JohnHowardReid Producer: Pandro S. Berman. Copyright 2 September 1938 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 22 September 1938. U.S. release: 2 September 1938. Australian release: 29 December 1938. 83 minutes.SYNOPSIS: If you believed Fred as a ballet master in "Shall We Dance", you shouldn't have a credibility problem here. He plays a psychiatrist. Ginger is a radio singer who consults him professionally, and we all know that patients fall for their psychiatrists, don't we? A somewhat hypnotized Ginger is then seen in a country club, and who is there, too? (Such suspense!) It's Fred, of course! The only trouble on the horizon is that she is already engaged to someone else, and that someone is also at the country club. (Where else!) But that hypnosis thing is making Ginger do strange things. She insults her radio sponsor, tries to shoot Fred (when she loves him), and can only be brought to her senses by a punch in the eye. She is suitably attired at the time in her wedding gown. Ginger and Fred walk (not dance) down the aisle to matrimony.NOTES: I always wondered what the difference was between an arranger and an orchestrator. So I asked Max Steiner: "An orchestrator is a man who takes a composition and puts it into orchestra parts. An arranger is a man who takes a melody, puts different harmonies to it and fixes it up, and usually ruins it. However, he is called an arranger. They should all be shot. The orchestrator just takes what he is given to do and if he has any ideas of his own, he had better not show them."Nominated for Hollywood's major annual awards for Art Direction (Polglase alone was nominated), losing to "Adventures of Robin Hood"; Best Music Score, won by Alexander's Ragtime Band; Best Song, "Change Partners and Dance", won by "Thanks for the Memory" from "Big Broadcast of 1938".Negative cost: $1,253,000. Initial domestic rentals gross: $1,113,000. Initial foreign rentals gross: $618,000. After paying distribution expenses, this resulted in a loss to RKO of $68,000, the first Astaire-Rogers film to actually lose money.COMMENT: Although it does have a couple of genuinely amusing moments, "Carefree" is saddled with a silly plot which unfortunately tends to take over the picture. It's well into the second reel before we strike the first musical number — a solo dance by Fred Astaire. The first duet is introduced in a dream sequence (originally planned for Technicolor but actually shot in black-and-white). But then it's a long dreary haul before the lavish "The Yam". This begins quietly enough with Ginger singing, developing into a spectacular ensemble executed through several rooms before ending up back on the dance floor. There nimble Fred entertains us with a series of dazzling lifts as he swings Miss Rogers over his leg (braced on a series of tables).Director Sandrich often gets the dialogue scenes over with in long takes. Unfortunately this doesn't solve the basic problem. What's needed are more songs, less talk. Also, although there's a happy support cast, the movie really needs an Eric Blore or an Edward Everett Horton to liven it up. Still Ginger Rogers has a meaty part which she plays with more than her usual skill and all her customary charm. Ralph Bellamy as usual does fine by the "other man".But when all's said and sung, frankly we couldn't give a hoot where the subconscious mind is located.

vert001 Those who say that Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire made the same movie ten times over must not have seen at least half of their films. FLYING DOWN TO RIO is utterly different to anything that follows, and FOLLOW THE FLEET is as easily distinguishable from SWING TIME in its plotting as it is from SINGING IN THE RAIN. THE STORY OF VERNON AND IRENE CASTLE isn't even a comedy even if it is a musical. And then there's CAREFREE.CAREFREE has a different flavor to anything that came before it. As many have said, it's really a Screwball Comedy with a few musical numbers tossed in. Amanda (Ginger Rogers) is either a classic screwball heiress or at least something very close to it (she may have hit it big through her singing career). It's Ginger's character that is the center of this film, not Fred's, and it's easy to understand why the European title was, indeed, 'AMANDA'. The sets, costume designs, orchestrations, even the style of the dances tend to point ahead to the forties rather than back towards the thirties. 'The Yam' almost seems like something that Mickey and Judy would do rather than Fred and Ginger. The story is structured as a parody (of psychoanalysis) and its humor is more physical than verbal. In many ways, CAREFREE is quite different.For the first time, Fred Astaire plays something other than a glorified juvenile. I find him more convincing as a psychiatrist (albeit a very poor psychiatrist) than some do; in any event, it was a necessary move for his career. That comedy seems emphasized over the musical numbers runs parallel with the development of Ginger Rogers' career, which had very few musicals left in it. CAREFREE seems like a return to the old partnership, but I think it equally serves as an early step into the future for both of its stars.The Irving Berlin score is good but not up to his earlier efforts for Astaire and Rogers. It's not up to what Kern and the Gershwins had produced for them, either. 'The Yam' proved a much better song to dance to than it was to sing, and 'I Used to be Colorblind' obviously begs for the color treatment that it never received. CAREFREE was the first Astaire/Rogers film (and I believe the only one) to not turn a profit. This was not so much due to a lack of revenue, which was approximately equal to THE GAY Divorcée's, but to increased costs, particularly the stars' salaries. Previous success had priced them into the position of needing a huge hit in order to turn a profit. CAREFREE did well, but it wasn't a huge hit.Astaire's golfing solo dance was probably more notable for his golfing than it was for his dancing. All duffers (such as myself) are astounded, but if you've never held a golf club in your hands it probably doesn't seem like much. That slow motion and a kiss are the most memorable things about the 'Color Blind' number says everything you need to know about its terpsichorean importance. Personally, I like 'The Yam' a lot. Travelling all over the country club, it's actually Fred & Ginger's longest dance number together and builds to a thrilling climax during which, for once, you can actually see Fred Astaire straining during a dance as he repeatedly lifts Ginger Rogers over his leg and around those tables. The hypnotic dance to Change Partners strikes me as rather gimmicky and is the shortest of their major duets.Fred acts his role well but really has little to do. Ginger has all the major comedic set-pieces and carries them off with flair. It's probably the only time in the series other than ROBERTA in which she was able to use her full comical abilities. Both actors met the poignancy angle of the script exceptionally well (as they had in SWING TIME) and you wonder what they might have produced if RKO had given them more opportunities in that direction. I also enjoyed Luella Gear as Ginger's aunt. Ginger had lacked an older female to confide in during SHALL WE DANCE and the character was greatly missed.CAREFREE is a fine film. I'd rank it somewhere from 5-7 in the Astaire/Rogers cannon depending on my mood.

utgard14 Psychiatrist Fred Astaire is asked by friend Ralph Bellamy to speak with Bellamy's fiancée Ginger Rogers. Ginger seems to have cold feet about their wedding and Ralph wants Fred to somehow help her overcome her issues and marry him. Things get out of control thanks to drugs, dreams, and hypnosis. Ginger falls for Fred but Fred thinks it isn't real so he hypnotizes her into thinking she loves Ralph. Then Fred realizes he loves her and it's screwball comedy greatness from then on.An atypical Fred & Ginger movie but one of my favorites. More comedy than musical but it's very light and fun. Ginger is adorable and hilarious here. Love her repeated "ha ha ha" bit. You have to hear her delivery to get it. Fred's good as usual, though his character is the worst psychiatrist ever. While the hypnotism stuff is way out there, it does lead to a wonderful dance number at the end where the duo move like Ginger is under a trance. There are no real classics in the musical numbers but they're all pleasant and enjoyable. "The Yam" is lots of fun and probably the highlight. The supporting cast is terrific. Stage actress Luella Gear shines as Ginger's friend. Her first scene with Jack Carson is a hoot. Another movie where Ralph Bellamy doesn't get the girl. Poor guy. It's a great movie but it might not appeal to all Fred & Ginger fans for the fact that it's light on musical numbers (there's only four). Try to keep an open mind and give it a shot.

brtor222 While this A/R outing has some fine tender moments, it is ruined by one of the most absurd songs (YAM). No wonder FA didn't want to sing it, but GR should have refused to do it as well.The rest of the film's non-musical moments just are a bore...FA does the hypnotist act so well (with the yawn of dialogue) that I was soon out like a light.Woke up just in time to see GR get punched in her face by some thug (oops that was her finance I think!) Then she is waltzing down the aisle with FA and that's the end...she must have still been doped up! What exactly was in that anesthetic they gave her? Maybe I will give this film another chance next time I have trouble sleeping.