From my Facebook archives, December 9, 2014:
We're down to our last few Fred Astaire musicals. 'Let's Dance' from 1950 is our 26th to see, leaving just four more.
This one has Betty Hutton as Fred's partner. She is her own thing, that's for sure, and is fascinating to watch. The music is good, if not exceptional. The story is serviceable for a musical (certainly better than Royal Wedding and especially Belle of New York, the last two of Fred's films we've seen). The acting is a bit weaker than usual, but not in any way that seriously hurts. The dancing routines were, of course, fabulous (except for the finale, which wasn't quite so memorable). Not Royal Wedding fabulous, but that's a very high standard.
From reading the book 'Music Makes Me: Fred Astaire and Jazz' earlier this year, I had been under the impression that, in one of his dance solos, Fred destroys a piano. And while Fred did indeed dance under, in, and on top of a piano, then played a tune on another one, he left them both intact in the end. I shouldn't have taken that author's phrase "smashing up the tools of his trade" quite so literally.
Anyway this was very fun to watch and hardly deserves to be "forgotten", as that same author describes it. This is the only one of Fred's films that doesn't appear to be available on DVD. Fortunately it is on Amazon Prime streaming and watchable by taking their 30-day free trial.
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