Another Underrated Musical
Added 4/22/2009
I found this to be a very entertaining musical with some decent mixture of songs, comedy and romance. There are no less than three leading ladies and they all look good. Two of them are big names: Irene Dunne and Ginger Rogers.
There's Fred Astaire in here, too, so I guess we can call this another "Astaire-Rogers film." If so, I think it's one of their best and certainly one of their most underrated. You don't hear much about this movie, and that's unfair.
Rogers and Astaire both have some funny lines in this film and I wish Ginger's role had been bigger. She and Astaire do a couple of tap dance numbers that are excellent - some of their best work together. Dunne's first two songs aren't bad but you have the rest. Her soprano voice almost broke my eardrums, especially with "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes."
Randolph Scott, Helen Westley and Claire Dodd also star in this dated-but-generally fun movie.
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Lesser Astaire-Rogers is still worth seeing.
Added 1/5/2009
I own all of the Astaire-Rogers films on DVD. I can watch any of them, even this one,the least of their movies.
John Kent(Randolph Scott)is a football coach who is visting Paris with his best friend,Huckleberry Hanes(What a name that is!He is played by Fred Astaire),a bandleader. While in Paris, John visits his rich aunt Roberta(Helen Westley),the owner of a fashion business. John falls in love with Roberta's assistant,Stephanie (Irene Dunne). When Roberta dies,she leaves the business to John, who enlists Stephanie's help in running it. Lizzie (Ginger Rogers) is Stephanie's friend at the fashion house.
For some reason, Stephanie is really a Russian princess and Lizzie is pretending to be a Polish countess. The reason why isn't explained very well. The plot of this one moves like a snail, and Scott seems stuck saying the word "swell" so much, you can't keep count.
The music and dancing are so excellent, however,it makes it worth seeing.
The nice score by Jerome Kern includes such classics as "Yesterdays", "Lovely To Look At", and "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes", all sung by Dunne in the operetta format.Fred and Ginger dance to "I'll Be Hard To Handle" and "I Won't Dance". These are the best reasons to see the movie.
The DVD includes two short subjects, one a cartoon.It also has a radio show promoting the movie, and the (badly worn) trailer. The print of the movie is pretty good.Mostly worhty of you time if you are a Fred and Ginger fan.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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One of the best!
Added 11/16/2008
As others have noted, the negative criticism of this excellent film is both uninformed and off-point. Randolph Scott is "wooden" because he's playing a former football player, contrasting with the irrepressible vitality of Astaire & Rogers, and the awesome talents of Irene Dunne, which must have taken some effort for Scott, who could be quite unreserved off-camera. It's also a film full of interesting historical perspectives, from emigre Russian aristocrats in Paris, to Astaire's aspersions against the outfits he's supposed to be selling in the fashion show, itself a staple of films of that time and after, e.g., "The Women" and "How To Marry A Millionaire." Yes, the dancing doesn't occupy quite as much time as it does in other Astaire-Rogers films, but with Dunne and Scott on the set, who cares? And then there's Jerome Kern's music, which should make any discerning mind wonder exactly what happened to American theatrical composition and popular song between his era and the present. But that's the stuff of a documentary, not the engagingly pure, multifaceted entertainment that "Roberta" offers. More than two thumbs up: this one gets a double high-five!
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fun movie/musical
Added 10/28/2008
DVD arrived promtly and is in great shape. Fun movie, but about all those furs the ladies were wearing-ugh.
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lovely to look at, and just as wonderful to behold!
Added 8/10/2008
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers share their spotlight with beautiful songbird Irene Dunne in this pleasant version of the Kern/Harbach musical theater hit ROBERTA.
When American football player John Kent (Randolph Scott) inherits his Aunt Roberta's fashion boutique in Paris, he finds himself falling in love with lovely assistant Stephanie (Irene Dunne, hiding Russian royal blood) and fighting off the clutches of a nasty former girlfriend (Claire Dodd). Also on board for the ride are fun-loving bandleader Huck Haines (Fred Astaire), and the phoney Polish cabaret sensation Comtesse Scharwenka (Ginger Rogers)!
The Otto Harbach/Jerome Kern score contains such delights as "Yesterdays", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and "Lovely to Look At" (a new addition for the movie). Fred and Ginger trip the light fantastic with "Let's Begin", "I'll Be Hard to Handle" and "I Won't Dance".
The perfect movie for a lazy Sunday afternoon.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Another Underrated Musical
Added 4/22/2009
I found this to be a very entertaining musical with some decent mixture of songs, comedy and romance. There are no less than three leading ladies and they all look good. Two of them are big names: Irene Dunne and Ginger Rogers.
There's Fred Astaire in here, too, so I guess we can call this another "Astaire-Rogers film." If so, I think it's one of their best and certainly one of their most underrated. You don't hear much about this movie, and that's unfair.
Rogers and Astaire both have some funny lines in this film and I wish Ginger's role had been bigger. She and Astaire do a couple of tap dance numbers that are excellent - some of their best work together. Dunne's first two songs aren't bad but you have the rest. Her soprano voice almost broke my eardrums, especially with "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes."
Randolph Scott, Helen Westley and Claire Dodd also star in this dated-but-generally fun movie.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Lesser Astaire-Rogers is still worth seeing.
Added 1/5/2009
I own all of the Astaire-Rogers films on DVD. I can watch any of them, even this one,the least of their movies.
John Kent(Randolph Scott)is a football coach who is visting Paris with his best friend,Huckleberry Hanes(What a name that is!He is played by Fred Astaire),a bandleader. While in Paris, John visits his rich aunt Roberta(Helen Westley),the owner of a fashion business. John falls in love with Roberta's assistant,Stephanie (Irene Dunne). When Roberta dies,she leaves the business to John, who enlists Stephanie's help in running it. Lizzie (Ginger Rogers) is Stephanie's friend at the fashion house.
For some reason, Stephanie is really a Russian princess and Lizzie is pretending to be a Polish countess. The reason why isn't explained very well. The plot of this one moves like a snail, and Scott seems stuck saying the word "swell" so much, you can't keep count.
The music and dancing are so excellent, however,it makes it worth seeing.
The nice score by Jerome Kern includes such classics as "Yesterdays", "Lovely To Look At", and "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes", all sung by Dunne in the operetta format.Fred and Ginger dance to "I'll Be Hard To Handle" and "I Won't Dance". These are the best reasons to see the movie.
The DVD includes two short subjects, one a cartoon.It also has a radio show promoting the movie, and the (badly worn) trailer. The print of the movie is pretty good.Mostly worhty of you time if you are a Fred and Ginger fan.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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One of the best!
Added 11/16/2008
As others have noted, the negative criticism of this excellent film is both uninformed and off-point. Randolph Scott is "wooden" because he's playing a former football player, contrasting with the irrepressible vitality of Astaire & Rogers, and the awesome talents of Irene Dunne, which must have taken some effort for Scott, who could be quite unreserved off-camera. It's also a film full of interesting historical perspectives, from emigre Russian aristocrats in Paris, to Astaire's aspersions against the outfits he's supposed to be selling in the fashion show, itself a staple of films of that time and after, e.g., "The Women" and "How To Marry A Millionaire." Yes, the dancing doesn't occupy quite as much time as it does in other Astaire-Rogers films, but with Dunne and Scott on the set, who cares? And then there's Jerome Kern's music, which should make any discerning mind wonder exactly what happened to American theatrical composition and popular song between his era and the present. But that's the stuff of a documentary, not the engagingly pure, multifaceted entertainment that "Roberta" offers. More than two thumbs up: this one gets a double high-five!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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