The Worst Film Ever

Strong and Moving!

Great Film overall

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Spoilers. Observations. Opinions. Excellent. Biopic of pre Great War famous dancing couple. Who else better to portray them than Fred and Ginger?Maggie and Walter were excellent. I always love Zowie and the other dogs. Good to see the real Lew Fields. Ginger's costumes were divine. I hated to see all of the hair cutting, however. Postwar period may have been bad for theatricals, so Vernon's and Irene's careers may not have survived, anyway. Changing tastes may have had a great effect, but in a bad way. The Castles were correct for the time, however, and they introduced a lot of great dances. I am a degreed historian, actress, singer, dancer, fashion designer, film critic and movie reviewer. I am very interested in theatrical history.

This is a worthy tribute to Irene and Vernon Castle who really were the Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire Dance sensation for their own time 1913-1917. This was the ninth and last RKO musical for Fred and Ginger, although they did a reunion picture in 1949. Consider that they started dancing on-screen together in Dec 1933 with "Flying Down to Rio" and this film came out in March of 1939, so Fred and Ginger mania really lasted only 5 1/2 years, not much more than the Castles' time at the top of popular American culture. The Beatles lasted about the same 1964-1970. Social Icons have a limited shelf life before they are replaced, but the fan base does continue for many decades and even into new generations.The first half of the film is quite hilarious and really typical Fred and Ginger. Ginger's "The Yama Yama Man" is the highlight for me. The second half does become more serious. This is appropriate, as they were honoring two dancers who really paved the way for all popular dancers in the century. I loved the great special effect shot here of the couple dancing across a map of the United States and hundreds of tiny dancers suddenly popping up where ever they went.Some people have commented that Irene Castle was unhappy about some things in the production. I think she was probably trying to make the production as truthful as possible and largely succeeded. The fact that her black friend and companion was portrayed as a white man would have upset anyone who was not a racist. This is, in fact the only problem that I have with the film. Hollywood missed a great opportunity to show a case of real interracial harmony. It was a sad misjudgment on the part of RKO management. Irene Castle was entirely correct to criticize the decision.Walter Brennan and Edna May Oliver do a good job of providing the sidekick laughs, allowing Fred and Ginger to stick more to the romance. Oliver received a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination that same year for "Drums Along the Mohawk." Oliver played Maggie Sutton, a character based on Elizabeth Marbury, one of the most famous lesbians of the her time. She was one of the first literary and theatrical agents who included Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw and Jerome Kern among her clients. Sadly, the Hayes Codes made it impossible to show any suggestion that she was gay. If there was a remake today, I'm sure that would be a major point.So far I have watched six of the ten Fred and Ginger movies. Each of them has been a joy. This one was a joy, but I also shed a tear. I hope to watch the other four in the coming weeks.

There is one hilarious goof in this delightful film. When Irene and Vernon are having dinner in the Parisian restaurant in which they are to make their debut Irene is wearing her wedding dress as they are too broke to afford to buy her a new evening dress, She is also wearing a little lacy winged hat of the type worn in the national costume of Holland.In England there were gales of laughter when Irene says "I feel just like a bride again in my wedding dress and my little Dutch cap." In the UK a Dutch cap is a female contraceptive device which I believe is called a "diaphragm" in USA.

Here's one of those rare films that I like where there are no villains, just a nice, old-fashioned story with good people.Of all the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers films, I would guess this gets the least amount of publicity and if that's true, it's a shame.There are plenty of dance scenes in here. I prefer the tap dancing to ballroom, but that's just my personal tastes. The famous dancing duo are great with any style. I like Walter Brennan, so it's nice to see him in this film and it also was nice to see Edna May Oliver play a nice character, for a change.The only complaint was the ending was so predictable. You see it coming a mile away. How true this story is, I can't say, but overall it's one of my favorite Astaire-Rogers movies. I am sorry it gets so little attention.