Customer Reviews

Let's Dance [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It was with mixed expectations that I bought and watched this movie. One reviewer said Betty was no Ginger and another said Betty was so good you watched her instead of Fred. As a long- time lover of musicals I must agree with the latter opinion. Fred's other partners (Ginger, Judy and Cyd come to mind) were women who made it their business to blend as smoothly as possible into Fred's style, highlighting his moves so that you were more liable to watch him than his women. They knew how to disappear (as women did in those days)into the male's technique. But Betty does it differently. She dances with Fred as an equal and because she is so darned good, you do indeed watch her instead of him.

It's almost as if he had the flu the entire movie. His cocky swagger and seductive smile are missing. His solo pieces are half-assed and his partnered dances make him seem thrown for a loss. He appears to not know how to dance with a woman who takes up the same space he does. Had Betty been Gene or Donald, there would have been no problem; Fred would have known how to relate. You can see the proof of this in the Cowboy number where Betty is a cowpoke. That being said, a sickly Fred is better than almost anyone else on a good day. I had to laugh when the greatgrandma calls Astaire "young man." Fred looked 40 at age 20 and 40 at age 60!

Betty is delightful in this movie. I didn't remember how beautiful she was. Ginger danced as if she practiced hard and has finally got it just right. Betty is a natural who expresses joy in every step and so looks spontaneous. The movie's worth watching, esp for the opening number. Betty acts better than Grable or Lana Turner, substituting their saccarine flavor with genuine sweetness. Her "over the top" behavior in other movies gives one pause. This came to define her and serious roles were then denied her. Pity. One wonders why she undermined herself as an actress in that way. Perhaps she never knew she was that good. What did "blond bombshells" do back then? What they were told, I'm sure. There was Mae West and Marilyn, two who attempted to carve their own path through Hollywood and both succeeded but at great cost. Betty shoulda been a contender, and this movie shows it.

Fred Astaire and Betty Hutton team up for this "good, but not great" type of movie. On the positive side, Astaire and Hutton are energetic and delightful as a pair of former lovers trying to keep Hutton's son out of the hands of his great-grandmother.The supporting cast is fine, and the script is both witty and moving at the same time. However, this film has one fatel flaw that has kept it from becoming better known. The songs and dances just aren't that good. AND THIS IS A MUSICAL! Astaire is alright during "Jack and the Beanstock" and the "Piano Dance," but it's not comparable to his work in "Swing Time" or "Funny Face." The rest of the songs and dances are just awful, strange, since this material was done by the usualy reliable Frank Loesser. All in all, this movie can entertain an audience, but never make them stand up and say: "Wow, that was fantastic." And that is the difference between a good movie and a great one.

Fred Astaire is superb as a dancer and comedian in this enchanting comedy. Betty Hutton is hilarious as the comedic would-be partner of Astaire. Astair's "piano dance" is the outstanding favorite of this film. However, Hutton's song and dance routine which ends with her jumping into a lake with her backside smoldering will have you in stitches. I highly recommend this heart warming film for whole families.

Let's Dance is one of the least popular Fred Astaire vehicles...with good reason. For generations, Astaire is synonymous with exciting, electric musical spectacles that pull the viewers out of their seats.

Let's Dance seems to be missing that little kick or spark that would have greatly helped this show get going. True, it wouldn't be fair to compare every other Astaire film to his RKO classics, such as Top Hat or Swing Time, but after setting a high standard such as that...well, needless to say, this one was a big letdown. Betty Hutton, fine performer that she is, just doesn't seem to mesh with Astaire at all. The routines lack charm and fall flat. One spot worth mentioning is a Western spoof put on by Astaire and Hutton. Call it a cowboy version of Easter Parade's "A Couple of Swells."

Let's Dance had some potential, but instead it leaves the viewer with a feeling that this show was hurriedly put together, and badly at that. Astaire and Hutton aren't all that bad, but you just know they could have been better.

This is a wonderful song and dance movie with Betty Hutton and Fred Astaire in the lead rolls. The opening dance number with Betty Hutton and Fred Astaire is simply marvelous and Miss Hutton's rendition of "Can't stop talking about him" is classic. Betty Hutton really stuts her usual vivacious stuff and Fred Astaire is terrific as usual. Other song and dance numbers in the movie are also excelent and quite entertaining. A wonderful story line is well acted by all and makes for great entertainment.

Let's Dance is a Betty Hutton movie. Fred Astaire may have equal billing, but Hutton dominates the picture. Her mixture of tomboy boisterousness and unrelenting brashness makes the casual and easy-going Astaire seem as relevant as Percy Kilbride trying to catch up with Marjorie Main. During the Forties, audiences loved Betty Hutton. She was hugely insecure, which probably accounted for her need to give 150 per cent, when 90 per cent would have served her better.

With Let's Dance, It's almost startling to see how Fred Astaire has difficulty establishing his presence against Hutton's unremitting energy. It doesn't help that the songs, written by Frank Loesser, are tailored more to Hutton's strengths than they are to Astaire's. None of the songs are noteworthy, and they often blend heavy rhythmic repetition, loudness and jitterbug style with ample opportunity for Hutton to mug and exaggerate. Even the one romantic song, "Why Fight the Feeling," is given to Hutton first to deliver as a comic vamp. Loesser had written for Hutton before and he knew her strengths.

The story is about Kitty McNeil (Betty Hutton), an entertainer for the troops, who marries a rich, socialite Army pilot in London in 1945. He dies shortly after, shot down, but not before Leaving Kitty with child. Fast forward five years later when Kitty and her son are living with the boy's very rich great grandmother. The woman, snobbish and high in society, believes Kitty is unsuitable as a mother to the boy. But Kitty escapes the mansion with her son and, after a few tribulations, gets a job as a cigarette girl in a nightclub. But guess what? Her partner during the war years had been Don Elwood (Fred Astaire). They had sort of loved each other. They met by accident in a cheap diner after Kitty had kidnapped her son. It was Don who helped her get the job in the nightclub where Don did some dancing while he tried to establish himself as a financial whiz. The story goes on and on. For Kitty, she must fight off her son's great grandmother and the woman's lawyers. She has Don to help her. Of course, all the people in the nightclub, from the owner to the cooks to the dancers, fall for the little boy and try to help Kitty, too. All the while she and Don are edgily moving closer...a kind of boy and girl love each other, boy loses girl, then repeat three times. Finally, boy gets girl along with a five-year-old stepson.

But this is an Astaire movie, sort of, so what of the singing and dancing? "I Can't Stop Talking About Him" is the opening number, sung and danced before the troops in 1945 by Kitty and Don. Kitty is in a bright pink dress, Don in drab Army brown. Your eyes tend to focus on Hutton and the dress. Hutton sings the song and she and Astaire dance. It's all in the Hutton style, loud. Astaire dances a rehearsal number with two pianos, clambering over and under them and playing some piano himself. "Jack and the Beanstalk" is a hip version of the old fairy tale which Astaire sings to Kitty's little boy. It's not that bad, and Astaire gets to make a long bean stalk out of a newspaper while singing it, but it's little more than specialty material. "Oh, Them Dudes" is a raucous cowboy song and dance with Hutton and Astaire gussied up like old-time mustachioed cowboys. Astaire did this kind of thing better with Judy Garland in Easter Parade's "Couple of Swells" and would do it better again with Jane Powell in Royal Wedding's "How Could You Believe Me...." "Why Fight the Feeling," Astaire has said, was a song he liked a lot. In Let's Dance, it just doesn't get a chance to establish itself. The movie's finale, "Tunnel of Love," is another loud production number tailored much more to Hutton than Astaire. They sing and they dance, but Hutton is mugging all the way.

Let's Dance features some pleasant comic turns by Roland Young and Melville Cooper, as well as solid character actors such as Ruth Warrick, Shepperd Strudwick, Barton MacLane and George Zucco. The movie has never been released on DVD as far as I know. You might find copies around of the old VHS tape. For Astaire completeists, it's a must have. It's one of his weakest movies, and very much for fans of Betty Hutton.

Kitty (Betty Hutton) is a long-time performing partner with Don (Fred Astaire), a man she has loved but has had many a scuffle. By the time he comes around to proposing, she's already married and on her way to being a mother. Fast forward five years later when she is stuck in her late husband's family's home, an illustrious group from Boston. A showgirl at heart, Kitty is bored and uncomfortable. What's more is that she can't raise her son Richie (Gregory Moffett) they way she wants to. The only escape is, well, escape. She sneaks away with Richie to New York where she runs into Don and attempts to start a new life up on the stage. Unfortunately, the little boy's great-grandmother refuses to let a child grow up that way and tries to take him away.

Although Hutton and Astaire are two very different personalities, they play well off of each other. Each gets a chance to shine in the musical numbers. The opener "Can't Stop Talking About Him" starts strong and displays how adept a dancer Astaire was. "Them Dudes," however, shows off Hutton's ability to spice up a silly song. "Jack and the Beanstalk" gives Astaire a chance to do the same. There are some more mediocre numbers like the one where Astaire dances on a piano. Although some of the moves are impressive, the restricted space makes the scene a bit dull.

This is one of the best, and funniest movies I have ever seen. It is absolutely hilarious and made me burst out laughing.

Fred is a genius. Though I think his performances in Top Hat, Follow the Fleet, and Swing Time were better, this is extremely good. Betty Hutton is just magnificent! She sparkles on the screen and adds a certian allure to the film. Though she certianly cannot compare with Ginger Rogers of some of Fred's earlier dance partners, she is wonderful for this film and I can't imagine anyone else in that role.

The songs aren't that great, but the performances of them make up for that deficiency. 'Oh Them Dudes' is magnificent and uproariously funny. 'I Can't Stop Talking About Him' is a laugh-out-loud hit with relatively good dancing on Betty's part. 'The Paino Dance' is fantastic and is definately one of my favorite Astaire solos of all time (and trust me, I've seen plenty!).

As for the plot; well, it's cute and funny. However, it gets a bit repetitive at times.

Don't miss out on this fabulous movie!

What does it take for this studio to get into the 21st century and put their movies on DVD? There is a block of musical lovers and Betty Hutton lovers that want to buy this movie but we dont own VCRs anymore! Besides anything with this cast has to be fun ,but not on VCR! At least not on my plasma tv!!!

I saw this quite by accident when it appeared on a random movie stream and had me hooked in no time at all. Astaire is usually easiest to accept as the B&W icon of the '30s films in which Ginger simply serves as a shadow, doubling--or, in effect--amplifying each of his moves. He's just as graceful in the '40s and '50s color films, but his aging face and undeniable androgyny (along with the use of color which, as Roger Ebert has argued, necessarily hampers the activity of the spectator's imagination) not only make him an ineffectual sex symbol but increase his distance from his partners while at the same time reducing them--especially the leggy Charisse--to little more than film furniture.

Betty Hutton is the happy exception. In some respects, she's no more photogenic than Fred, but she uses her body with such bulldogged tenacity and overcompensating, overachieving individualism that she arm-wrestles Astaire to a draw, and for a change we see not merely the flawless one mirrored by some female companion but a genuine team, a partnership, a pair of equally determined, equally watchable talents. Hutton dances as though her next move is the result of her own initiative, not her male partner's, and we are as likely to find our eyes drawn to her assertive moves as to Fred's graceful ones. Moreover, if Fred is not much of a screen kisser, he almost looks the part when he's the captive of Hutton's aggressive moves.

Now the big question: who takes honors as the screen's best all-time "cowgirl"--Betty or Doris Day? Doris has the advantage of the material (especially "Secret Love"), but give Betty credit for making some lesser songs by Frank Loesser radiate cinematic sparks and spunk. Unlike Doris's Calamity Jane and Betty's own Annie Oakley, her character may not be the eponymous title of the film, but there's little question about who issues the imperative of the title.