Rating: 
Summary: Underappreciated
Review: The art direction in this movie is incredible. It is one of the ultimate "New York as nightlife fantasyland" films (like the 1936 Melody, and Astaire's own "Swing Time"). The DVD replicates the silky B&W images just fine, especially the finale, which looks incredible on a big screen TV. Though Astaire tended to blow this off as "one of those big Metro things", it is a fun movie with a cool Big Band feel and a dream soundtrack, and Eleanor Powell is a revelation--it's too bad she isn't as well known today. Though the silly harlequin ballet doesn't really belong, I'll still take this over the pretentious MGM musicals of the 50s.
Rating: 
Summary: Broadway Melody of 1940 is a melody to remember
Review: The Broadway Melody of 1940 was the last of the Broadway Melody series and the last of the great black and white musicals. Of all of Fred Astaire's dancing partners Ms. Powell is by far the best match. In this film the two greatest dancers in history give the world a film to remember, which sadly has been forgotten. The film includes a wonderful Cole Proter score with the songs "Please Don't Monkey With Broadway" and "I've Got My Eyes on You". Astaire and partner played by George Murphy are dancers looking to hit the big time in New York, and Powell is the Broadway star they both fall in love with. This is a classic feast for the eyes and ears that no musical or Astaire fan should miss.
Rating:
Summary: Worth watching for "Begin The Beguine."
Review: The plot is as follows: Astaire loves Powell from afar. Both are professional dancers, but don't get together until a mix-up which involves rival/partner Murphy getting the role Astaire should've gotten. So this is, yet, another movie bathed in that God-awful "mistaken identity" plot line!! Critics generally find this one only lukewarm, save the stunning finale number. But let's be fair: BM1940 was done as the first project for the post-Ginger Fred Astaire, and you can imagine Hollywood was scared to death. Would he, could he, succeed with other partners and/or on his own? Obviously he did, but the casting of Eleanor Powell as his leading lady was alternately ingenious and enigmatic. At that time, no other female tapper could touch her, but the writers must've been wondering how they could generate romantic sparks betwixt them-- since the love scenes in all Astaire's films were the dance duets, usually done in a faux-ballroom choreography (not Powell's strong suit). Thus, Astaire is playing against type; he's unseen and noble instead of brash and carefree- a new role for him. Fortunately, Powell discovers the *real* Astaire (from his solo "I've Got My Eyes On You"), and simultaneously learns that he is in love with her and he is the better dancer. Afterwards, they aren't so much romantic as they are full of admiration of one another; this is best represented in their stunning first duet in an outdoor cafe (the jukebox number), which seems a wonderful private moment of discovery for them. The show's finale, "Begin The Beguine," of course, is sublime: stunningly photographed in black-and-white, its performers in an all-white wardrobe on a mirrored black floor. And the dance itself is way cool. Just watch Astaire and Powell challenge each other- a' cappella- in its second half!!
Rating:
Summary: Astaire, Powell, Begin the Beguine!
Review: There's little reason to see this Fred Astaire-Eleanor Powell movie except for the dance numbers--and they provide the best reasons in the world. The plot involves a song-and-dance team (Astaire and George Murphy), a Broadway show with a big star (Eleanor Powell), mistaken identity, true friendship and boy gets girl.
Most of the dance numbers, however, are extraordinary, with songs by Cole Porter. Powell sings and taps out "I Am the Captain" in a major production number featuring big sets and lots of chorus boys. She shows why she was a great tap dancer and a major musical star who could carry a movie by herself. Astaire and Murphy do "Please Don't Monkey With Broadway," a fine example of a song-and-dance tap act that involves intricate patterns, humor, even a mock duel. "I Concentrate on You" is a great Porter standard written for the movie. "I've Got My Eyes on You" is a first-rate light romantic ballad that is a solid Astaire solo number. He was a good piano player and shows it with this number. He's backstage and dances with a photograph of Powell over and around props and furniture, and at one point uses a small ball which he seems to have mesmerized to do his bidding. He was always great using objects, and he was great because he rehearsed endlessly. He's got that ball's number. The showstopper, of course, is "Begin the Beguine." It's a big production number that starts with Astaire and Powell in costume, then moves to singers, then moves back to Astaire and Powell. This is the portion that gets the raves. She's in a white dress, he's in a white tux. They're tap dancing on a mirror-finish black floor. Off camera Artie Shaw and his orchestra continues with the song. They start tapping together, move to a challenge tap, then come back together in an extraordinary tap routine that involves them circling each other, throwing up their arms in counterpoint to their tapping and to each other. This part is excerpted in That's Entertainment. Sinatra introduces the excerpt by saying that you won't see anything like it again. I don't think anyone would disagree.
Fans of Astaire might consider getting a copy of Arlene Croce's The Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Book. Croce was the dance critic for the New Yorker. She goes through each of the Astaire-Rogers movies explaining the background, how the dance numbers were developed and analysing why Astaire was as great as he was. It's an interesting book.
Rating:
Summary: "Begin the Beguine" again and again and again....
Review: This film is tons of fun!
It's not a masterpiece along the lines of "The Wizard of Oz" or "Meet Me in St. Louis." Some may think it inferior to such MGM glitz as "The Ziegfeld Girl" (which is dazzling and a milestone in the careers of Lana Turner and Judy Garland).
But it is what it is and entertaining and joyful make up a lot of that.
It's the first and only time that MGM paired tap queen Eleanor Powell with Fred Astaire (fresh at MGM from some dazzling films at RKO with Ginger Rogers). Nevertheless, the unique pairing produced one of the great musical moments in film history (more below).
It's also unique in that it's one of the few times Alfred Newman, longtime 20th Century-Fox music department head and master composer/conductor (he's possibly one of the greatest conductors EVER) supervised a musical film at another studio prior to taking over at Fox.
The plot, today, seems typically trite for that period. Astaire, a great hoofer in a lousy gig, has a crush on Powell, a big Broadway star. He sneaks in to her shows to see her do a production number when he's not performing with his partner, George Murphy. One night, as he and Murphy are dancing, a bumbling fool of a Broadway angel -- adeptly portrayed by Frank Morgan -- sees the two tappers and gets real excited about the prospect of forwarding Astaire to auditions to co-star with Powell in a new show. Astaire, trying to help his buddy out, and having mistaken Morgan for a bill collector, gives Morgan his buddy's name when they meet. Later, it's Murphy who gets a call to go audition and Astaire helps get him ready. Murphy lands the role and his head swells, and Powell learns that it's Astaire who...and on and on and lots of backstage drama ensues until magic time.
George Murphy is endearing in this film -- both as a wannabe tough guy and as a senstive slob afraid of failure. Some folks have attributed Murphy's approach to this role as the 'make-or-break' of his career as he was being loaned out by Warner Brothers to be in a big MGM musical with Powell and Astaire. Some have said he thought he'd really arrived, while others have correctly noticed that he seems more comfortable when he's playing tough with Astaire than he does when he's actually singing and dancing with Powell (who probably intimidated him as she was a much bigger star than he).
Morgan's character has a buddy, too -- a white chinchilla cape that seems to have quite a history on the shoulders of starlets he either dates or encounters during the film.
The music is Cole Porter and it's miraculous.
The overture is amazing. The pacing of the music must have been a great challenge to the musicians that made up the MGM orchestra of the late 30s and early 40s (it was not the world-class outfit that Johnny Green would pull together at the end of the decade). From the opening notes, you get a sense of great urgency -- all the pictures about NYC and Broadway you ever saw all rolled into one hyperkinetic several minutes of music.
Astaire and Murphy totally nail the "Don't Monkey With Broadway"
number and it's a wonderful routine! While the number was meant to be typical of the entertainment to be found in NYC at that time, you still have that paradox of "would Astaire really have been dancing for peanuts"? Just like you had to ask, "Wasn't Liza just too good to be performing in that little cabaret"?
The audition number between Murphy and Powell -- "Between You and Me" -- is MGM glitzy and glamorous with a heavy dollop of kitsch...all the ramps for sliding and jumping and twirling (to show off the costume, dontcha know). The sincere looks between Powell and the suddenly shy and nervous Murphy are well worth a grin.
Eleanor Powell was not a great actress. Today, some wouldn't have kind things to say about her dancing, especially going from tap to toepoint. But the fact remains that she was a MAJOR star at MGM and Astaire thought her amazingly gifted (sadly, she didn't have his creative flair for invention). Eleanor danced pretty much the same way in each film, with her signature backdrop-handtouch to the floor. She had a tiny voice, but a beautiful face with a gorgeous smile and she made the world seem magical.
She did everything asked of her...with smiles and determination and earnestness.
The "I've Got My Eyes on You" number Astaire does on the empty stage, using Powell's powder puff as his dancing "partner" is inspired. And he and Powell give us a glimpse of what's coming when they do that little tap number at the outdoor cafe.
But let's be absolutely clear about the merits of this film. Its place in cinema (musical) history is assured with the finest tap dancing display ever committed to film...and possibly ever created for any medium...and that is the "Begin the Beguine" number toward the end of the film. It's a jazzy arrangement and Astaire and Powell -- reflected in a black shiny floor -- tap their hearts out in one of the most dazzling terpsichorean displays of athleticism and art ever seen. It's an AWESOME number.
The earlier artsy stuff is a little too cute (along with the meant-to-be-sincere delivery of lines by Powell in those backstage moments as Astaire worries with Murphy). "I Concentrate on You" has been better served in many other films, so it's operatic presentation here should not be mourned.
But it's more than made up for by the glittering delights and leaps to delirium provided by Astaire and Powell AND Murphy when they're tapping.
The film was a major effort and preserves a moment in film history that will never be equalled.
Rating:
Summary: "Begin the Beguine" again and again and again....
Review: This film is tons of fun! It's not a masterpiece along the lines of "The Wizard of Oz" or "Meet Me in St. Louis." Some may think it inferior to such MGM glitz as "The Ziegfeld Girl" (which is dazzling and a milestone in the careers of Lana Turner and Judy Garland). But it is what it is and entertaining and joyful make up a lot of that. It's the first and only time that MGM paired tap queen Eleanor Powell with Fred Astaire (fresh at MGM from some dazzling films at RKO with Ginger Rogers). Nevertheless, the unique pairing produced one of the great musical moments in film history (more below). It's also unique in that it's one of the few times Alfred Newman, longtime 20th Century-Fox music department head and master composer/conductor (he's possibly one of the greatest conductors EVER) supervised a musical film at another studio prior to taking over at Fox. The plot, today, seems typically trite for that period. Astaire, a great hoofer in a lousy gig, has a crush on Powell, a big Broadway star. He sneaks in to her shows to see her do a production number when he's not performing with his partner, George Murphy. One night, as he and Murphy are dancing, a bumbling fool of a Broadway angel -- adeptly portrayed by Frank Morgan -- sees the two tappers and gets real excited about the prospect of forwarding Astaire to auditions to co-star with Powell in a new show. Astaire, trying to help his buddy out, and having mistaken Morgan for a bill collector, gives Morgan his buddy's name when they meet. Later, it's Murphy who gets a call to go audition and Astaire helps get him ready. Murphy lands the role and his head swells, and Powell learns that it's Astaire who...and on and on and lots of backstage drama ensues until magic time. George Murphy is endearing in this film -- both as a wannabe tough guy and as a senstive slob afraid of failure. Some folks have attributed Murphy's approach to this role as the 'make-or-break' of his career as he was being loaned out by Warner Brothers to be in a big MGM musical with Powell and Astaire. Some have said he thought he'd really arrived, while others have correctly noticed that he seems more comfortable when he's playing tough with Astaire than he does when he's actually singing and dancing with Powell (who probably intimidated him as she was a much bigger star than he). Morgan's character has a buddy, too -- a white chinchilla cape that seems to have quite a history on the shoulders of starlets he either dates or encounters during the film. The music is Cole Porter and it's miraculous. The overture is amazing. The pacing of the music must have been a great challenge to the musicians that made up the MGM orchestra of the late 30s and early 40s (it was not the world-class outfit that Johnny Green would pull together at the end of the decade). From the opening notes, you get a sense of great urgency -- all the pictures about NYC and Broadway you ever saw all rolled into one hyperkinetic several minutes of music. Astaire and Murphy totally nail the "Don't Monkey With Broadway"
number and it's a wonderful routine! While the number was meant to be typical of the entertainment to be found in NYC at that time, you still have that paradox of "would Astaire really have been dancing for peanuts"? Just like you had to ask, "Wasn't Liza just too good to be performing in that little cabaret"? The audition number between Murphy and Powell -- "Between You and Me" -- is MGM glitzy and glamorous with a heavy dollop of kitsch...all the ramps for sliding and jumping and twirling (to show off the costume, dontcha know). The sincere looks between Powell and the suddenly shy and nervous Murphy are well worth a grin. Eleanor Powell was not a great actress. Today, some wouldn't have kind things to say about her dancing, especially going from tap to toepoint. But the fact remains that she was a MAJOR star at MGM and Astaire thought her amazingly gifted (sadly, she didn't have his creative flair for invention). Eleanor danced pretty much the same way in each film, with her signature backdrop-handtouch to the floor. She had a tiny voice, but a beautiful face with a gorgeous smile and she made the world seem magical. She did everything asked of her...with smiles and determination and earnestness. The "I've Got My Eyes on You" number Astaire does on the empty stage, using Powell's powder puff as his dancing "partner" is inspired. And he and Powell give us a glimpse of what's coming when they do that little tap number at the outdoor cafe. But let's be absolutely clear about the merits of this film. Its place in cinema (musical) history is assured with the finest tap dancing display ever committed to film...and possibly ever created for any medium...and that is the "Begin the Beguine" number toward the end of the film. It's a jazzy arrangement and Astaire and Powell -- reflected in a black shiny floor -- tap their hearts out in one of the most amazing terpsichorean displays of athleticism and art ever seen. It's an AMAZING number. The earlier artsy stuff is wearisome (along with the meant-to-be-sincere delivery of lines by Powell in those backstage moments as Astaire worries with Murphy). "I Concentrate on You" has been better served in many other films, so it's operatic presentation here should not be mourned. But it's more than made up for by the dazzling delights and leaps to delirium provided by Astaire and Powell AND Murphy when they're tapping. The film was a major effort and preserves a moment in film history that will never be equalled.
Rating:
Summary: A Delightful Movie
Review: This may not be the greatest Fred Astaire movie, but it's very near the top. It features a collection of terrific Cole Porter songs, some great tap-dancing by Astaire and Eleanor Powell; some delightful comic turns by George Murphy (the song-and-dance man who later was elected to the U.S. Senate); and some truly weird comic business involving a German juggler, a chinchilla coat, and a Southern belle who learned ju-jitsu from "the sweetest little Japanese banker". And Astaire shows that he can play a pretty hot ragtime piano. If you like musicals, you'll love this one: a keeper.
Rating:
Summary: AWESOME
Review: This movie is not only extremly well coreographed and acted out, it is also funny. The giving away and taking back of the cape made me laugh everytime it happened. I also thought the ending was a lot less predictable and a lot more charming then most movies of the time. Who would of thought the drunk would turn out to be a good guy? If you love comedy, dance, Fred Astaire, or all of the above...you should check this movie out!
Rating:
Summary: Not to be missed!
Review: This video has the most fabulous dance scenes ever filmed! It's obvious why Fred Astaire dumped Jane Powell for Ginger Rogers because Ms. Powell is probably the only person on the face of the earth who was Fred Astaire's equal or better! The story is fun and the dancing divine. For all those dancer wannabees out there this video is a MUST!
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