Nonureva Really Surprised!

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Alistair Olson After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

calvinnme Except this vehicle is nothing like their other films at RKO. This is a MGM musical in the big MGM tradition. The whole thing was an accident. Judy Garland was supposed to have Ginger Rogers' role, but her chronic illness made a replacement necessary. Rogers and Astaire have the same old chemistry even if it is a different studio. They play feuding song and dance team Josh and Dinah Barkeley who break up personally and professionally over Dinah's desire to do dramatic acting and Josh's jealousy over who the author of the play is - a flirty Frenchman, Jacques. At first Josh says he wants Dinah to fall on her face. But when he sees her actually stumble in rehearsals when he sneaks in to catch a peek, he blames it all on Jacques, who he says does not know how to direct her. So Josh comes up with a ruse in which he calls Dinah after rehearsals and pretends to be Jacques, complete with fake French accent, giving her cues on how to improve her performance based on what he has seen. Unfortunately it works too well. Dinah thinks even more of Jacques since he is helping her out with great tips, and Jacques is bowled over by Dinah's inexplicable improvement. How will this work out? Watch and find out.Of course MGM spared no expense in the late 40s with the Arthur Freed unit, which made this film. There is beautiful Technicolor, comedy and masterful piano work from Oscar Levant, a great piece of special effects work by MGM and dancing by Astaire in the number "Shoes with Wings On" in which Astaire seems to be dancing side by side with pairs of tap shoes, and a ballroom number in which Fred and Ginger dance to "They Can't Take That Away From Me". Fred sang it to Ginger but the two did not dance to it in 1937's "Shall We Dance". Finally, Ginger's recitation of "La Marseillaise" when she plays "Young Sarah Bernhardt" in Jacques' play is a (probably) unintentional camp classic. Fortunately the French are forgiving people.It was an unexpected reunion, but for fans of the big MGM musicals of the period and of Fred and Ginger in particular, I would highly recommend it.

ackstasis The on screen partnership of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers was among the most celebrated of the 1930s, and the pair co-starred in a total of nine films between 1933 and 1939. Following 'The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939),' the duo parted ways, and rumours were abound that their working relationship had turned sour, though both firmly denied this. An MGM film entitled "You Made Me Love You" was originally intended to re-pair Astaire and Judy Garland, as a follow-up to 'Easter Parade (1948),' but the actress' drug problems became both physically and emotionally overwhelming, and so producer Arthur Freed asked Ginger Rogers to take the part, reuniting her with Astaire after a ten-year hiatus. 'The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)' isn't quite up to the 'Top Hat (1935)' standards, but, with vivid Technicolor photography and the undiminished comedic chemistry of its two leads, Charles Walters' musical is certainly worthwhile viewing. The story wisely takes into account the ten intervening years since we last saw the stars, and, notably, they open the film already married.John and Dinah Barkley (Astaire and Rogers) are the toast of Broadway, the country's most beloved comedic musical performers. However, though their marriage seems watertight on the surface, the pair are prone to spiteful arguments over the most trivial of issues; Dinah, for one, feels as though she is taken for granted, and wants to prove that she can be a success even without her husband. When a suave French playwright, Jacques Pierre Barredout (Jacques François), offers Dinah the lead role in his "serious" play about great stage actress Sarah Bernhardt, she doesn't need much persuasion to jump ship, and John is left wondering if his wife still loves him. Oscar Levant provides much of the comic relief as Ezra Millar, a classical musician and mutual friend of both husband and wife, who, despite having a new woman by his side every night, is the epitome of a pessimist. Levant performs two classical pieces during the film, the most memorable being Aram Khachaturian's breathtaking "Sabre Dance."Throughout the 1940s, Ginger Rogers had successfully advanced past her foundations in musical comedy, and had won a Best Actress Oscar for 'Kitty Foyle: The Natural History of a Woman (1940).' In a way, 'The Barkleys of Broadway' is about Rogers' own struggles to break free from her "cinematic marriage" with Fred Astaire, and her successful bid to gain respect as a dramatic actress. The film's most memorable musical number, tellingly, is a nostalgic retread of George and Ira Gershwin's "They Can't Take That Away From Me" {from 'Shall We Dance (1937)'}, though, without the context and atmosphere of the original film, the number is still a lot less emotional than its predecessor. "Shoes with Wings On," a fun, special effects-driven comedy number, in which Astaire is hassled by an army of feet-less shoes, is also very impressive. Though 'The Barkleys of Broadway' couldn't possible rival the great musical comedies of the pair's golden period, the film provides plenty of enjoyable and undemanding entertainment, and works nicely as a bittersweet swan song to Astaire and Rogers' partnership.

jeremy_shops All the old RKO black-and-white films are so perfectly silly, and perfectly wonderful... and perhaps because I'd read reviews that "The Barkleys of Broadway" was a substandard pairing of Rogers and Astaire, I simply hadn't seen it until it showed up recently on Turner Classic Movies.Okay, so it isn't that great a movie, but the magic of Fred & Ginger transcends all."They Can't Take That Away from Me" is a golden moment. Ginger had been a straight actress for several years had put on a few pounds and isn't quite up to the level of Pan Hermes' choreography of the RKO days. But every time she and Fred start moving to music, they create the sexiest, most romantic moments ever recorded on film.There's fun sex, flirty sex, deep passionate sweaty sex (remember the dance that ended with Fred lighting cigarettes?). And "They Can't Take..." in the B's of B'way is wonderfully seductive sex.Fred certainly danced with good partners, but none of them was the actress Ginger was. She and Fred had such chemistry, even sub-par Astaire and Rogers is worth sitting through a clunky script.

lugonian "The Barkleys of Broadway" (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1949), directed by Charles Walters, goes down in history as one of Hollywood's biggest events, being the motion picture that reunited the ever popular song and dance team of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, whose nine musicals for RKO Radio from 1933 to 1939, entertained as well as popularized the art of the dance on screen, and whose reputation continues to make this dynamic dual a legendary item.Plot Summary: Josh (Fred Astaire) and Dinah Barkley (Ginger Rogers) are a sensational husband and wife dancing team on Broadway who appear to be the most perfect couple while performing on stage, but in reality, come to arguments after the curtain goes down. It is up to Ezra Millar (Oscar Levant), composer and close friend, to act as their referee. Dinah feels Josh takes her for granted while Josh finds Dinah neglectful towards him, with instances finding Josh literally left out in the cold on a patio during a social function given by Mrs. Livingston Belney (Billie Burke), and later at the golf course waiting for Dinah's arrival only to remain there until he gets himself drenched from a sudden rain storm, each due to Dinah's meetings with playwright (Jacques Francois) who insists she's wasting her time in musical comedy and should pursue a dramatic career and become another legend like Sarah Bernhardt. At first she turns down his offer to star in his latest play, but after Josh belittles her, she decides to take the challenge, splitting up the team and causing the Barkleys partnership to go their separate ways.The Music and Lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Harry Warren: "The Swing Trot" (danced by Astaire and Rogers); "The Sabre Dance" (piano solo by Oscar Levant); "You'd Be Hard to Replace" (sung by Astaire); "Bouncin' the Blues" (instrumental); "My One and Only Highland Fling" (sung by Astaire and Rogers); "A Weekend in the Country" (sung by Astaire, Rogers and Levant); "Shoes With Wings On" (sung and performed by Astaire); "Concerto in "B" Flat Minor" (by Tchaikovsky/piano solo by Levant); "They Can't Take That Away From Me" (sung by Astaire/danced by Astaire and Rogers) by George & Ira Gershwin; "You'd Be Hard to Replace" (sung by Astaire from phonograph record) and "Manhattan Downbeat" (danced by Astaire and Rogers).Supporting casts consists of Gale Robbins as Shirlene May, Dinah's understudy; Clinton Sundberg as Bert; and George Zucco appearing briefly as the judge in the play portion of the film.For their tenth and final collaboration of Astaire and Rogers on screen, "The Barkleys of Broadway" could very well have been a sequel to any one of their earlier efforts, showing what's become of their characters after dancing to a happy conclusion. SHALL WE DANCE? (1937) comes to mind since it introduced one of their signature tunes, "They Can't Take That Away From Me," only this time having Fred and Ginger dancing to it, resulting as being one of the most moving and sentimental dance pieces ever recorded on film, illustrating the chemistry and magic they had over a decade ago is still quite evident in 1949. After many musicals, the genius of Astaire never ceases to amaze with his creativity, particularly the "Shoes With Wings On" number, one of the true classics in movie musical history. As for the dance numbers with Astaire and Rogers during the opening and closing segments, it a wonder why they're so brief.While screen reunions usually fail to recapture the magic of the "good old days," "The Barkleys of Broadway" is no exception. The writers had wisely avoided reliving the past for them with the typical boy meets girl plot that had become standard with most Fred and Ginger musicals. However, the film offers supporting players in the likeness and manner of those who have enacted with the team in the past. Billie Burke and Jacques Francois could easily be true reminders of GAY Divorcée (1934) co-stars Alice Brady and Erik Rhodes, although Hans Conried, seen briefly as a waiter, comes close as the Rhodes prototype. Edward Everett Horton might have been most welcome in the Levant role, but as far as it goes, new and younger faces of MGM players assumed center stage instead.Astaire's character comes as a little sarcastic at times, which he is supposed to be, thus offering him new direction from those easy going dancing guys he's portrayed so well and often. Rogers appears more youthful during the film's latter portion, and although a fine comedienne, her Sarah Bernhardt interpretation reading of "La Marseillaise" comes off as a bit forced. And then there's the droll and dry, yet sometimes amusing humor of Oscar Levant, whose piano solos slow down the pace, making one yearn for Chico Marx in piano playing to these classical compositions with his unique and lively style instead.In spite of its pros and cons, this is a satisfactory conclusion for Astaire and Rogers partnership, offering viewers a chance in seeing them together again, dancing on stage one last time on screen as the Barkleys of Broadway.Displayed on video cassette since the 1980s and later to DVD, "The Barkleys of Broadway" at 109 minutes, is one of the more revised classic films broadcast on Turner Classic Movies. (***1/2)