The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)

You won't be disappointed!

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The acting in this movie is really good.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Fred Astaire (Josh) and Ginger Rogers (Dinah) play a married showbiz couple. They perform musical acts written by Fred but Ginger wants to break free and be taken seriously as an actress. Enter respected director Jacques Francois (Barredout) who casts Ginger in the lead role in his play about the young Sarah Bernhardt. Meanwhile, Gale Robbins (Shirlene) is after a little more from Fred other than being Ginger's understudy. We all know how things will work out, especially after seeing Ginger Rogers recite "La Marseillaise"! Contrary to popular belief, this is not the first time Fred and Ginger played a married couple. They were married to each other in their previous outing - "The Story Of Vernon and Irene Castle". In this offering, the film starts well with a couple of entertaining dances. Sadly, the film loses momentum and the songs and dances that follow aren't really up to standard. We watch because it is Fred and Ginger. In fact, it is Oscar Levant who comes away with the musical honours with his two piano performances. He also provides some of the better comedic moments with his 'can't be bothered' attitude and his popularity with the ladies. He's with a different woman in every scene - good on him! The highlight from Fred and Ginger's set pieces comes at the beginning of the film as they rehearse a piece called "Bouncin' The Blues". It comes just after Gale Robbins has been introduced and at a point in the film where the humour is spot on as Ginger Rogers clearly doesn't take very kindly to her. It's a good beginning to the film, and I found myself surprised at how good this offering actually was. Downhill from there, I'm afraid. While there are still some occasional funny moments, we have to endure some crap - the Scottish number is embarrassing, there is a nonsense song about going away to the country which is so obviously ripped off from "The Wizard of Oz" and designed with Judy Garland in mind, Fred's solo in a shoe shop alongside sets of dancing shoes is different but uninspiring, and their dance to "They Can't Take That Away From Me" belonged to an earlier film and seemed pointless and geared towards soppy reminiscence.Overall, the film had a typical family musical feel to it (as opposed to a Fred and Ginger style of film) and I half expected Dick Van Dyke to show up at any moment. If it wasn't for the fact that it is a Fred and Ginger film, I would have to consign it to the reject pile. They are a magical couple and their reputation is what just keeps this film above water. Thank goodness for "Bouncin' The Blues".

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.

I love Fred and Ginger movies. Although the Hays Code made very sure to eradicate obscenity and sex from American movies, Fred and Ginger found other ways to express the crackling chemistry between them. I wonder that more people haven't noticed how overt the sexual attraction is between the two actors. For example, at the end of "Bouncin' the Blues,"(the big tap number where they're dressed like "Roberta's" Hard To Handle number) Fred takes a long leisurely look at Ginger from head to toe as she sashays towards him and says, "Oh, God, Ginger" as they move offstage. Since the music and taps are dubbed, you don't hear the real reactions of the actors as they're dancing (Ginger lets out a "pop!" as she hits a move), but I imagine Fred said it out loud, which accounts for the look Ginger gives him as they go offstage. On a side note, that "Hard to Handle" number from Roberta is all natural taps and music without overdubbing, so you can hear Ginger make a few suggestive noises and Fred laughs and hollers once or twice.As a married couple, Fred and Ginger are extremely believable. They're so familiar to each other by this time, and they exude this quality of utter honesty with each other. The fighting is GREAT, and only two people who love each other can yell at each other like that. The kisses are still very chaste and though there are two separate beds for Fred and Ginger (they're pushed together), reflecting the times, Ginger nonchalantly sheds her bra right in front of Fred while changing into pajamas. It comes off as a very easy and natural relationship.My favorite part of this movie is the fact that it's a chance for Fred and Ginger to give their own send-up of what people perceived their relationship to be. They're married, so their sexual involvement is implicit (people believed they either hated each other or had been sexually involved). They dance, just like Fred and Ginger. They're both extremely melodramatic, which lends a tongue-in-cheek atmosphere to their fights. Neither Fred nor Ginger were ever so over-dramatic in real life so the characters are, in a way, like fun-house versions of themselves.The dancing is exactly what should be expected from Fred and Ginger sixteen years after their first film; she's 38 and he's 50, and they can both still swing it. It seems Fred worked with the small changes to Ginger's figure (what was everyone complaining about? She looks stunning the whole movie), and every film they did before was represented in the choreography somehow: the fall in "Highland Fling" is the same kind of stunt (albeit scaled down a bit) as the fall from "I'm Putting All my Eggs in One Basket," the ultra-slow walk from "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is seen at the end of "They Can't Take That Away from Me," as well as the dancing-while-nearly-kissing from "Change Partners." It's a nice blend and it shows off everything they can do.Every scene is well-played, and Ginger proves she is every inch the Oscar winner opposite Fred, whose own acting skills are deliciously natural and filled with affection for his leading lady. They have no compunction about getting in each others' faces, nor are they shy about expressing their attraction to each other. At the resolution of an argument, Fred grabs Ginger and kisses her. She apologizes and he kisses her again (a much more natural peck this time that's just cute), and one can hear him let out a "Hm," that sounds like even that little peck knocked him for a loop. Owchamagowch.Some people call Fred Ginger's Svengali. He wasn't, and it was nice to see "Ginger" asserting her independence from "Fred," which she had done so successfully in real life ten years before. They go through the breakup with real pain but it's evident they never stop loving each other. I love this movie and can watch it repeatedly. There are always new details to discover and it bears repeated viewings.

Though the least good of the Astaire-Rogers films, this is well worth watching--though leave the room before Rogers shows off her dramatic talent, a la Sarah Bernhardt, if you want to retain your sanity. But the highlight of the film is the wonderfully mordant, even morbid, Oscar Levant. He has a better part in The Band Wagon and An American in Paris, but here he is more of a welcome contrast to the mediocrity of the rest of the picture. Levant, who always played himself--a classical musician consumed with self-loathing and the loathing of all things phony and an enthusiastic consumer of drink and drugs--was a welcome touch of cynical Manhattan sophistication in the midst of sunshiny, happiness-crazed California. My favourite line of his of all time is in this picture--when Astaire and Rogers are striding heartily through fields and forests and things, he pleads, "Let's all stay in the house and take pills."