Undescribable Perfection

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

There is nothing wrong with this film, and yet it doesn't really get going. The intrigue is too stupid (a couple quarrelling all the time without coming to a decision whether to split or not), the dialogue is insipid, the tempo is too slow, the film is too long about nothing, and you keep longing for the musical dancing scenes, which of course save the film, including Oscar Levant, who is the only one adding some ingenuity to this general awkwardness. Not until Fred and Ginger at last get going in proper classical style and elegance in "They Can't Take That Away From Me" you feel at home with their standard again. This is clearly not their best film, maybe the worst, but it's still worth watching for their and Oscar Levant's sake. Sorry, I can't give it more than 8.

Such a wonderful movie - everything was perfect about it! The dancing was magical, the drama so moving, the music breathtaking (Dig those Oscar Levant pieces! I literally got energized by his rendition of Tchaikovsky). Fred and Ginger were a perfect pair; their love, hate, and teasing were adorable and sharp. The plot kept up with the music, balancing neither too much. Ginger's drama scene almost brought me to tears, even though I didn't understand the language of her speech. And Levant's wise-cracks and truly brilliant talent really left an impression with me. Fred, as always, sparkles with dancing perfection and a few lovely vocal numbers. A beautiful movie all around! As the final Fred/Ginger pairing, it shows that "you can't take (the magic) away" and that these two will never stop dancing in our hearts.

Possible spoiler here. Fred and Ginger were great in earlier films. Now they are middle age with a plot that would have been better when they were much younger. This would have been a good movie without the bickering. The musical numbers were very good for the most part. The dances showed a change toward more avant-guard styles emergent of the rebel movies of the 50's. Which, for middle agers looked very childish and the arguments were immature. She looked very tired. He looked like her father, with baggy eyes and all. What a shame that they didn't leave well enough alone. The best part of the movie was some of the music. Oscar Levant tried to steal some scenes. Not worth seeing again. Sell the video at a yard sale or donate it to a nursing home.

Even those of us who are too young to have seen those great Astaire/Rogers black and white musicals the first time around - and let's face it, even one who was only ten in 1935, the year Top Hat was released, would now be eighty one and unlikely to be active on this or indeed any other board - will still feel a frisson at the very opening frames of this movie - over which the credits are supered - a shot of the four most iconic dancing feet in movie musicals doing what they did so well that they helped millions to find momentary relief from the Great Depression. Cynics may argue that MGM opened with this shot - which slowly pans up to reveal Fred and Giner in full spate - knowing full well that what followed was at best a pedestrian script from the vastly overrated Comden and Green (thank God they didn't lumber Fred with some of their equally pedestrian lyrics) who would recycle it yet again four years later in The Bandwagon, once more teaming Astaire with Oscar Levant. In common with, I guess, the majority of musical buffs who are active on these boards I first saw the original Astaire/Rogers movies many years later on TV by which time I'd already seen Fred dancing with other partners from the mediocre (Jane Powell, Vera Ellen) to the outstanding (Rita Hayworth, Cyd Charisse) so that the glaring flaws of those black and white gems -the ridiculous depiction of Venice (Top Hat), the pristine engine room of an ocean-going liner (Shall We Dance) etc to say nothing of the remote coldness of Rogers stood out more than if I had watched them as a child of the Depression seeking only escape from soup kitchens and bread lines but what was undeniable was the charm and style of Astaire, the gorgeous songs and the greatest and most stylish pair of male feet ever to grace the musical screen. Harry Warren was, no question, a great composer but he fell just a tad short of Porter, Kern and Gershwin if not necessarily Berlin and although he delivers a fine score here, to which Ira Gershwin fashioned some deft lyrics the movie failed to deliver a 'standard' to rank alongside The Way You Look Tonight (Swingtime), Cheek To Cheek (Top Hat), Change Partners (Carefree) etc in fact the classiest number on display by a country mile is They Can't Take That Away From Me which Ira wrote originally, with brother George, for Shall We Dance. In the early/mid forties MGM had a penchant for self-contained 'classical' moments in popular musicals, often employing the likes of Jose Iturbi to ham his way though a flashy classical piece that had little or nothing to do with the rest of the film (and like those Lena Horne numbers could be edited out when the film played the Deep South); one had hoped that by 1949 the powers that be had matured a little but no, here we get Oscar Levant - who is playing a composer of 'show' tunes - giving his rendition of The Sabre Dance and Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto Number #1 in D Flat whilst his 'character' has never displayed either an interest in or aptitude for the classics. Maybe they were deliberately attempting an 'old fashioned' feel or trying to cram the quart of Astaire-Rogers into the pint pot of Anchors Aweigh but whatever the intention the result is mild embarrassment. No film that stars Astaire and allows him to dance can be dismissed entirely and when he is allowed to do what he did better than anyone else the film comes alive and is worth watching but on balance there are not enough Astaire magic moments.