Let Yourself Go ... To Old Hollywood

Silk Stockings (1957)

From my Facebook archives, March 30, 2015:

Silk Stockings. MGM, 1957.

This was Fred Astaire's last "classic" Hollywood musical, at the age of 58. He did a number of films after this, but all non-singing and non-dancing, except for one -- 11 years later. His dancing shifted to television.

The dancing here, except for the first group routine, is really superb. Fred is still great, although no longer in his prime. Cyd Charisse is excellent.

Yet I did not warm up to the film. The Soviet stereotypes are overdone. The characters of the three commissars are more tiresome than funny (except for Peter Lorre). Fred's character is a bit of a sleaze. Cyd Charisse's character is flat. The romance isn't believable.

And worst of all was the demeaning attitude towards women, verbalized most egregiously in this lyric that Cyd Charisse sings (dubbed) to Fred while kneeling on the floor in front of him: "A woman to a man is just a woman. But a man to a woman is her life."

So the two romantic duets between Fred and Cyd, while excellent routines, suffer from the context they are put in. That is a critical difference from his earlier films.

The most enjoyable bits were the Cyd-plus-chorus number 'Red Blues' and Fred's very funny 'sock solo' (as he called it) "The Ritz Roll and Rock". Both of these are in the last part of the film so it does end on a strong note.

Daddy Long Legs (1955)

From my Facebook archives, March 8, 2015:

Daddy Long Legs. 20th Century Fox, 1955. This film will always hold a special distinction for us, since it was where we first discovered the magic of Fred Astaire back in September 2013. We watched it for the second time a couple weeks ago. In the interim, I've gone from completely unknowledgeable about Fred's life and career to a sort of "expert", having seen all his musical films except the final two, and having read numerous books about him. It was interesting seeing Daddy Long Legs with this new perspective.

For example, I now know the Fred's wife had died from lung cancer very shortly before the filming was to begin, and that Fred has tried to get out of making the picture, but had been talked into continuing by his friends and colleagues. The producers arranged the schedule to accommodate Fred's grief, and in the final product his pain is undetectable. It is a fun, upbeat film and his performance on screen fits that mood perfectly.

On a more technical note, this was the first widescreen ("CinemaScope") film that Fred had done. This wasn't noticeable on our first viewing, as widescreen films are so prevalent to modern eyes. But after watching all his earlier films in approximate chronological order, the sudden jump to widescreen is now quite apparent to me.

Also it's clear that Daddy Long Legs is one of the best of Fred's later musicals.I'm glad this was the first film of his we saw rather than either of the two that came immediately before and after, The Band Wagon and Funny Face. Those are good, but don't show off Fred's magic anywhere near its best. We would not have gotten the right impression of Fred from watching those.

For that fortunate occurrence, we can thank Netflix's streaming service. We had just decided to start watching some old classic musicals. After seeing Gene Kelly in An American in Paris, we wanted to see another dance movie. But we wanted to see a different star. Fred Astaire was the logical choice. Netflix's only streaming option for us that night was Daddy Long Legs. (Now they also have Funny Face available.)

We were novices, but still knew enough to realize this was late-career Fred and probably not his prime work. Still, he won us over immediately with his drumming and dance solo five minutes into the film. Drums are a quick way to both of our hearts. Discovering Fred was a drummer as well as a dancer was a revelation.

As for the plot of the film, with the protagonists (Fred and Leslie Caron) so far apart in age, it could easily have become creepy. But fortunately, due to the approach taken by the writers, it never did. It's an entertaining film with lots of great dancing--though the film-makers could have cut the long "dream ballet" by Caron near the end without losing anything memorable.

Funny Face (1957)

From my Facebook archives, January 31, 2015:

Funny Face, Paramount 1957. Fred Astaire. Audrey Hepburn. Well, Audrey Hepburn. Fred Astaire. That's the starring order.

Audrey asked for Fred to be her co-star in this, her first musical--and she got him. There were apparently some contractual difficulties putting it all together, but, as Fred put it in his autobiography: "I was not missing it. Period."

The film certainly has a compelling visual style to it. It immediately looks different than the previous Fred films we've been watching--the 60s appear to have arrived even though it's 1957.

Overall the film was enjoyable--more so than The Band Wagon for me--though it is well down the list of my favorite Fred films. Several of the dance numbers are fun, particularly Fred's solo and the comic duet with Kay Thompson. But the romantic duets between the two stars are relatively weak by Fred's standards.

Kay Thompson, who amongst other things was a vocal coach for Judy Garland, was great to watch. I have no clue why she stayed mostly behind the scenes and didn't perform in more movies.

The Band Wagon (1953)

From my Facebook archives: January 3, 2015:

The Band Wagon. MGM 1953. On New Years Day we finished up this film. It was our 27th Fred Astaire film, leaving only three of his musicals that we have not yet seen.

I have mixed feelings about this one. I really want to like it a lot, and it was mostly fun. But it just isn't as good as most of Fred's other films, though Fred himself is in fine form.

The best parts: the Dancing in the Dark romantic duet with Cyd Charisse, Fred's 'shoeshine' dance with LeRoy Daniels, Jack Buchanan's outrageous storytelling while pitching his character's show. The worst parts: Oscar Levant (mostly horrible here, and I normally like him!) and the staging for the 'That's Entertainment' song (embarrassingly boring for a 'dance' number that includes Fred). Overall, too much MGM, not enough Fred.

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The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)

From my Facebook archives, December 23, 2014:

We re-watched The Barkleys of Broadway over the weekend. This was the tenth and final film Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire made together. The first nine were all done at RKO from 1933 to 1939. Barkleys was done at MGM in 1949.

Since first discovering Fred & Ginger just over a year ago, we've now seen all their movies at least twice--except for the first, Flying Down to Rio (which isn't really a 'Fred & Ginger' movie, though they steal the show).

Barkleys is rather different from most of their movies. It's the only one in color. It's the only MGM musical (and the MGM style is quite apparent). It was originally designed for Fred and Judy Garland as a follow up to Easter Parade. And it's a decade after Fred & Ginger's last collaboration.

Many parts of this film are magical. A few don't work for me. Overall it is a delightful film. You can't help but feel good after watching these two. 

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Let's Dance (1950)

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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The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939)

From my Facebook archives, November 23, 2014:

"The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle" starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, released in 1939.

We watched this tonight, the latest in our second pass through Fred and Ginger's movies. It is the ninth and final one they made during their legendary run at RKO in the 1930s. In many ways, it is the most unusual of their films together, as they are portraying a real-life dance team and doing dances in the style of the Castles rather than their own. It is also a far more serious story than their usual musical comedy fare.

I still love it, of course!

From Arlene Croce's classic book on Fred and Ginger:

"It was a mating of subject and stars such as movies seldom see, and it was made at a perhaps unguessably right moment in time for both the subject and the stars. It is a very dear film."

Belle of New York (1952)

From my Facebook archives, October 30, 2014:

We're slowly working our way through watching all of Fred Astaire's musical films. The latest, from 1952, The Belle of New York...

As for Belle of New York... It was not one of Fred's best films. The dancing is superb of course. The music, though, did not resonate with me. The comedy also did not work for me. And the plot makes Royal Wedding look like an epic novel. 

Fred does have a solo near the end that makes up for everything!

Favorite actresses and actors of classic Hollywood

The single event that kick-started my interest in classic Hollywood was my discovery of Preston Sturges' great films of the 1940s very early in this decade. I was always searching for good, fun, diverting comedies to watch, and we had pretty much exhausted the limited supply of modern ones.

But I didn't really become a full-fledged classic Hollywood fan until my discovery of Fred Astaire a couple years later, in September 2013. The previously mysterious Ginger Rogers--who I of course had heard of, but alas had never seen a film of prior to late 2013--very soon became my favorite actress.

As I explored more and more films from the 1930s and 1940s, my list of favorites grew. My list has changed modestly over these last few years, but currently these are my favorite actors and actresses of that era, and hence of all time.

Actresses:

Ginger Rogers still is at the top of my list. Judy Garland, as the only other actress I know besides Ginger who was fabulous at four talents--drama, comedy, singing, dancing--has been in the next position for years, but Ida Lupino is up there with her now. Amazingly it wasn't until 2017 that I started seeing a significant number of Ida's films. I had taken notice of her right away, but full appreciation of her work took a while to break into my consciousness. Glenda Farrell, despite not getting many lead roles, is next thanks to her brilliant comic persona.

The next tier consists of Joan Blondell, Jean Arthur, Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis. On occasion I think Myrna Loy and Kay Francis may graduate into this tier, but I don't think I can put them there yet. Alice Brady deserves an honorable mention as well.

Actors:

Fred Astaire is obviously at the top. William Powell was an earlier discovery, though, as I found My Man Godfrey and The Thin Man a year or two before the Astaire-Rogers movies. Right below these two are Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Cary Grant, Dick Powell, Lionel Barrymore, and Edward Everett Horton. Honorable mention goes to Jack Carson, Joel McCrea, Don Ameche, and perhaps a few others.