Helmer Stanley Donen’s first solo outing is well intentioned and has more ‘goodies’ in it then you may recall, but the story remains in hibernation while the performers do little for each other. This means that Fred Astaire does his best work on his own (the famous dance around the floor, walls & ceiling unknowingly apes Victor Fleming’s directing debut, the Doug Fairbanks charmer WHEN THE CLOUDS ROLL BY/1919, but the gym routine with the hat rack is beyond sublime) while Jane Powell sings the exceptionally lovely Burton Lane/Alan Jay Lerner song ‘Too Late Now’ as a solo, even though she's out for a walk with her beau. At least, the romantic interests are pleasant &/or innocuous, but Keenan Wynn’s tiresome comic British shtick palls on contact. Everyone here had much better gigs just around the corner, except for Winston Churchill’s daughter Sarah (Fred's inamorata) for whom it was over & out after this pic.
CONTEST: Name at least three of those 'better gigs' to win our usual prize, a MAKSQUIBS Write-Up of the NetFlix DVD of your choice.
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