (b. 1899) and JL (b. 1925) is too evident to me (and this is not a pristine print), and she's not really so gorgeous that flyboy FA should be so stricken with her, especially in her business suit and hair. So his initial attraction and dogged pursuit don't ring true.
Robert Ryan (4th billed), in his 7th film of 73 (1940-1973), gets nothing to do, and yet he comes across as menacing, in a light comedic way. At one point he blackmails fellow flyer FA to do a silly dance (not one of the 3 real dance numbers) on a tabletop. Very disappointing that he was not used more and better, but this really is a 3-person story.
In the poster above, the drawing of FA more closely resembles Hermes Pan (eyebrows?).
The 3 dances and 2 songs are strong enough that this is above a 6, but not really "recommended," at least not as a first film of FA. (Just checked: yes, it fits in with other FA 7's I rated in this quest. So far seven films have a higher rating, as do 3 more in the to-watch list.)
RKO, dir. Griffith; 7-
