41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lucky Fred, May 16, 2003
Not only did Fred Astaire get Ginger and Cyd, he also got Rita Hayworth. But he is so charming in this, you believe he can get Rita, and she is stunning as ever.
Fred starred in two movies with Rita Hayworth, this and "You were Never Lovelier." The second beats this margially, just by having that cute matchmaker plot. But in a lot of ways this movie is almost the better one. The songs in this one don't come almost out of nowhere and the lipsyncing isn't downright obvious.
The writing in this movie was superb, witty lines all over the place. Not forced lines, hoping to be quotable, like you see in the movies today. The doghouse part in the movie was so lovable, didn't seem to look too much like punishment to me.
Martha Tilton sings a song at the end as well and definitely stands out. She didn't seem to be a miscelleanous musical singer...too professional.
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28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Definitely worth a look or two, January 5, 2004
I'm one of those for whom a second tier Fred Astaire film is still more enjoyable than just about anything without him. And there is no question that Fred is at his best in this one. Unfortunately, he just isn't given first-rate musical material around which to wrap his massive dancing abilities. His partner is the extraordinarily capable Rita Hayworth, who spent her teenage years as her father's dance partner in the years when she was both abused by him and when she looked completely Hispanic (plastic surgery, skin lightening, and dying her hair transformed Rita Cansino into Rita Hayworth). They really do make a nice couple, though Fred had the rare ability to make almost anyone look like they were born to dance with him.
The plot is fairly silly, but anyone who loves thirties and forties movies knows when to cut a film a bit of slack. The cast is not outstanding beyond Fred and Rita, with the notable exception of Robert Benchley. This was actually a crucial point in Benchley's career. He had throughout the thirties maintained a dual movie career as the star of a string of hysterically funny one reelers, in which Benchley instructed the public on "How to" do things, such as "How to Vote" or "How to Read." He actually made one of the first talking shorts still to be seen occasionally, "The Sex Life of a Polyp" (1928, a short that obviously couldn't have been made after 1934 and the imposition of the Code). Benchley also made a host of appearances in rather unimportant films during the decade. Starting with Hitchcock's FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT, however, Benchley began appearing in much higher quality films, including such gems as THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR (in which he plays Ginger Rogers's nemesis) and I MARRIED A WITCH. Unfortunately, he died in 1945.
The film was also extremely crucial for the career of Fred Astaire. He had ended his mythic partnership with Ginger Rogers only two years earlier, and his two following films were both disappointments. SECOND CHORUS was probably the worst film in Astaire's career, and BROADWAY MELODY OF 1940, while containing many wonderful moments, teamed him with legendary tap dancer Eleanor Powell. Emending my statement above, these two did not mesh as dance partners. Powell was too individual a performer, and excelled as a solo dancer, not as part of a team. They also failed to generate any romantic chemistry. YOU'LL NEVER GET RICH, while not a massive success, nonetheless reestablished him as a romantic dance star, and made six more films before his "retirement" in 1946 (he broke it as a favor to Gene Kelly in 1948 when Kelly broke his leg and was unable to film EASTER PARADE--the film "unretired" Astaire and he went on to make ten more musicals before retiring as a dancer).
So, this won't be the greatest musical anyone has ever seen, but it certainly won't be the worst. No Astaire fan would dare to miss it.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
You'll never get rich, December 29, 1999
The best of two pairings of Astaire and Hayworth on film. Though Astaire and Rogers claim primacy amongst dancing partners, it is hard to imagine any actress who generates more heat and incandescent charm onscreen than Hayworth. As lovely as he is talented, she holds her own surprisingly well in a film that finds Astaire spending most of his time in a stockade for going AWOL or somnabulent mishaps and mayhem. His centerpiece number "since I kissed my baby goodbye" by Cole Porter might be his greatest solo number of the 40's, beginning as a sly and ingenious bit of improvisation. The film also benefits from a superb supporting cast with Robert Benchley as Astaire's unctuous boss who attempts to pursue Hayworth while covering his adultery by passing off an unwilling (bold plot device for the breathing world) Astaire as her boyfriend. Astair e was eager to work with Hayworth due to his friendship with her father (a fellow choreographer) and it's not at all hard to discover why. A goofy mid-war comedy well worth using to stave off any rainy day.
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