Broadway Melody of 1940
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Movie Reviews of Broadway Melody of 1940
Movie Review: Astaire, Powell, Begin the Beguine!
Summary: 4 Stars
There's little reason to see this Fred Astaire-Eleanor Powell movie except for the dance numbers--and they provide the best reasons in the world. The plot involves a song-and-dance team (Astaire and George Murphy), a Broadway show with a big star (Eleanor Powell), mistaken identity, true friendship and boy gets girl.
Most of the dance numbers, however, are extraordinary, with songs by Cole Porter. Powell sings and taps out "I Am the Captain" in a major production number featuring big sets and lots of chorus boys. She shows why she was a great tap dancer and a major musical star who could carry a movie by herself. Astaire and Murphy do "Please Don't Monkey With Broadway," a fine example of a song-and-dance tap act that involves intricate patterns, humor, even a mock duel. "I Concentrate on You" is a great Porter standard written for the movie. "I've Got My Eyes on You" is a first-rate light romantic ballad that is a solid Astaire solo number. He was a good piano player and shows it with this number. He's backstage and dances with a photograph of Powell over and around props and furniture, and at one point uses a small ball which he seems to have mesmerized to do his bidding. He was always great using objects, and he was great because he rehearsed endlessly. He's got that ball's number. The showstopper, of course, is "Begin the Beguine." It's a big production number that starts with Astaire and Powell in costume, then moves to singers, then moves back to Astaire and Powell. This is the portion that gets the raves. She's in a white dress, he's in a white tux. They're tap dancing on a mirror-finish black floor. Off camera Artie Shaw and his orchestra continues with the song. They start tapping together, move to a challenge tap, then come back together in an extraordinary tap routine that involves them circling each other, throwing up their arms in counterpoint to their tapping and to each other. This part is excerpted in That's Entertainment. Sinatra introduces the excerpt by saying that you won't see anything like it again. I don't think anyone would disagree.
Fans of Astaire might consider getting a copy of Arlene Croce's The Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Book. Croce was the dance critic for the New Yorker. She goes through each of the Astaire-Rogers movies explaining the background, how the dance numbers were developed and analysing why Astaire was as great as he was. It's an interesting book.
Movie Review: The Sublime and the Ridiculous
Summary: 4 Stars
Most of this picture is terrible, but who's complaining? The epically long "Begin the Beguine" is the climax & it makes the whole mess worthwhile. The last 11 minutes are stunning, great beyond belief -- absolute perfection. The sets, the cinematography, the costumes, the orchestrations & the extraordinary routine itself -- everything combines to make "Begin the Beguine" the most ravishing, glamorous black & white production number ever put on film. It's Hollywood at its apogee, the quintessence of silver screen glamor.
A few of the other numbers are fun: the first, "Don't Monkey with Broadway," is clever & pleasant; later on, Fred Astaire's lovely "I've Got My Eyes on You" is also winning: a charming routine that he dances to a delightful, cheerful orchestration. Some other numbers are worth seeing, as well, but "Begin the Beguine" outshines everything else in this picture.
In between the numbers, there's a lot of dreary silliness afoot. Happily, DVD technology makes it easy to skip over the dross & go straight for the gold.
Eleanor Powell was a very odd actress. She was rather pretty & decidedly perky (how much you go for perky will determine how agreeable you find her personality); she was also quite feminine. Why, then, does she speak out of the side of her mouth like a gangster? She often sounds like a distaff Edward G. Robinson ("Dat was SWELL, Johnny, SWELL! Nyah!"). But man oh man, could she dance!
Movie Review: Great dance numbers, one after another
Summary: 4 Stars
Sure, the story is light, but it provides some chuckles and bridges the musical numbers together with minimal fuss. All of the dance and production pieces, by the way, range from great to jaw-dropping amazing. Though there are a few complaints about the picture quality among these reviews, I found the visual quality to be nearly perfect, and absolutely devoid of the scratches and bad splices that often mar old films on DVD. After all, what's a little minor flickering in one or two scenes in a 60-plus year old film, if everything else is basically shiny and new looking? The DVD is rounded out by some nice extras, though the inclusion of the "Our Gang" episode is a head scratcher. It really has nothing to do with "Broadway Melody of 1940" other than the fact that it's about the Little Rascals putting on their own generic "big premiere" and the movie itself takes place in a world where producers daily plan for their next big premiere on Broadway. Still, one really can't complain, as you get a nice package of stuff on this DVD for a modest cost.Movie Review: Best tap dancing ever
Summary: 4 Stars
I agree that the plot may seem just a bit cliched, but still...some of my favourite tap dancing sequences in the world are in this movie, especially "I've Got My Eyes on You" where Fred Astaire, too shy to introduce himself to the glamourous star he has a crush on, does a spectacular song and dance number with her photograph and her little powder compact as partners instead.
It may not be the most innovative story in the world, but I really did like the idea of one performer stepping in to cover for another one he suspects might be in trouble, losing a "gig" to him as a result of the switch, and finally ending up getting the recognition he deserves. It's just that little bit of quirkiness that keeps this from being no more than an ordinary story from the days when Hollywood was cranking out a new romance/musical/comedy about every week.
Movie Review: Underappreciated
Summary: 4 Stars
The art direction in this movie is incredible. It is one of the ultimate "New York as nightlife fantasyland" films (like the 1936 Melody, and Astaire's own "Swing Time"). The DVD replicates the silky B&W images just fine, especially the finale, which looks incredible on a big screen TV. Though Astaire tended to blow this off as "one of those big Metro things", it is a fun movie with a cool Big Band feel and a dream soundtrack, and Eleanor Powell is a revelation--it's too bad she isn't as well known today. Though the silly harlequin ballet doesn't really belong, I'll still take this over the pretentious MGM musicals of the 50s.