You won't be disappointed!

Sadly Over-hyped

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

"Second Chorus" is an underwhelming Paramount musical filmed in black and white and stars Fred Astaire. Normally speaking, a picture billed as an 'Astaire musical' would sell itself, but this one is a tough sell. It has Astaire's dancing going for it - that, and the fact that it introduced its best song, ""Would You Like To Be The Love Of my Life?".All downhill from there. Astaire is trying to hook on with Artie Shaw's band as a trumpet player while chasing Paulette Goddard around and trying to shake her free from buddy Burgess Meredith, also a trumpet player. The menage a trois becomes very tiresome very quickly and not as funny as was planned.There are a couple of pretty good song and dance numbers and Paulette Goddard is pretty, but the overall feeling is one of disappointment at what might have been ... with a couple of better songs, with some technicolor, a better script and without Burgess Meredith, whose forte wasn't musical comedy.

Why spend any time describing this dull plot or the mediocre acting? You should watch this only to see Fred Astaire do a couple of great numbers, one as a Russian, another while he "conducts" the Artie Shaw band (yes, he's in a tux for that one).What's fascinating for modern audiences is to see Artie Shaw, not so much for his acting either, but because he plays a couple of great numbers here and he was terrific on the licorice stick. He's young here too (30 years old). One number he was famous for (not here though) is "Stardust" and it featured a trumpet solo by Billy Butterfield). Butterfield actually plays for Burgess Meredith here (who like Astaire fakes poorly on the horn). We also see Buddy Rich in the orchestra playing drums next to Artie Shaw. What a combo! Shaw was a huge sensation in the 30's and 40's; an equal to the more famous now Benny Goodman. He sold more than a hundred million records. He brought along talent like Billie Holiday, Mel Torme, Buddy Rich, and Ray Conniff. He also played classical music with Leonard Bernstein. In this movie, he plays "Concerto for Clarinet". This film also brought him 2 Oscar nominations, one for Best Score and one for Best Song ("Love of my Life").Astaire once called this the "worst movie I ever made" and for him, that's true. But it's great to see Shaw play, and how he could play! Shaw admired Astaire but said he was a tireless worker, the opposite of the kind of debonair image he presented in top hat and tails.

This is the last film in which Artie Shaw would actually do some acting. Originally, the producers wanted to make a film with just Artie Shaw & his music. Then along came the opportunity to get Fred Astaire during one of the rare times his career lagged for a short time so they grabbed him and put some first rate folks around him.Paulette Goddard was a very busy actress during this period. She is fine as the lead in this one too. She rarely disappointed during her career. This is a few years after she divorced Chaplin & in 4 years she would marry Burgress Meredith who is in this movie too. A lot of folks in this cast were busy going to the alter. Artie Shaw would be married 8 times during his lifetime.Fred Astaire has a sequence conducting & dancing Shaws Orchestra, and it is an interesting sequence. There are also several famous folks doing cameos. The big thing with this is some excellent music from an era of music that is now looked back on fondly by everyone who discovers it. Big Band, great stuff & a small plot to hang on about a backer for the concert.

The only things that save Second Chorus from being a complete disaster are Astaire's dancing and Artie Shaw and his band's music.The writing is horrendous, managing to make even Astaire's character dislikable, as he does truly nasty things to his "friend," the equally dislikably nasty Burgess Meredith.Charles Butterworth, who is supposed to be the comic foil in this picture, is as lame an actor as I've seen.Finally, the look of the film is awful, with harsh lighting and shadows. (I realize this may be because the surviving print of this film has deteriorated over the years.) Unfortunately, the music and dance numbers are few and far between. However, if you're a die hard Astaire and/or big band fan, it's worth fast-forwarding through the dialog to get to any scene where Fred's dancing or Artie and his band are playing.