utgard14
Rather dull musical comedy starring Fred Astaire and Paulette Goddard. Despite the presence of Astaire, there's very little dancing in the picture. Right off the bat, you know you're in trouble. The movie's biggest problem, aside from just not being that funny, is the complete lack of chemistry between Astaire and Goddard. For that matter, the lack of chemistry between Astaire and Burgess Meredith, who plays Hope to his Crosby here. There's just no spark with any of these actors.Apparently Fred thought this was his worst movie. I can't say that I agree with that, having seen Ghost Story. But if we're talking Astaire in his prime, then maybe this is his worst. But still, if this is his worst he had a pretty stellar career. This is at least watchable, if ultimately forgettable.
MARIO GAUCI
The rise in popularity of jazz band leaders performing in nightclubs in the 1930s and 1940s extended to their appearing in films as themselves doing their thing and sometimes also acting as sidekick or nemesis to the film's real Hollywood stars. In this case, Artie Shaw is convinced by lovely manageress Paulette Goddard to try out the services of trumpet players (and perennial university-flunkers!) Fred Astaire and Burgess Meredith but, given the rivalry resulting from their choice of instrument and mutual feelings for Goddard herself, they end up sabotaging each other's chances for both spots. In fact, Goddard hooks up with eccentric millionaire Charles Butterworth in the hopes of getting him to finance Shaw's tour after she becomes the latter's own manager. The film is certainly nothing special as both a musical or a romantic comedy but is harmless enough overall to provide middling entertainment value for 84 minutes: an especially amusing episode shows a down-on-his-luck Astaire doing a Russian folk dance in a cabaret and, for the record, it was the first of 3 films that the future husband-and-wife team of Meredith and Goddard made together a partnership that culminated in Jean Renoir's severely underrated Hollywood version of THE DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID (1946).
rdolan9007
Disappointing overall, first of all you have to buy the premise of Astaire and Meredith being old enough to be at college. They both charitably look at least 40 which throws the story in to a level of reality even further removed than you might expect from an early 40's Hollywood musical. There are great sequences, a swing number between Goddard, and Astaire is the highlight. I also enjoyed Astaire tackling a cossack dance; more of the above dance scenes would have improved the movie. The story is awkwardly constructed though and frankly unconvincing. Artie Smith is good, but the music lacks sparkle overall. Not a great or even a good movie, not a complete waste of time though, the good dance numbers are worth watching for their own sake.
fwb-2
This is an OK Fred Astaire movie. A couple of good dance sequences - one with Paulette Goddard, who is not impressive on the floor, and one where he's tap-dancing while conducting Artie Shaw's orchestra. The plot is dismal, Burgess Meredith as comic relief is faintly amusing at best, though in his defense the script gave him very little to work with.Fans of swing will want to see "Second Chorus", though, for the musical sequences. In particular, a five-minute fantasia that Shaw and the band (plus a string section) play. This piece has been scored and has been recorded several times under the title of Artie Shaw's Clarinet Concerto; but no other clarinetist, popular or classical, has brought the same excitement to the piece that Shaw did. It's worth renting for that sequence alone.It's a real shame that the director couldn't work out a sequence in which Astaire dances to Shaw's clarinet - playing, say, "Begin the Beguine", or "Frenesi", or "Traffic Jam", or any other his many other hits. A real shame indeed.
AD
